Fuel Usage

Hi Sanantone
I tow a Roadstar with an 80 series petrol Landcruiser and return 21 litres per 100ks.
So my old petrol is not that thirsty after all.

Doesn’t sound real good to me.
I tow a 3 tonne van with the tow vehicle loaded to another 3 tonne at 18 litres per 100K

Sanantone

Pretty poor economy but 300 kms is not enough to give an accurate picture.

Towing a camper trailer at 100km/h my Amarok returns 12 lts/100 km.

The StarCraft is lighter than my camper trailer but would have more wind resistance. I would expect better economy than you are getting. May be worth having a look at the pressure of the tyres on your caravan.



Tjilpi

Hi Tony, it sure makes a difference when the speed is reduced, if your not in a hurry, and if your on holiday then you shouldn't be in a hurry try dropping another 10Kph down to 80Kph,you'll be amazed at the savings, but make sure you allow traffic to overtake. When I left Perth after retirement I towed my 20ft Van across the Nullabor at around the 80/85 in (5th gear) , I fueled up at Southern Cross 360lts and did not buy any more fuel until Pt Augusta, 2000 Klms .
I know there will be some that are horrified at my statement about 5th gear but why rev the guts out of the engine in 4th when with a slight tail wind the old Troopy cruised along with about 3/4 in of pedal, as soon as I detected a rise and more throttle was needed I'd drop into 4th , when I was doing Pilot/Escort work with the sign up in 5th sometimes the pedal was near flat trying to maintain 90 to 95 Kph so I believe the vehicle was doing it easier with the Van on tow. Haaa that's my theory and I'm sticking with it.

.

I think you will find that once the engine has a few KM on it, it will return better fuel economy, being 2014 it is a new vehicle and a bit tight. I have found on my 200GX that the fuel economy started at 23L/100 but is now down around the 13-14L /100 2 years later - a lot better than I ever got with my 3L Patrol.

cheers

Don't forget to factor in head, side and tail winds - they can make a huge difference

Don't worry about your usage

Just put it in as you need it .

I cant believe how so many people worry about fuel economy .

And how some fudge there Figures .

More to worry about , I would have thought

Cheers

Sanantone

Didn't really mean to have a dig at you.
Must have sounded harsher then what I meant

Your figures would be fairly close I would have thought.

I cant work out why some people want to boast about fuel figures when they are clearly not accurate or maybe they travel at 60 km per hour.


Cheers

Tony
As others have indicated [expect you know anyway], as the engine loosens up economy will improve, however if like several new diesels I have had, that may be 20-50,000 k's.

In the meantime as suggested by others, the Tyre pressures will effect the rolling resistance so you may need to beef them up to say 75% of what the tyre max pressure is. Some trial and error needed and your light weight single axle Van may not need as much. I am running 60psi [on highways] on my 3.5 tonne van and it seems to enable reasonable handling and optimum fuel economy.

I have found that my long tall van creates significant exposure to head and side winds so much so that my fuel usage varies significantly dependent upon prevailing conditions from as low as 17 litre's per hundred to 30 litre's per hundred [I have 200 series twin turbo diesel with some extras - such as bull bar draws chunky tyres etc so weight is at high end].

Like you I have tried various [manual] gear selections and after several trips around Australia and lots of other trips of 10-15000 k,s, I now use 4th gear at 95kph [my self imposed maximum speed - unless I am about to encounter a long hill and need to get a run at it]. That speed gets me reasonable average usage - low 20's litres per 100 when towing. The diesel is happier with the revs higher when lugging big loads and I believe it produces better economy - at least in my rig.

I note your van is much taller than your Ute, so you will be experiencing lots of wind drag/resistance. You may achieve some long term benefits from fitting a wind deflector to the back of the Ute so as to channel the air over the top of the van, truckies have been using such gadgets for ages simply because they reduce the drag and improve economy. You may want to look at something like Aeroplus - www.purpleline.com.au. or make something yourself but ensure you get the design right.

Don't want to bore you but my experience has been that fuels aint fuels - some produce much better economy in identical driving conditions. I bought a load of about 100 litres when I filled in a remote servo with no name fuel on my trip north this winter.
I had averaged 21 litres per hundred for 3000k's - my computer resets after a refill so usually settles in to real usage after 10-20 k's. I averaged 26 litres for next 200k's that day, then back to 25 litres over next 300 or so k's. Refilled with well known brand next day and soon after was back around 22 litres per hundred. Almost identical road and wind conditions overall, so I am convinced that quality diesel is the imperative.

So at say at least an extra 4 litres per hundred was gobbled up, 20 litres more than I should have - uhhm that was about $30 something dollars wasted, that could have been spent on some vice.

Enjoy your travels.

Bob