Petrol consumption

Johno,

I have a 2007 3.0 litre D4D common rail turbo diesel Prado, unmodified, no chip, std exhaust.

There's a bit of stuff permanently in it which adds weight and drag - roof bars on top, fridge and drawer unit in the back. Around town about 12L/100k. It never goes on the highway in town configuration so I can't give you unloaded highway figures.

When we tow on a trek it's loaded, has a roof rack with stuff up there and pulling a 2200kg van, total weight just under 5000kg. GCM is 5400. We get 14's on the tar, 16s on dirt, 19s in hilly country.

We don't drive flat out but we don't hang about either - 90 to 100 on the highway, drive to conditions on the dirt (with softer tyres = more fuel consumption) but no more than about 80 (it has to be good for that).

Cheers

Without knowing how much your van weighs, or how hard you drive the car, I'd say 15's are a bit higher than my 2.5L CR diesel, but not hugely bigger.

I get 11's & 12's around town towing big loads & high 8's on country roads (gravel or black top) towing the CT (500kg)

But, I'm a sedate driver! ;) If I stuck my boot into it, I'm sure those figures would jump quite a bit!

The real difference between diesel & petrol when towing is that IMO, diesel's are nicer to drive with a load behind them, but that's just my personal preference!

There again, I know someone with a 3L GU Patrol & he hates towing with it - especially up hills! My little 2.5 D22 comes into it's own on hills! :)

On a trip in the NT last year towing a Jayco camper with my 2.8Pajero, travelling on average at 120kph, I got between 14-15km per 100. Never done a trip yet not towing, so unable to give any figures on this.

I think the if you are going to tow anything on a regular basis diesel is the only way to go. The key advantage is that diesel engines generate far more torque and rev less than a petrol engine. They also generate their power down low in the RPM range where it is needed most. So for me it's not diesel vs petrol, it's diesel and which vehicle should you get? That off course depends on your budget and personal preference.

This isn't what you were asking for but may be of interest. With a Forester manual of the same capacity as your Nissan, towing a CT of about 850 kg gross, we average 12-13 l per 100k. That's over good bitumen as well as rutted roads. 15.5 was the worst, over long stretches of 2nd and 3rd gear work.

Hi johno

I have a 2.5 diesel Challenger with bull bar,roof rack and towing the camper trailer approx. 950 Kg we will get 12 lt/100 km (90 to 110 Km/hr) on highway and 14.5 lt/100km (70 to 80 Km/Hr) on ruff dirt road.

Cheers

Rob

I am with Frank P and IT.on this .I tow similar to frank except that when the road is clear I hit 100 ks so I go up to 21 /100. However in my hometown on the Murray I plod along and get 7.9/100 so its a diesel always .Cheers John

Not quite what you asked for, butt for comparisons sake, I have an ASX 2.2 diesel, slightly smaller than the XTrail, but not a lot. Around town I get around 5.7 to 6.4 per 100. Towing an Aliner (around 1100 kgs) best I've had was around 8.5, worst was low 11s with a 14' hobie on top and on hilly, windy roads.

Johno,

In my humble opinion stressing over fuel economy will only do your head in and in most cases is irrelevant.

Based on the replies to your post by changing vehicles you will at most pick up 3ltrs per 100 km at best in real life situations. So do the math - over say a 5,000km trip you use an extra 150ltrs of fuel costing around $250 - very minor in the overall costs of a trip that length and absolutely insignificant compared to the cost of changing over a vehicle (check out the stamp duty and other govt costs alone on updating your vehicle!)

if your happy with your rig stick with it, and when its time to update think about fuel economy of the new vehicle then.