Fuel Consumption - Towing TDV6 2.7

[101RRS]

I am interested in peoples thoughts on how well your fuel consumption is towing with a TDV6 2.7.

I drove the 950 km from Canberra to Warrnambool to pick up a smaller campervan. On the way down I drove on one tank at around the speed limit and averaged 8.8l/100km (computer said 7.6).

On the way back towing the 600kg van (about 165cm tall and a bit wider than the RRS) I was doing about 10kph slower than the speed limits and averaged 13.45l/100km.

Now that in itself is very good fuel consumption for about 3.2tonnes train weight but it is over 50% worse fuel consumption compared to the unloaded state. Given the small size of the van I would have not expected fuel consumption to be so bad - I would hate to see what the consumption would have been had it been a full sized 2.5t caravan.

The scan gauge was showing up 65l/100km when going up some hills on the Hume but also when speeds reduced to around 80kph on the straights fuel consumption reduced to near normal levels - so aerodynamics are coming into plan which is surprising for a small camper.

So what sort of fuel consumption are others getting with their 2.7s when towing smaller campervans and larger campertrailers. With only 84l in the tank you start looking for fuel after only covering 400-450km.


Thanks

Garry

[Thinkbig]

We tow a van around 2.3t with our 2.7l D4 and on a recent trip from Brisbane to Yamba we had a fuel consumption of 14.4l/100km going down and 13.8l/100km coming back - it was quite windy going down. We were doing around 100k per hour for most of the trip. Not too many mountains except around the Ballina area. Our normal consumption is around 9.6l/100km in mostly urban driving.

During the trip I noticed that from Caboolture (50k north of Brisbane) to the Gold Coast we were averaging 12.4l/100km. This was mostly flat highway driving.

We have towed around 2000k so far and have never had an average figure above 14.8l/100km - this includes quite a few ranges around the South East Qld region.

[discowhite]

towing my 950kg camper and the car loaded, i see on the dash anywhere
between 11.5/100 and 14.5/100klm. just depends on hills, speed how much overtaking is done.

cheers phil

[rovers1952]

Seems about right.....hauled some of daughters furniture Mansfield to Orange in a garden trailer....10.4 L/100km normal on the Cooper Tyres I use, but around 16L/100km on this run.

[Rockylizard]

Gday...

I have D3 TDV6 Auto SE - tow a 2600kg tandem black-top touring van. I travel full time and have done about 27,000km in past 12 months.

I have averaged 14.3ltr/100km overall for that time - towing and not towing. (calculated in my spreadsheet from actual litres against actual km from trip meter)

Best I have had is 12.1ltr/100kph towing from Canberra to Richmond in Sydney. Worst I have had is 16.4ltr/100kph between Wentworth NSW and Broken Hill (head wind all the way).

Overall I consider 450km from a tank is good - but often I get about 500-530km depending on terrain.

I sit on around 90kph (about 2000rpm in 5th) and don't use cruise control except on very flat long (outback) terrain.

Cheers
John

[stig0000]

old man just got back from about 2.5k trip up north,,, d3 towing about 2.6t ish of caravan,, he said avg was 16ish,,, thats all at speed limit, he hates nothing more then a caravan going down a 110kph hway and find a caravan doing 80-90,

[Rockylizard]

old man just got back from about 2.5k trip up north,,, d3 towing about 2.6t ish of caravan,, he said avg was 16ish,,, thats all at speed limit, he hates nothing more then a caravan going down a 110kph hway and find a caravan doing 80-90,

Gday...

:D ..... AHHHHH - the joys of being a retired old f**t living life in the left lane ...... smelling the roses ...... :D .... but that is what mirrors are for and basic courtesy to make sure 'convoys' are let through (as much as possible)
Cheers
John

[Mike_S]

This is a bit of a 'stating the bleeding obvious' post from me but, at ~14l/100km you're getting better economy towing a couple of tonnes of caravan than I get when I'm just driving. Gotta love those petrol V8's....
Towing my 1500kg caravan can see me hitting single digit "mpg" figures, never mind litres / 10km.

