Thread: Fuel Usage - Simpson Desert

Originally Posted by Arapiles

That's pretty good economy ..... when I was thinking of buying a Y62 Patrol I checked what people were getting in crossing the Simpson ... 25+ l/100km. Drive used 180 litres on one trip in 2013, but not sure which way they went. So in planning you'd have to work off 30l/100km to be safe.

2013 had a far less economical engine (assuming you are taking y62)
A fellow y62 owner did the CSR, loaded and carrying 290L of fuel, averaged 22.9L/100.
When we did it (all diesel vehicles) averages were from 17L - 19.5L.
Pretty good for a big petrol v8

Originally Posted by Vern

2013 had a far less economical engine (assuming you are taking y62)

Yes, it was the Y62:

https://www.drive.com.au/reviews/nis...0130815-2s0g5/

Did they tweak the engine in later versions to make them more economical?

Originally Posted by Vern

A fellow y62 owner did the CSR, loaded and carrying 290L of fuel, averaged 22.9L/100.
When we did it (all diesel vehicles) averages were from 17L - 19.5L.
Pretty good for a big petrol v8

So, to carry 290 litres of fuel, did he have the Long Range Automotive auxiliary tank and move the spare wheel?

Originally Posted by Arapiles

Yes, it was the Y62:

https://www.drive.com.au/reviews/nis...0130815-2s0g5/

Did they tweak the engine in later versions to make them more economical?




So, to carry 290 litres of fuel, did he have the Long Range Automotive auxiliary tank and move the spare wheel?

Yes, series 3 on had VVEL, fuel use is remarkably better.
Yes, rear bar

A mate in a D1-200Tdi and us in our D1-V8-Rossi, Birdsville to Mt Dare, Russ used a whopping 60l and we used 180...

Originally Posted by Slunnie

On a tangent. What is Madigans Line like now? Has a track now worn in. I was interested that it has been star picketed, how are these spaced? This is something I'd like to do one day also.

The track at either end is a bit hit and miss. We travelled east to west which is reverse of the original. We passed through private property (Adria Downs i think - with permission) to pass by the old Annandale ruins (the original track). If you email the homestead requesting permission and short deets of the travellers, it is generally given. The track on private property is well worn. it gets a bit vague once you cross out of the private property and it links up with the Hay river track. You have to follow the GPS for a bit to link up with the original track where it turns west. Once you are in the desert proper the track is well worn and only an idiot would lose the track. At the other end is a bit more problematic for the east to west travellers. You come out of the desert proper around the Coulson track and the ground is all gibber. The tracks are there but you can find yourself following a track that is not correct. The other thing i found, the map the Aboriginal Council issue you with the tracks (another permit in addition to the SA Govt Simpson permit), Memory Maps and Hema maps all had different lines being the track to follow and there was contradictory information which tracks were open to drive or not. There are Aboriginal sites on the original track that the Council say you can't enter (around camp 2). Navigating around that area was hit and miss for us. That's were the extra 30km was suffered. We drove down the Coulson track looking for the bypass turn off. it was no more than a faint pair of tyre tracks that led over a dune. The other thing to remember is the white forest. The talcum powder bull dust is brutal just north of Mt Dare. I hit a hole with the windows down and like hitting water too fast it rushed up over the bonnet, up the windscreen and into the cabin.

The star pickets are at each camp site of the original track. Some camps have a travellers log you can sign. If you find a small tag wired at the base of the picket with Sandy Toes Tour stamped on it, that was me. Not politically correct but better than a sticker. It will return to nature soon enough.

Its hard to find a copy (i bought one) but Madigan wrote a book of his trip. Reading it beforehand gives you a better perspective of what it was like for them. To keep it in context. they walked alongside the camels wearing 3 piece suits and leather boots. they slept under a canvas tarp draped over them. they carried with them a plethora of scientific equipment to take measurements each day and night and they radioed a news telecast each night with a portable radio transmitter. Hats off to them. Me, i drove very capable 130 with all the modern cons, roof top tent, water a plenty.

This is a pretty good report done by Bushy of our trip back in 08. A lot has changed and reports from other we know that have done this recently saw that it is pretty well traversed these days. On our trip I think we only saw two other vehicles on the Madigan

Edjits Tour Madigan Line 2008

Also all the plaques at Camp 16 have been taken down as are the ones at Geosurveys hill. Back then there were only about a dozen entries in the visitors book.

Hope you get something out of the report

Thanks for these MLD and Chenz!

I'd forgotten about Bushies report!

We 1st travelled the Madigan Line (East to West) back in 2019 and again in 2021 we did part of the Madigan (Camp16 to Birdsville via Adria Dns) and found the travel very easy to find and follow due to the traffic that now has travelled over it.

In 2021 we did a different kind of trip where we came in from the west along the Madigan then partly way down the Colson then off-track towards the Geo-Centre, then continued off-track east to Honeycomb Mining Camp then up the Hay River and back to Birdsville along the Madigan. Travelling the Madigan between 2019 and 2021 there seemed little difference in the sections we did but did find the section from Camp16 down to Birdsville in good condition, way better than the QAA line. Would be very hard these days to miss the main tracks, even the Qld side was very easy to follow... It's just a shame the more popular it gets the more chewed out it will become...
From Refuelling at Finke community then refuelling again in Birdsville we managed 147ltrs for 1025kms (2010 Defender 110) which works out to around 14.3kms/100kms (this was done with just me in the car)

In 2019 from Birdsville then west along the Madigan to refuel @ Alice Springs we used: 169ltrs for 1097kms which is roughly 15.4ltrs/100kms (same vehicle but a lot heavier with a family of 5 onboard)