Thread: Fuel consumption towing caravan Defender?

All this talk of fuel consumption and rubbishing other brands makes me laugh a little.

I have had defenders and rovers in general for a long time and I love them. Yes they are pretty frugal on fuel but that is largely due to driving style and ability of the vehicle to tow.
Whilst they tow a heavy load, they do not do it easily on hills or when overtaking so we often choose or are forced to slow to 90 or maybe 80kmh. We then report great fuel consumption figures.

Using the cruiser v8 d4d as an example, they will be able to safely overtake whilst towing, will hold 100kmh up hill while towing. Yes they will use more fuel as they are towing the same load at a higher speed when needed. If I drive my defender(when towing) so as to hold 100kmh on the hills(if it can) and to overtake etc it will realistically use about the same as the cruiser. That is if it does not go into thermal protect on hot days when being pushed uphill!

My 2009 defender is chipped and intercooled and it is much nicer and safer to tow with now than as standard. It is still a bit behind the cruiser v8 for ease of towing and is realistically very similar on fuel consumption when driven the same.

I drove in a convoy a while back with all different makes. All were towing similar sized vans etc. In the convoy we all were holding similar speeds etc and all fuel consumption figures were all pretty similar. A range rover sport v8 diesel seemed to have the best figures by a reasonable margin but most others were very similar.

Just my 2c.

Originally Posted by PAT303

So tell me about your yaks . Pat

Ocean kayaks 4.7m ultras with icebox on the back, fishfinder, sail.

Originally Posted by quaddrive

All this talk of fuel consumption and rubbishing other brands makes me laugh a little. I have had defenders and rovers in general for a long time and I love them. Yes they are pretty frugal on fuel but that is largely due to driving style and ability of the vehicle to tow. Whilst they tow a heavy load, they do not do it easily on hills or when overtaking so we often choose or are forced to slow to 90 or maybe 80kmh. We then report great fuel consumption figures. Using the cruiser v8 d4d as an example, they will be able to safely overtake whilst towing, will hold 100kmh up hill while towing. Yes they will use more fuel as they are towing the same load at a higher speed when needed. If I drive my defender(when towing) so as to hold 100kmh on the hills(if it can) and to overtake etc it will realistically use about the same as the cruiser. That is if it does not go into thermal protect on hot days when being pushed uphill! My 2009 defender is chipped and intercooled and it is much nicer and safer to tow with now than as standard. It is still a bit behind the cruiser v8 for ease of towing and is realistically very similar on fuel consumption when driven the same. I drove in a convoy a while back with all different makes. All were towing similar sized vans etc. In the convoy we all were holding similar speeds etc and all fuel consumption figures were all pretty similar. A range rover sport v8 diesel seemed to have the best figures by a reasonable margin but most others were very similar. Just my 2c.

Driving style, in particular speed has a big impact in my case. Towing a camper trailer with the TDV8 RRV I used about 1.5 lt /100km more if I sat on 110kmh vs 100kmh.

Originally Posted by quaddrive

All this talk of fuel consumption and rubbishing other brands makes me laugh a little.

I have had defenders and rovers in general for a long time and I love them. Yes they are pretty frugal on fuel but that is largely due to driving style and ability of the vehicle to tow.
Whilst they tow a heavy load, they do not do it easily on hills or when overtaking so we often choose or are forced to slow to 90 or maybe 80kmh. We then report great fuel consumption figures.

Using the cruiser v8 d4d as an example, they will be able to safely overtake whilst towing, will hold 100kmh up hill while towing. Yes they will use more fuel as they are towing the same load at a higher speed when needed. If I drive my defender(when towing) so as to hold 100kmh on the hills(if it can) and to overtake etc it will realistically use about the same as the cruiser. That is if it does not go into thermal protect on hot days when being pushed uphill!

My 2009 defender is chipped and intercooled and it is much nicer and safer to tow with now than as standard. It is still a bit behind the cruiser v8 for ease of towing and is realistically very similar on fuel consumption when driven the same.

I drove in a convoy a while back with all different makes. All were towing similar sized vans etc. In the convoy we all were holding similar speeds etc and all fuel consumption figures were all pretty similar. A range rover sport v8 diesel seemed to have the best figures by a reasonable margin but most others were very similar.

Just my 2c.