FWIW, friends with a 3.0l D4 are seeing 22mpg when towing a 2 tonne twin axle caravan with a fully loaded D4 (2 adults, 2 kids, all the gear for a month's holiday in the south of France). With his old D3 and towing my 3 tonne boat he averaged 21mpg on a 300 mile fairly flat run, which I didn't think was bad.

[101RRS]

Hmmm - so towing my little camper I am only getting marginally better fuel consumption that some of you towing full on vans - also compounded is that I seem to get better consumption that most of you when driving unloaded.

Maybe it has something to do with the shape of a RRS compared to a D3/D4. The RRS being a Sport machine :) has a slippery shape and maybe instead of the van being in the wash of the tow vehicle it is in less disturbed air creating wind drag - the D3/D4 being more dumpy (like my 101) probably would have the small van in its vacuum area so creating less drag.

A couple of other interesting things courtesy of the scangauge - tailgating B Doubles does improve fuel consumption by about 1l/100km. Engine temps, inlet manifold temperature, power production (for a given rpm) all increase when useage increase. Also when going up a hill and the engine starts to labour, fuel usage increases substantially when you change down.

You play with these things when you are on a 10 hour boring drive.

Oh - also the distance to go empty from the cars computer is exactly the same error as the l/100km readout, ie approx 10%. The l/100km low is about 10% and distance to empty reads about 10% high.

Is there a way of adjusting the computer to give correct readings - the scan gauge is starting to show more accurate readings than the cars computer but you have to make sure you are consistent on how you do each fill.

Garry

[DDdisco]

Friends of ours have a petrol 200 series Land Cruiser. They've never seen less than 20L/100km, towing or not :o. We tow a big horse float, and economy is similar to the others towing big trailers here. Around 8L/100km on the highway without the trailer.

[stig0000]

Gday...

:D ..... AHHHHH - the joys of being a retired old f**t living life in the left lane ...... smelling the roses ...... :D .... but that is what mirrors are for and basic courtesy to make sure 'convoys' are let through (as much as possible)
Cheers
John

hahah:) hes the same trust me,, jsut gets up and feels like a trip and off he gose,

wish i could do that, :D

[Neil P]

Friends of ours have a petrol 200 series Land Cruiser. They've never seen less than 20L/100km, towing or not :o. Neighbour's LC200 petrol is 25l/100 with a caravan , 16 without. 16 is no trouble , but 25 on a 4-5000k trip is costing them.

[discowhite]

Maybe it has something to do with the shape of a RRS compared to a D3/D4. The RRS being a Sport machine :) has a slippery shape and maybe instead of the van being in the wash of the tow vehicle it is in less disturbed air creating wind drag - the D3/D4 being more dumpy (like my 101) probably would have the small van in its vacuum area so creating less drag.




Garry

isnt the RRS shorter and lower? wouldnt this make its tare less then the D3/D4? my D4 empty on the scales at work tares in at 2860kg, arb bar and winch, alloy rack, tripple batterys, cargo barrier, roof pod and rear ladder.

cheers phil

[101RRS]

Certainly the RRS is shorter due its shorter wheelbase - only lower due to lower profile tyres (on the same tyres then same height). The tare weight is just under 2500kg.

Garry

[stig0000]

from what i see tdv6s are getting about 15ish towing,

tdv8s are wayyy better at getting a easy 12 with the same waght,

3Ls on the other hand seem to have gone backwares and getting worse econ, on paper they say they get better econ,, but in the real world i see not, we have one customer who had 3 rrs 2 tdv6s and a tdv8 and now has a new 3L sport, he said if he had the chance he would go back to the tdv8,, he tows a 24' van and got about 12ish, with no van got into the 8s/high 7s, with the 3L same van gets 16 and no better then 9.5 around town,

he wishs they dident take the tdv8 out of the sports line up as he would trade to one enyday,

befour he got the 3L he went to a 200s tdv8, lasted 2 months and swaped it for the sport, he recons they couldent get less power out of that v8 if they tryed;)

[Graeme]

My 3.0 normally shows 10 - 10.5 for my rural driving. Towing a 1T pop-top at 100 kph including up hills showed 12.8, which I thought was acceptable in its own right and a very reasonable increase on normal use. Real consumption is normally 1 L/100km higher than shown, so around 14 with the 1T pop-top.

