Thread: Puma 90 fuel consumption figures

I got a puma 90 in April. Got similar numbers to you up until recently. Did a 400km trip the other day and got about 13L/100km, running empty. I have a steel mantec snorkel, 3 roof bars, terriferma winch bar (no winch). I was very disappointed with the economy.... barely made it home on a tank of fuel!

I'd like to know if this is normal as well. And how can I improve it?

As far as I know a puma is supposed to be more efficient than my td5 110 and we used 12.5l per 100ks on our 3 day stay in batemans bay, full det(7_2adults 5 kids) their loose Gear and towing the ex army trailer 400 out of the 600k's(it was only carrying about 150-200kg of Gear+350 trailer weight). The 90 should be way more economical than my 110 as it has 300kg less to carry!

Weight and aerodynamic drag are the enemies of fuel consumption. As a rule of thumb, once you drive in excess of about 80kmh the issue of drag becomes quite significant...e.g. for a 25% increase in speed say from 80kmh ->100kmh, the drag increases by 50%. If you then increase your speed to 110kmh, the drag is 90% higher than at 80kmh!

Loading up a roof rack, adding a bull bar just increases the drag.

The other enemy is weight...bull bar, dual battery, full size spare wheel(s) and sundry camping gear we tend to lug around... pretty soon the numbers add up.

If you want to test this, remove all the added stuff and do a couple of hundred km at a steady 80kmh...I would not be surprised to see the fuel consumption reduce to below 10L/100km.

I have a 2000 TD5 110 , city driving no load I get about 550k to the tank, on a freeway no load trip I get about 580-600K to the tank.

I usually fill up just as it hits the orange line on the fuel gauge, so I do have at least 15 plus litres left in the tank.
My unit has a full length roof rack , bull bar, no winch, spot and fog lights

I am really happy with the fuel usage

I have noticed but, if I have a load on the roof racks the fuel economy drops, but a load inside does not make any noticeable difference to the economy.

The new 90's only have a pathetic 60L tank, so the moment you start losing fuel economy your up the creek. My previous post I did not have anything on the roof bars, and only 2 people and a bag of clothes on board cruising along at 100kms/hr.

A different trip I towed roughly between 2.5 and 3 tonnes 350kms and burnt 55L, drove a steady 100kms/hr not pushing up any hills. Got back to town and it was so low on fuel that it was starting to surge... NOT fun. I know I could just shove in a long range tank, but I would prefer not to drag even more weight around.

I guess in comparison though, I used to have a Ranger 3L Turbo diesel and it used to get roughly 9L/100 on the highway, throw a load in it and you were looking at more like 15L/100. It had a 70+L tank so didnt' worry me as much. Dad has a 4.2L patrol diesel, does 9L/100km on the highway, doesn't seem to matter how fast you go (under 100kms/hr) and doesnt' seem to matter what you put in it or behind it - it still gets 9/100!

I would have thought that running empty the 90 would do better than it currently is.

A: Have others experienced this?
B: Have others got any solutions? (other than striping all the toys from my car or driving at 80km/hr)


Now i think about it again, for about a month I drove around (to and from work is all highway) at 90km/hr, I didnt' see a significant difference in fuel consumption. I thought that was odd.

Just as a thought... and i'm thinking out loud here. I'm up to about 15000km, so only 5000km short of the first service. Would this be affecting my consumption significantly? Maybe dirty filters, 'old' oil? I think I'll check the water catch in the morning, see that that isn't full.

G'day guys. In my '12 90 around town, which is pretty hilly, I usually run around 11 - 11.5/100km. I have just returned this afternoon from a trip around Victoria covering 3921.4 kms (I kept fuel receipts to check consumption).

A few days into the trip I bought a Track Tvan which I towed for 2855 kms of the holiday. Towing the Tvan I averaged 12.08 litres per 100 kms. All towing was at 95kph mostly (GPS) up to 105kph on the freeway from Albury to Canberra. All other travel was regional areas, Grampians, Great Ocena Road etc. Total kms travelled average was 11.89 L/100.

The car was loaded up as well and the whole rig went like a dream, no problems whatsoever, I'm extremely happy with those figures.

The car is fitted with a full length Hannibal rack, this alone added 1L/100 to my normal consumption when I fitted it without anything even on it.

And I'll add that the worst roads were when I got back into the bloody Bega Shire ggggrrrrrrrrr.

My sons Puma generally gets around 10 to 11L/100 on most trips.It has a rack,snorkel,bar,etc.
Loaded with the roof rack loaded as well,often12 to 13l/100

my D2 definitely used more fuel once i had a snorkle fitted.

Originally Posted by scarry

My sons Puma generally gets around 10 to 11L/100 on most trips.It has a rack,snorkel,bar,etc.
Loaded with the roof rack loaded as well,often12 to 13l/100

my D2 definitely used more fuel once i had a snorkle fitted.

Interesting.... thanks. I wasn't aware that snorkels consume fuel.

Would a bigger intercooler compensate for that?