I dont think anyone was rubbishing other brands, I actually thought the v8 diesel workmate was a great truck, but man it is expensive Also from what I was told no matter how gently you drive it towing a caravan you are not going to do better than 17.5l per 100km. Even driving hard towing the Defender I cant imagine fuel economy being that bad.
Chris

I wrote earlier about a camping trip to Fraser island with my 300 tdi car, and a hired Toyota V8 station wagon ( 70 series i think they're called). I didn't work out the fuel consumption at the time, but both cars always filed up at the same garage each time, and we traveled in convoy all the time. The defender carried the most camping gear. The consumption of the V8 landcruiser surprised me, minimum 30 % more at each fuel stop. Lovely car to drive, incredible torque, but expensive to buy and to run.

Like I say don't get me wrong as I still own and have owned a number of defenders.

My TD5 when towing a 2t trailer at the 100kmh state speed limit would return 14-15 l/100km. It was chipped and intercooled. It towed well but overtaking trucks or slower vehicles involved good timing and long roads.
My TDCI is not as zippy and returns the same sort of consumption maybe a bit worse.

When I towed a 3.5t car trailer with each of the above the consumption was up to 17-18 l/100km. Overtaking was not an option even with the chip and intercooler upgrades.

Having driven a work cruiser and having towed with them, the real world consumption is pretty close when driven the same over the same roads with the same loads as my defender. Just my experience. As an example a mates f250 uses pretty much the same fuel if it is towing 2t or not towing at all.

As far as the cruisers being expensive- yes they do cost a fair bit more than the defender but then again you don't need to add: Long range tank, heavy duty axles/flanges to stop fretting and a chip/intercooler (unless you want to)... looking at my car the list can go on and on...as always there are pro's and cons to all vehicles and I love my defender. In reality all of the rigid axled 4x4's from the main manufacturers still available are all pretty good and in reality they are all pretty comparable in terms of price, every day use and so on when you look closely.

Cheers and sorry if I ruffled any feathers.

Originally Posted by quaddrive

Like I say don't get me wrong as I still own and have owned a number of defenders.

My TD5 when towing a 2t trailer at the 100kmh state speed limit would return 14-15 l/100km. It was chipped and intercooled. It towed well but overtaking trucks or slower vehicles involved good timing and long roads.
My TDCI is not as zippy and returns the same sort of consumption maybe a bit worse.

When I towed a 3.5t car trailer with each of the above the consumption was up to 17-18 l/100km. Overtaking was not an option even with the chip and intercooler upgrades.

Having driven a work cruiser and having towed with them, the real world consumption is pretty close when driven the same over the same roads with the same loads as my defender. Just my experience. As an example a mates f250 uses pretty much the same fuel if it is towing 2t or not towing at all.

As far as the cruisers being expensive- yes they do cost a fair bit more than the defender but then again you don't need to add: Long range tank, heavy duty axles/flanges to stop fretting and a chip/intercooler (unless you want to)... looking at my car the list can go on and on...as always there are pro's and cons to all vehicles and I love my defender. In reality all of the rigid axled 4x4's from the main manufacturers still available are all pretty good and in reality they are all pretty comparable in terms of price, every day use and so on when you look closely.

Cheers and sorry if I ruffled any feathers.

My friend tells me though that his Workmate only gets 17.5l per 100km even with just a camping trailer, getting 14 he said is not possible towing anything Yet it seems from reports here you can get 14l per 100 towing even a 16 foot caravan so the defender is cheaper to run towing for sure. The workmate is a LOT more expensive you are looking at 70k for one with electric windows and any kind of comfort which is 20 grand more than a Defender. Also it is common for the LC V8 diesel to need new injectors after 100,000km which is 8 grand just for the parts as genuine injectors are over 1,000 dollars EACH and there is 8 of them. Also you need to pray you never need to change the starter motor as it is 9 hours to get the old one out. Also ask how much it is to fit a bullbar (I did) the labour is over a grand as there is so much to take off and put back to get it on. The LC is a good car but it is very very expensive to buy and to own.
Chris

My choice of vehicle has been the 110 for many years . Yes they tow OK. returning reasonable fuel consumption on average . But then do so many other 4x4s , or utes , or even family cars . I would have liked a bit more power . For whatever reason Land Rover like 90kws . I think they should have had an engine choice . After all there engines are from the Ford family , The 3lt. Transit would have been I nice option , or even the 3.2 dt5 even better . Any one that tows knows that if you want to overtake a long truck , you need to allow lots of time , and a long road !!.. Jim .