Suzuki Grand Vitara fuel economy

Submitted: Sunday, Jan 09, 2011 at 15:57

ThreadID: 83549 Views:25630 Replies:4 FollowUps:3

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Old Mal

Recently purchased a 2010 model Suzuki 5 Door Grand Vitara 2.4L Petrol Auto for the missus. A lovely car to drive and a "real" 4WD too. Regarding fuel economy - Suzuki claims 9.9 L/100km (10.1km/L) but best we have achieved after 3,000km is 11.0 L/100km (9.1km/L) but I accept that you never get what the makers claim in their advertising. My main concern though is that the fuel distance readout has never shown more than 495km when the tank is full but should read 600km range at 9.1km/L based on it having a 66 litre fuel tank. I'm now suspicious that our vehicle may have been fitted with the smaller 3 Door Grand Vitara fuel tank which holds only 55 litres as 9.1km/L x 55 litres works out at 500km - almost exactly the same as the full tank distance readout showing of 495km. I propose to take this up with the dealer at the next service but would like to know if anyone else has had this same concern ?
Cheers & Happy New Year
Old Mal

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Reply By: mikehzz - Sunday, Jan 09, 2011 at 19:27

Sunday, Jan 09, 2011 at 19:27

Run it down to empty mark and fill it up.....how many litres does it take? The only trouble with that is I have filled up at a few garages where I've pumped more than my tanks capacity ie 75l in a 66l tank but most are ok. Mike

AnswerID: 441282

Reply By: disco driver - Sunday, Jan 09, 2011 at 20:11

Sunday, Jan 09, 2011 at 20:11

Old Mal,
A few things for you to consider.
1. At 3000km your missus car is hardly "run in", it probably will take 5000k+ before everything really spins freely.

2. Most fuel gauges are only an indication of your fuel level and they also have a built-in reserve which may give you up to 100km or more once it indicates empty or the 'Low fuel' lamp comes on.
It is usually a trial and error project to find out how far yours will go, and no 2 vehicles of the same model are ever the same.

3. The fuel distance readout may be programmed to indicate out of fuel well before it actually is to ensure that you do not run out of fuel.
As a general rule fuel injected vehicles do not like running out, it can cause problems.

By all means check with the dealer to ease your mind.

Hope that helps.

Disco.

AnswerID: 441289

Follow Up By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Sunday, Jan 09, 2011 at 20:20

Sunday, Jan 09, 2011 at 20:20

Yep my 95 l tank in the cruiser flashes empty at about 84 L used.

FollowupID: 713310

Reply By: Rob! - Monday, Jan 10, 2011 at 11:35

Monday, Jan 10, 2011 at 11:35

Mal,

There's a couple of problems with your assesment.
1. Stated fuel usage.
As you would know it is not possible to test the fuel usage of different vehicles on the road for reasons of varying road conditions, temperature, humidity, driver attitude and the air in your tyres. So, these tests are done indoors in a lab, where all of these variable conditions are can be controlled. The resulting fuel use is close to but not exactly what the car will use. The stated fuel usage is simply a comparison rate between one type of vehcile and another. So if one car shows 9l/100km and another shows 18l/100km, then the first car will generally use half the fuel of the second.
These tests are not done by Suzuki but by an imdependant organisation.

2. Fuel tank size
After you've driven your 495km and have refilled your vehicle, how many litres of petrol did you put in? That's how many litres of fuel you've used. As mentioned above, there a reserve.

R.

AnswerID: 441346

Reply By: NotSuv - Wednesday, Jan 19, 2011 at 17:06

Wednesday, Jan 19, 2011 at 17:06

Old Mal - Ive got the same vehicle with the same issues. I emailed Suzuki today and await their reply.

Even getting 9.5 l/100ks I only have a possilbe range of 590kms, which should be closer to 700. I have had the fuel light on and travelled for another 30 ks with no range showing and only put in 52 litres. I too am unsure if they have a stuff up with the software on the fuel milage, or they put the smaller tank in. If it has a 10+ litre reserve, it would be nice if they told us. I will be interested to see suzuki's reply. By the way, I have done 15000 now, yours should pick up even better range and free up nicely soon.

AnswerID: 442365

Follow Up By: Old Mal - Wednesday, Jan 19, 2011 at 18:49

Wednesday, Jan 19, 2011 at 18:49

Hi NotSuv,

I emailed Suzuki about this issue 3 weeks ago and never got a reply so I'll be very interested if you get one ! Maybe we need to start a Suzuki Grand Vitara owners forum to get these (and any other) issues out in the public domain where they carry a bit more weight ?

I have just today done a fuel consumption check the old way - filled the tank, did 464 km and the readout said I had 65 km range left. To fill the tank it took 46.6 L which works out at 9.96 km/L so I calculated that if the tank capacity is 66 Litres as specified, I still had 19.4L left which at 9.96 km/L should have given me an extra 193Km (for a total range of 657km). However, if the tank capacity was only 55 L as per the 3 door Grand Vitara, I would have only had 8.4L left which at 9.96 km/L would have left me with a range of only 84km. This is looking suspiciously like a 55 Litre fuel tank to me !

My next step is to fill the tank and carry a jerry can and run the vehicle until the red light comes on to see how many km it shows. If it only gets me say 500 km it will reinforce the belief that our vehicle has been fitted with the wrong size fuel tank.

Also, we have no faith in the average speed readout either as we have just traveled from Busselton to Fremantle sitting on 110 / 100 kph most of the way and the average speed readout stayed at 46 kph the whole trip (230km). It looks like the whole software program has been stuffed up by a Nipponese Bill Gates. Perhaps the programmer was too old ?

Anyway, appreciate keeping us posted if you get a reply from Suzuki

Cheers, Old Mal
ajsyms@bigpond.com

FollowupID: 714451

Follow Up By: NotSuv - Wednesday, Jan 19, 2011 at 18:57

Wednesday, Jan 19, 2011 at 18:57

Looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, must be a duck = 55 litre tank. I'm starting to smell a rat here. Either that, or they only make one fuel mileage software and it works from full down to where empty (or near empty) would be on a 55 litre tank, ie it would show a small reserve for the 55 litre tank, but a larger one for the 66 litre.

I'll let you know how I go with Suzuki.

As for your average speed readout, I have found no issues with mine, but I reckon what has gone on with yours is that you have to reset it at the beginning of a particular journey otherwise it will be calculating your average speed ever since the last reset. This last reset might be the oringinal start of the speedo, ie it is calculating your average speed over thousands of kms, not just your latest trip.

Also, I have had a look around the web and there are several other posts on other forums with the same fuel calculation issues.

FollowupID: 714454