[TerryO]

Neighbour's LC200 petrol is 25l/100 with a caravan , 16 without. 16 is no trouble , but 25 on a 4-5000k trip is costing them.


Grumdriva who used to own a 4.6 D2 and was a member on here recently brought a new 200 series V8 diesel as some would remember, he told me the other day he is getting about 22 litres per hundred towing his 21' van. If a petrol 200 series is doing 25l/100 when towing then thats pretty good compared to the diesel 200 and the extra cost in fuel used would take a massive mileage to make up the much higher initial new cost price once you add in the higher diesel servicing costs etc.

Often fuel isn't the biggest cost/loss on most new vehicles, it is its retained resale value after several years. The one thing Landcrusiers have in their favour is their high retained resale value compared to most other 4x4's including Disco's.

cheers,
Terry

[Disco4SE]

Here is a photo I took whilst driving home on the Ballarat freeway when I had the D3. Had filled with fuel about 20Klm's back down the road. Had the ECU upgrade done at that stage.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/07/1155.jpg (http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/disco4se-albums-my+disco+3-picture2603-004-2.html)
Towing my 2 Ton boat, I was getting around 13L per 100Klm's (as per car puter)
Cheers, Craig

[Disco4SE]

A bigger photo for those with old eyes like mine..........................
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2012/07/691.jpg
Cheers again, Craig

[PAT303]

Towing a 2t boat at 110 and getting 13's is excellent. Pat

[101RRS]

Dont get me wrong - 13l/100 is very good but 50% extra over normal is a bit much for a small camper - 20ft van would be OK.

Garry

[Preacher]

My TDV6 has a rooftop tent - 265 70 17 maxxis bighorns (mud tyers) and I get around 13lt /100 driving around. I know not very good. When I hook up the 12 ft offroad van 1800kg, highway mileage is about 18.5/ 100
Unless its dead flat on the freeway it drives in 5th gear - i can drop it into 6th manually but as soon as there's an incline it pops back into 5th so I don't worry anymore and let the computer work it out.
I reckon that when you tow it increases by about 50% - looking at the posts in this thread that would be pretty close.
I towed a fairly heavy tandem empty recently for 4 hours in my MB Vito van with the 3lt turbo diesel. Normally get 8.2 empty. With the tandem on the back - got about 11.8 HOWEVER on my return trip with 3 pallets up around the 2 meter mark the consumption only increased to 12.5.
The main cause for increased fuel consumption is that you're towing SOMETHING. Size and weight don't seem to have such a dramatic impact - if you're towing - it'll use the fuel.

dj

[Tombie]

Here is a photo I took whilst driving home on the Ballarat freeway when I had the D3. Had filled with fuel about 20Klm's back down the road. Had the ECU upgrade done at that stage.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/disco4se-albums-my+disco+3-picture2603t-004-2.jpg (http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/disco4se-albums-my+disco+3-picture2603-004-2.html)
Towing my 2 Ton boat, I was getting around 13L per 100Klm's (as per car puter)
Cheers, Craig

D3 TDV6 stock STD towing 2300kg Shark Cat at 110km/h getting 14.5l/100km

[sniegy]

Towing a nearly 2t camper, I get 13.5L/100k's.
That is also with 265/70/17 Mickey Thompson MTZ's, roof rails & cross bars.
Cheers

[aus86inch]

Dragging up an old thread but could be interesting with the newer vehicles.
I have a 2014 D4
Best 9.5/100 on highway at 110
With roof rack 11/100 highway
With 3.2t caravan behind 18/100 @ 100
I use cruise control quite a bit though

[rar110]

Not a tdv6, but my RRV tdv8 used 13.2 lt/100km towing 1.5-2.0t camper trailer. We were doing 100-110km/HR.

