D4 update - opinions and a few facts

[Disomania]

G'day,

The D4 hit 9701km today, and apart from the list in a different post, has been pretty damn good. It's the most comfortable car (can hardly call this a truck now)

We are currently holidaying in Tasmania and have been on some very good roads, some not so good roads, and some VERY narrow and windy roads up hill and down dale which the car has handled very well.

Today, we climbed 400m in 10km with a side trip up a wet dirt road - car is now filthy!

Then we went back down. All in the name of pancakes!

Now the figures:

Have lost the origianal spreadsheet so only have the last 5000km:

Distance Fuel MPG L/100km KM/L
5129.4 525.28 27.58 10.24 9.7

best was 10.5 km/l or 9.4l/100km or 29.77mpg

I'm fairly happy for now with the best and averages for a still very new 2.5t vehicle. Looking at what others have done with their D3's, I can expect a drop as the car ages to around 9l/100km as a regular thing.

[Next_Door]

D4 3.0L Fuel - Mixture of city and highway driving.
As you can see the onboard reading is not accurate.
Btw I use an iPhone app CarLog.
About to head off to the Kimberleys with a camper trailer.
I'll be logging the fuel.

Onboard Actual Km's
10.6 12.8 7660
9.6 10.9 7129
10.2 11.9 6585
9.6 11.2 6011
9.8 11.0 5436
9.5 10.1 4863
10.7 12.8 4125
9.0 10.5 3644

[Jesse B]

My figures have been much like yours, Next Door - perhaps not quite as good. I still have not recorded a "real" figure of less than 10l/100km, no matter how hard I try. Highway figures consistently high 10s and low-mid 11s, and anything with a mix of town/city in it is 12s or more. And I left my lead-foot years behind decades ago! I had hoped that the recent QA update might have made a difference, but any improvement has been negligible. Having said that, I am definitely not complaining!! I reckon figures like this are just fine, given the size & weight of the vehicle - and given all the benefits it delivers. But mine does seem to register consistently "worse" fuel outcomes than others who post from time to time. I guess cars are "individuals", like people - some take more to make 'em go!

[Watpub]

I'm a bit spolit with this new trip computer fan-dangle stuff!

With my previous car I meticulously kept each fuel receipt on a clip in chronological order in the car. Whenever I re-fuelled I wrote the mileage on the receipt and attached it to the clip - this way I had the date, litres, cost, and even the location. Periodically I then entered the mileage, date, town, litres, and amount figures into a spreadsheet I'd created. I had the spreadsheet colour coded so that I could identify town driving, country driving, and towing and see what I was getting for each.

At the moment I'm keeping the fuel receipts for the new D4 but haven't got around to developing a new spreadsheet - this will happen shortly.

But I have been using the trip computer a bit. Last weekend I towed a heavily laded trailer about 280k's up the Hume. I got 10.3l/100k going there. The whole round trip worked out at 10.0l/100k. I'm stoked! :D

I'll be recreating the spreadsheet shortly. Let me know if anyone wants a copy.

Regards, Ron

PS I must be anal, because I also use an iPhone app called VehiCal (I don't find it as good as the spreadsheet, but you do get to load a picture of the car into it and look at it even though you are sitting in the car you are looking at!:wacko:).

[sniegy]

Hi all,
My lovely beast has just hit the 6K mark & i am averaging just on 10.2L/100k's. At the moment it is mainly city driving as my wife normally drives the vehicle during the week & i get it on weekends, If we go for a descent drive the fuel economy drops to mid 8's & thats with my 2 daughters, My wife & me.

In the workshop on average we see them drop especially after the 10K mark & it pretty much stays there.

Cheers.

[Duck's Guts]

With my previous car I meticulously kept each fuel receipt on a clip in chronological order in the car. Whenever I re-fuelled I wrote the mileage on the receipt and attached it to the clip - this way I had the date, litres, cost, and even the location. Periodically I then entered the mileage, date, town, litres, and amount figures into a spreadsheet I'd created. I had the spreadsheet colour coded so that I could identify town driving, country driving, and towing and see what I was getting for each.

Until now I thought that I was alone in this world....:)

[Watpub]

Until now I thought that I was alone in this world....:)
I seek solace and therapy in the bottom of a bottle (...stubby actually)! ;)

[ADMIRAL]

Until now I thought that I was alone in this world....:)

You guys need to get out more !!

[Brick]

You guys need to get out more !!

And then you can make even more entries in your log books. :D:D:D

Must say I am a little bit the same. Any car I have had from new, I have always kept a log of fuel, tyres, servicing, etc, even if the factory log book is maintained for dealer services.

Have downloaded the CarLog app referred to by Next_Door to my iPod Touch, but wants a WiFi connection each time you want to use it, so not very practical. Will try the VehiCal mentioned by Watpub.

Cheers

[GeorgeK]

I too like to know the detail about my vehicle like fuel economy, expenses services etc. I'm hopeless at spreadsheets.

I have been using 'Road Trip' ($5.99 on iTunes) on my iPhone for about 12 months. A great little programme. It is customisable and you can tailor the info to show a particular trip, a period of dates etc. It will show, at a glance, the actual daily running costs. I also like its ability to track the price of fuel I have paid at the bowser and where I bought it. The latest version can even plot on Google Maps where you bought fuel. I haven't used this feature yet and I'm not sure what it is really good for. However the app is very handy for me. I recommend it.

