L/CRUISER 100 4.5L FUEL ECONOMY

Cameron, when I was last on the GRR in 2005, there was no petrol available at the only 'fuel stop' on the entire length of the Gibb, things may have changed, but there are not many petrol powered vehicles up there, everyone drives diesels.

Hear Hear!

I bought mine during a fuel price hike at the begining of the year and probably saved $15,000 with the WA oncosts.

Interest Only at 8.5% x $15000 =$1275

= 1000 Litres Petrol @ $1.27 = 6450 km Free p.a. @15.5ltrs/100k

If you dont do over 20,000km year you will never save money by buying the diesel version.

I too love mine and its the best vehicle I have ever owned!

You will however get back the extra you paid for the diesel version when you sell to some degree.

Thats true, but a $15,000 loan still at the best rate will still cost you $1275 year.

If you are lucky enough to a spare $15k laying around, you are still missing out on about $1100 a year income, still a lot of free fuel.

I didnt mention the extra service costs of runing a diesel, and make no mistake this is quite substantial, if you are investing $70K in a vehicle to last a long time you would be foolish not to service it according to the manufacturers recommendations.

BTW Diesel at some places in Perth today is 19.5c litre dearer than diesel, that is not to say prices in the more remote areas in the country are much closer if not slighlty reversed.

If you use a $20c lite discount voucher that difference buys a hell of a lot more petrol than diesel. i.e. the cheaper the cost per litre the more effective the the discount.

No, no-one suggested that the cost of putting fuel in the tank while on holiday while towing a van wit a petrol will be less, quite the reverse.

The cost of fuel is only one cost of running a vehicle. Most forget the capital cost of a vehicle which in most cases for a new vehicle far exceeds the cost of petrol or diesel.

i.e You either pay the cost in the monthly loan repayments of which you have no option unless you want your vehicle reposesed, or you have the option with a petrol of not using the vehicle for a month or so if you are suffering cash flow problems or not on holidays towing a van.

Money costs money whether you have it or not, that is why the banks are so profitable these days!

Oops,

I forgot to say I also have a Toyota Prius for town use.

The economics there are slightly different because unlike a diesel they give 50% saving on fuel against an equivalent petrol car of that size.

The difference though is very small if not negative in favour of a standard car, however given that I have a gas guzzling V8 petrol 4x4, I salve my greenhouse guilt with the Prius.

Ha Ha!

Do your sums depending on how many Ks you do
I often have people ask why i dont buy a rice burner for city travel
- Its simple
the cost of a second car rego servicing stamp duty insurance etc
wouldnt go within coooe of just having the 1 4by
and BTW check out the whole of life costs of a prius I will think you will find they cost alot more than a corolla to keep on the road

P L U S.....
if you invest the CASH you may have spent on the second car, including all running costs, in a managed fund for a reasonable interest return, you will soon see you would be going backwards by paying out for two vehicles, that are each only half or partly utilized.
However if you 'borrowed' to get that second car then your even further behind the eight ball, due to paying, instead of receiving interest.

I didn't suggest that one expenive to run 4 x 4 and one smaller fuel efficient car would be cheaper overall.

Its just we need two cars, my wife and myself both work full time and public transport doesn't fit shift work.

The service costs for a Prius are almost identical to a conventional 4cyl sedan. With the exception of the batteries there are no components in the electric side that require regular maintenance or replacement

The batteries now fitted are maintenance free and are supposed to last 10+ years, and mine will be long gone before that time, it on 3 year lease.

The V8 4.7 will have much more than enough power to tow your van at any speed you want, right up to and beyond 100km/hr if you want to pay the fuel costs at the higher speeds.

I can tow my 2.8t offroad van easily at 100km/hr with heaps of power in reserve, fuel consumption when driving at this speed however gets truly frightening - 30ltr+/100km is easily achievable (in a negative sense) at these speeds.

Stick to 80-90km/hr and you will use little (if any) more fuel than the non turbo diesel equivalent. 4200km to Broome and back 22.3ltrs/100km average at 80km/hr average speed. Sat on 85km/hr on the speedo.

Altough the LC100 probably uses more fuel (regardless of the fuel variant) than equivalent 4wd's from most other manufacturers, just remember it is in continuous 4 wheel drive and is an automatic.

The added traction, stability and safety from having 4 wheels continously driving through a centre diff, with an automatic transmission and ABS brakes, particularly when on dirt roads when towing a heavy van (or at any other time) gives an incredible feeling of confidence and capability and is well worth the penalty one pays in fuel consumption.

I still have a 2.5ltr Turbo diesel Pajero which I have towed a 17' van all over Australia. The Pajy always worked hard, and I always worried about "overstressing" the engine. I also had some interesting times in the Snowies high country mid winter with the van intow!

Dont worry about resale I bought the Pajy new for $32,000 in 1990. With less than 200k on the clock it is probably now worth less than $4k, still on the original brake linings and injectors.

Cameron B (WA) and Go-N-Gray, many thanks for your observations, they make sense to me. I have reached an age where driving a bit slower and seeing more does not fuss me anyway, I will now have a better excuse for it with a LC100!

Now have the power figures too (TD 150kW @3400rpm vs V8 170kW @4800rpm).

Final question re GAS conversion - is consumption and power same as petrol? I would be looking at keeping the vehicle for at least 6 years so cost of conversion would be warranted I think.

Cheers and beers.

Cameron B (WA) and Go-N-Gray, many thanks for your observations, they make sense to me. I have reached an age where driving a bit slower and seeing more does not fuss me anyway, I will now have a better excuse for it with a LC100!

Now have the power figures too (TD 150kW @3400rpm vs V8 170kW @4800rpm).

Final question re GAS conversion - is consumption and power same as petrol? I would be looking at keeping the vehicle for at least 6 years so cost of conversion would be warranted I think.

Cheers and beers.