[strydes]

Wind is the biggest factor for me, our van is tall so a headwind will make a big difference. 2.7t van loaded but with no water on board (as it normally travels) best of about 14 and worst of about 18.5 L/100.

AT tyres and bullbar now, plus the roof rack will be loaded when we head off in a couple of weeks so best guess long term will be at the higher end, maybe an average of about 16-17.

[NomadicD3]

Wind is the biggest factor for me, our van is tall so a headwind will make a big difference. 2.7t van loaded but with no water on board (as it normally travels) best of about 14 and worst of about 18.5 L/100.

AT tyres and bullbar now, plus the roof rack will be loaded when we head off in a couple of weeks so best guess long term will be at the higher end, maybe an average of about 16-17.

100% agree with you Strydes, Having done the east west rtn trips a number of times now, without towing anything and just a roof pod on, getting the roaring forties assist, the fuel economy runs around 8-9ltrs/100 but push into it for 1000k's and the D3 runs around 12-13. However like John {Rocky Lizard} if you have the time, just drop in behind the road trains and get the easy 8/100 and let them sort out most of the hazards LOL.

[elkorn]

In preparation for a longer trip we have done a 300k small trip to test our towing 3.3t van. On that trip, including some very hilly areas, we averaged 16l/100km. Our read out sometimes showed 50 or 60 for a few seconds! The weather was very poor and windy, and our general speed was in the mid 90's.
We are expecting 16-17 l/100km for a longer trip with a mixed bag of highway and hilly conditions. Our van was not towing level, and I have recently corrected that. It now feels better, so possibly that may also improve fuel consumption.

[Ralph1Malph]

Hi all,
We just towed our small (but old and heavy) pop top from Bris to Dubbo and return in our 06 D3 TDV6.

I never actually measured the fuel economy via fill ups and km, but according to the dash, I was getting 12.5 - 12.7 L/100 the whole way.

We have a set of roof bars with awning and as I said, the van is old and heavy.
I was pretty happy with that as it sat comfortably on 100 - 105 kph and still had some left for overtaking.

Cheers
Ralph

[Narangga]

Computer reads around 10% under actual so just on 14 is still reasonable given what you were towing.

Different towing when compared to the D2 isn't it!

[Ralph1Malph]

Computer reads around 10% under actual so just on 14 is still reasonable given what you were towing.

Different towing when compared to the D2 isn't it!

Quite different! I haven't bonded with it yet like I did the D2 but hopefully soon!

RJ

[scarry]

Quite different! I haven't bonded with it yet like I did the D2 but hopefully soon!

RJ

Took me a good few years to bond to mine....It is such a different animal.

In fact in some ways i still miss the D2a;)

[stuarth44]

I am interested in peoples thoughts on how well your fuel consumption is towing with a TDV6 2.7.

I drove the 950 km from Canberra to Warrnambool to pick up a smaller campervan. On the way down I drove on one tank at around the speed limit and averaged 8.8l/100km (computer said 7.6).

On the way back towing the 600kg van (about 165cm tall and a bit wider than the RRS) I was doing about 10kph slower than the speed limits and averaged 13.45l/100km.

Now that in itself is very good fuel consumption for about 3.2tonnes train weight but it is over 50% worse fuel consumption compared to the unloaded state. Given the small size of the van I would have not expected fuel consumption to be so bad - I would hate to see what the consumption would have been had it been a full sized 2.5t caravan.

The scan gauge was showing up 65l/100km when going up some hills on the Hume but also when speeds reduced to around 80kph on the straights fuel consumption reduced to near normal levels - so aerodynamics are coming into plan which is surprising for a small camper.

So what sort of fuel consumption are others getting with their 2.7s when towing smaller campervans and larger campertrailers. With only 84l in the tank you start looking for fuel after only covering 400-450km.


