Thread: Simpson Desert - Puma Fuel Requirements

Originally Posted by noyakfat

I have 265/75R16 Hankook RT03 M/T's. My speedo appears to match my GPS. What do you reckon?

265/75 is in fact smaller rolling diameter compared to the 235/85's but probably negligible at the speedo. As a rule of thumb the defender on 235/85,s reads 5km/h over at 100km/h so that means your odo reading is 5% over actual kms travelled translating into a miscalculation of a 5% improvement in fuel consumption.

Take accurate reading of the difference between speedo and GPS. Whatever the difference is the % for adjustment. If you can't meaningfully measure any difference the adjustment is negligible and you might as well take your odo reading as a good representation of the kms.

Better still get your hands on a nanocom, or some other diagnostic tool which will give you the speedo reading off the ECU which is calibrated off your TFC and is the source for the odo and speedo.

MLD

Originally Posted by tonyf

I went across the Simpson Desert (French Line E to W) and also up the Canning Stock Route in my TD5 90, with roof rack loaded with 120 l of fuel, 2nd spare and other stuff. On the bitumen, driving at about 80 k's, I got about 10 km/l. I allowed for a much higher consumption going through the sand dunes but in fact, with lower driving speed, around 50-60 k's, I got about the same fuel consumption or just a bit higher, so I had lots of spare fuel on each trip.

That's a lot of weight up top! Any problems?

Dave G