Fuel economy

Submitted: Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 17:19
ThreadID: 95318 Views:5739 Replies:4 FollowUps:3
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Can someone tell me the fuel economy of a Toyota Prado (petrol) doing the Simpson Desert versus the Diesel? I am looking for comparisons. We are looking at a petrol prado or Hilux for the future and would like to know what the costs are running these things over the desert.
We do a lot of outback driving in a Forester and find the economy very good. If we upgrade to a bigger vehicle, knowing what you are in for helps!
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Reply By: SKEB - Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 17:39

Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 17:39
Hi Julie, not sure which model prado you may be looking at. Older models (90-95 series) run the 3.4L petrol engine and the newer 120 and 150 series run the 4.0L engines. The 150 runs the same engine as the 120 with some minor upgrades over the years.
I have a 2002 95 series prado with the 3.4L in manual form. I completed the Simpson last year and fuel usage from Oodnadatta to Birdsville was 111 L over 765 K's giving 14.5 L/100Km.
Hope that helps. Cheers , Simon.
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Follow Up By: Julie S2 - Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 17:43

Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 17:43
Thanks Simon, just what we need to know for our possible future needs. A bit scary getting a bigger car for us. It just seems so expensive by the time you lift them and put bigger off road tyres on them and do any other sort of stuff that needs to be done to make them desert worthy. However We have done all those things to our Subaru!
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Follow Up By: Ross M - Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 20:38

Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 20:38
Putting bigger wheels on a Prado will make it use more fuel than it does in stock form.
It also reduces the power at the back wheels and makes pulling power less.
Check with others what tyre/ rim size they have on their Prados to get a good idea of the situation.
A diesel Prado will use less fuel overall.

Ross M
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Reply By: Mick O - Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 22:42

Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 22:42
Julie,

if you check the Simpson Desert Trek notes on the site, it gives an assessment of fuel needs for both types of motors based on engine size.

Cheers Mick
''We knew from the experience of well-known travelers that the
trip would doubtless be attended with much hardship.''
Richard Maurice - 1903

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Follow Up By: Julie S2 - Thursday, May 03, 2012 at 07:59

Thursday, May 03, 2012 at 07:59
Thanks for all the info, time to digest it all now.
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Reply By: sweetwill - Thursday, May 03, 2012 at 07:54

Thursday, May 03, 2012 at 07:54
Hello Julie s2.
My 2002 hilux has the 3.4l petrol engine, With gas, On petrol it gets 450km to a 75 L tank on the hwy at 90 to 100 kpa, the Gas tank uses 76 to 78L if i run it empty for 400 Klm at the same speed this is just the ute, fully loaded, While i only went out to Big red from Birdsville and back on the detour last June it did use a little more, sorry but i never took notice of how much when i refuelled back in birdsville, my tyres were 31x10.5x15 at the time Hope this is of help Bill,
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Reply By: Robin Miller - Thursday, May 03, 2012 at 08:19

Thursday, May 03, 2012 at 08:19
Hi Julie
I have been running two petrol 4800 patrols which use around 22lt/100km to cross that dessert.

Some would say thats really bad however -

You might find it worthwhile to concentrate on the real running cost of any vehicle rather than fuel use.

2 key things to keep in mind are that fuel is only approx 20% of the cost of running a car in its first 5 years of life , so if one car uses half the fuel of another you only can potentially save 10%.

The other thing is that the auto versions use typically 20-25% more than the manual versions across the desert but 5% less getting to the desert.

Hence my auto 4800 petrol patrol may use 20lt more to cross but 80lt less getting to/from it from Melbourne.

Robin Miller

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