Thanks

Garry
bunya mountains
very steep coming north to south, the d4 2.7 was down to 1st in high range, there's a massive reduction in gearing from 2 to 1st, near top the eng temp alarm went off at 104c, stopped with engine running, it cooled fast, trans alarm never went off
new tow 1.8 tonne single axle van, 700km fuel reading 12.7 l/100
roads are so bad that there was lots of pitching moments on the rear axle, maybe I will shift some weight off of the ball, air suspension, 6 sp.auto, all in all a very exceptional tow vehicle

[stuarth44]

Neighbour's LC200 petrol is 25l/100 with a caravan , 16 without. 16 is no trouble , but 25 on a 4-5000k trip is costing them.

that's a lotta fuel

[scarry]

that's a lotta fuel

Something is wrong if its doing 16 not towing, unless its highly modded.

Ours empty, will do 10 or slightly less,all day, at an actual of 105Km/hr,by GPS.
Rooftop tent on, fully loaded, same speed around 12.5 to 13.0,depending on headwind.Similar to our old D4.Same mods as the D4.
Thats worked out actual, although the dash read out is deadly accurate, unlike our last D4,which was up to 40% out at times.

Speed makes a huge difference, particularly when towing, so any fuel usage on here without the speed as well, is a useless figure.
As is the dash readout on the earlier D4's,possibly the later ones were better.

[stuarth44]

Something is wrong if its doing 16 not towing, unless its highly modded.

Ours empty, will do 10 or slightly less,all day, at an actual of 105Km/hr,by GPS.
Rooftop tent on, fully loaded, same speed around 12.5 to 13.0,depending on headwind.Similar to our old D4.Same mods as the D4.
Thats worked out actual, although the dash read out is deadly accurate, unlike our last D4,which was up to 40% out at times.

Speed makes a huge difference, particularly when towing, so any fuel usage on here without the speed as well, is a useless figure.
As is the dash readout on the earlier D4's,possibly the later ones were better.

driver of semis, with d4 i use command shift, that means i can shift to 6th gear when D mode stays in 5th, when speed droops Ishift to 5th, looking at the display this method uses less fuel
Driving heavy semis, shift by Pyro temp. I never drive my d4 in D mode

[101RRS]

that's a lotta fuel


Something is wrong if its doing 16 not towing, unless its highly modded.


The lotta fuel comment was in reference to a TDV8 200 series not a D4.

My brother's 200 series did around 15l/100 around town not towing and well over 20l/100 when towing.

[scarry]

The lotta fuel comment was in reference to a TDV8 200 series not a D4.

As was my post, with some comparisons to our previous D4.

[scarry]

driver of semis, with d4 i use command shift, that means i can shift to 6th gear when D mode stays in 5th, when speed droops Ishift to 5th, looking at the display this method uses less fuel
Driving heavy semis, shift by Pyro temp. I never drive my d4 in D mode

Many of the Jap brigade that tow blocks of flats use the same method.

[Bulletman]

Just drove Darwin to Perth in tdv6 D3 towing ex army hallmark trailer , roof rack and MT tyres, a few detours so did 4940ks and used 646 Ltrs @ 100km/h. Car said usage was anywhere from 12.8 to 13.7 .

I know for a fact from the over lander roadhouse north of Geraldton to Perth we were pushing very strong headwinds and fuel usage was 18.1 ltrs , but heard caravans saying they were at 30+ so gathered it was the wind effect on everyone.

Also tried cruise control from Darwin to Katherine and the car wouldn’t lock into 6th so I used 14.8ltrs for that stretch.

Very happy overall but previous trips in same car but no roof rack but on MT tyres sees consistent 11.9/100 and on AT tyres or HT tyres is low 10/100.

Have heard on people doing under 10/100 but never with my D3.

Bulletman

[stuarth44]

worst thing abt single axle is the fore n aft pitching on our rough roads, thinking try transfer weight to places near the axle, deflate tyres to a point they do not overheat
found this
Travel Trailer Dynamics Simply Explained - RV Books (https://rvbooks.com.au/caravan-dynamics/)
my van is abt same width as the D4, it is slippery, little drag, maybe i could make a rack for spare wheel under, but it'd be slung too low, but this pitching is hard on the rear air shocks
the genset, 2 spare and gas are in front, the swingout is only 30kg plus baby bbq aft
i was a bit concerned at the stability as the track width is narrow, so i fitted a heavy axle , heavy 6 stud drums, heavy brgs, but she is really stable towing any speed and on winding gravel, the water tank is up against the axle only 114l in alu tank, maybe i'll go the way Scott H has with just the d4 set up
no idea why the images invert here

[scarry]

Have heard on people doing under 10/100 but never with my D3.