Cheers

George

[Beamin]

As a result of all this recording and analysis, do the figures stack up against the trip computer? Or do they confirm that the trip computer consistently paints a rosier-than-real picture about average fuel consumption, while at the same time being a panic merchant about the need to fill up?

I usually run the bowser figure through a calculator when I fill up and check it against the average shown on the trip computer (D4 3.0 with all known updates completed). The trip computer is consistently about 10% lower than real consumption: when the trip computer gives an average of 9.1, the bowser shows actual consumption of 10l/100km; computer 10 = bowser 11.1; computer 11.1 = bowser 12.3, etc. I seldom fill up at the same place, so it's unlikely to be a fault with the bowser.

The average fuel consumption figure shown by the trip computer also never tallies with the distance to empty, which normally warns of certain death by about 700km even when the average consumption figure is showing around 9 so there should be a good 900km in the tank (or 840km once you factor in the error in the average). I tend to err on the side of safety and fill up by about 700km but I'd hate to need an accurate figure to wring maximum distance out of the tank.

This is only the 2nd car I've had with a trip computer and the other one played similar games (Peugeot 406 diesel), so perhaps all trip computers do this? Or is it just mine?

[Duck's Guts]

I've had the same experience Beamin.
For example, I run the D4 tank down to ~50km remaining & the trip computer saying the tank average has been 10l/100kms. So should only have 5l left in tank, therefore should take 75l to fill. Each time in takes 67-70 liters to fill.

Similar experience with Touyota Prado & Nissan Pathfinder trip computers. The Nissans was the worst w.r.t. distance to empty. I can always get 100-150kms more that it says I should!

[eddomak]

I have been using 'Road Trip' ($5.99 on iTunes) on my iPhone ...

Anyone found any similar apps yet for Android?

[eddomak]

Anyone found any similar apps yet for Android?

Ok, sorry to answer my own question - I had only searched for "fuel", "logbook","economy", but it looks like "Mileage" is the term to use.

Here are 2 apps:


aCar - supports multiple vehicles
Mileage - only supports 1 vehicle


Both just need the odometer reading, and any 2 of the following:


Unit Cost
Total Cost
# Litres

[Watpub]

You guys need to get out more !!

The more you get out, the more you gotta record! ;)

Actually, it is interesting to go back over the years and see the figures... I remember the days when diesel was less than 80 cents a litre...

[Duck's Guts]

This prompted me to look back at some old spreadsheet records...
The oldest data I have is 20 Dec 1991 when I filled the Nissan TRX Bluebird for 57.9c/l in Brisbane. I was 22 y.o.. Ahhh the memories!

[Disomania]

57.9? Expensive stuff what? Sadly, I remember my father filling the HD for 50c a gallon... he'd hand over $5 AND get change! Best I ever paid was in Toowoomba at 25c/l way back when.

Now to the point of this post though. As we are holidaying in Tassie, we did one of the tourist things this morning in Hobart and went up Mt Wellington. As a point of interest, I switched to the 'trip auto' for the trip computer and after getting to the bottom, a 9km trip, we had averaged 0.2l/100km. Mind you, it's a drop from 1300+/- meters, and twisty so I was in 'command shift' using 2nd/3rd to keep the speed down so it was only the moving from the car park to the initial down hill where we where having to use any fuel - I still don't believe the 0.0l/100km figure when off throttle though, it's got to put SOME fuel in to keep the thing running, surely?

And the damn 'gearbox fault' hit again. Oh well, it will be fixed when we get home along with some rattles.

[Celtoid]

Having had numerous cars with trip computers, I know their failures/characteristics.

I have no idea how accurate they are or could be...under the right circumstances...but it's a moving feast. In theory the computer 'snap-shots' at set intervals but the data that they use is affected by 'right there and now' data....were you accelerating and braking a lot...on the cruise....how heavy....load and fuel weight....speed....blah, blah, blah.

Around town I just let the computer do it's thing....which normally isn't too flash but not bad for a truck of 2.6Ts. If I'm serious about a figure I reset on the cruise and work on those figures. D4 3.0TD, fully loaded, 3 hrs drive to Inskip Point.....8.4L/100kms.

Not bad I'd say.

Regards,

Kev.

[outbacktourer]

Undulating country near NSW/Qld border, on or about 100, limited cruise with the camper trailer on - around 12 by computer. Gundy/Moree and back (dead flat) on or about 100, solo, low 8's. 2000 K's on board only. Good going I reckon, particularly the towing figure.

OBT

[Disomania]

Seems most of us can add 1 - 1.6 l/100km to the figure displayed and be roughly correct with the mileage/fill manual calculations. I'm more than happy with the economy down here in Tassie.
10.3l/100km since we left home nearly two weeks ago is fairly good I feel. 2089 km and 219l of fuel is not bad for a VERY hilly area and being unfamiliar with the roads too. With the nagging woman telling us where to navigate to, it's not uncommon to go from sea level to 700m above, and down again over 30 or 40km! I'm in love with the place and can't wait to get time to learn fly fishing, and come back!