Bulletman

The best I ever got out of my 2.7, D4 was a trip to a property south of Grafton, and back,around 650Km, just me and the dog, sitting on speed limit,9.2l/100.

Some sections of the HWY were 110k/hr,these days its 110 almost all the way from here.

The figure is worked out actual, not dash read out,as it was usually incorrect.

[stuarth44]

The best I ever got out of my 2.7, D4 was a trip to a property south of Grafton, and back,around 650Km, just me and the dog, sitting on speed limit,9.2l/100.

Some sections of the HWY were 110k/hr,these days its 110 almost all the way from here.

The figure is worked out actual, not dash read out,as it was usually incorrect.

when the d 2.7 first came out, First Gear tested it at 10l/100
then when the 3.0 came out it was 9.0l100
yes the only way is measuring the fuel in and then driving a set distance with a tom tom, anything else appears random, as i,ve said before the speedo reads 117 km/h when the tom tom reads 112 and sats are accurate, that's why a ship can give an arrival time when the port is 12000miles distant

[TerryO]

I realise that Garry started this topic many years ago but as its ongoing here is my 2 cents worth.

When I towed our 2.5 ton dual axle off road pop top van behind the D3 that had just over 32 inch BF Goodrich Mud tyres fitted it returned on country back roads around 19L per hundred at around 80-90kph average speeds, on the highway at a constant 110kph it returned around 20-21L per hundred. At 90kph when towing it returned just over 15 Litres per hundred with the muds fitted. These fuel usage numbers especially at the higher speeds improved dramatically with standard OEM sized All Terrains fitted instead of the much larger muds, that is taking into account speedo variance because of different sized tyres.

When towing the large Muds chewed up from memory around an extra 3-4 litres per hundred depending on terrain.

As most of our camping was on pretty rough out of the way back blocks and we were into reasonably serious off roading back then once we were there, I put up with the extra fuel usage as the taller and wider muds made such a positive difference off road.

I miss the old D3 it was a extremely good all round vehicle and even more comfortable on long trips than the D4.

[scarry]

when the d 2.7 first came out, First Gear tested it at 10l/100
then when the 3.0 came out it was 9.0l100
yes the only way is measuring the fuel in and then driving a set distance with a tom tom, anything else appears random, as i,ve said before the speedo reads 117 km/h when the tom tom reads 112 and sats are accurate, that's why a ship can give an arrival time when the port is 12000miles distant

With stock size tyres,the speedo will read about 5% more than actual,but the ODO will be spot on as per ADR’s.

Terry,we always found the D4 and D2 seats too hard,and had lumps in the wrong places.
Maybe our bodies are a bit strange[bigsad][biggrin]
The seats in the LC are way better,extremely comfortable,but the actual ride is no where near as good,nor is the handl8ng,even with KDSS,but it is very sure footed on high speed dirt,which is surprising.
Nothing beats EAS and IS on all corners.

[stuarth44]

With stock size tyres,the speedo will read about 5% more than actual,but the ODO will be spot on as per ADR’s.

Terry,we always found the D4 and D2 seats too hard,and had lumps in the wrong places.
Maybe our bodies are a bit strange[bigsad][biggrin]
The seats in the LC are way better,extremely comfortable,but the actual ride is no where near as good,nor is the handl8ng,even with KDSS,but it is very sure footed on high speed dirt,which is surprising.
Nothing beats EAS and IS on all corners.

try rocky river road in northern NSW for high speed gravel, the D4 is so surefooted, more like a chamois than a deer, i find seats really good, drive all day, no pain, my biggest non stop drive was UKRAINE TO WESTERN GERMANY AT NIGHT, POLAND WAS bloody bad, autobahn signage was impossibly small, this was in my 2000 td5