Fuel Economy towing 2.5t Caravan

**pullthrough** · 18th July 2010, 08:23 PM

Hi

I'm planning to do the "gray nomad" thing with a trip around Aussie and will be kicking off my venture in September. I have recently purchased a 21.5' Jayco Heritage and it will have a gross weight of around 2.5t.

I took it for a test run with my new (to me) 2002 D2 TDi5 to Hervey Bay from Brisbane with a round trip of 600km. I averaged 18.1 ltrs/100km.

My question is considering the weight, what is the general opinion as to the fuel consumption. Should I be expecting more (hopefully)? Bearing in mind I will be doing an awful lot of kms, so fuel economy will be important.

By the way the D2 handled the towing fantastically.. I'm so pleased that I purchased the D2 - it's my first 4WD. I'm hooked on the Discovery.

Thanks for any feedback.

David

Zute · 18th July 2010, 11:53 PM

Auto or Manual ? Keeping it under 80km/h will help, but may anger other motorist.

**pullthrough** · 19th July 2010, 05:21 AM

It's an auto. By the way I kept my speed around the 90-95kmp for much of the time. I will try cutting the speed down, but 80 might get my nerves on edge, forget the other road users....

**Disco44** · 19th July 2010, 05:51 AM

Originally Posted by pullthrough

It's an auto. By the way I kept my speed around the 90-95kmp for much of the time. I will try cutting the speed down, but 80 might get my nerves on edge, forget the other road users....

If you are under the speed limit and not stopping to let traffic pass that is an offense under Queensland traffic laws and you could be booked.

**pullthrough** · 19th July 2010, 07:00 AM

Originally Posted by Disco44

If you are under the speed limit and not stopping to let traffic pass that is an offense under Queensland traffic laws and you could be booked.

I didn't know that so thanks for the heads up, although if I was travelling like that I would try not to hold up the traffice.

**JDNSW** · 19th July 2010, 07:02 AM

Originally Posted by Disco44

If you are under the speed limit and not stopping to let traffic pass that is an offense under Queensland traffic laws and you could be booked.

Regardless of the law, that is the courteous thing to do. But seriously, keeping below 80kph will make a significant improvement to the fuel economy when pulling an airbrake like a caravan.

Something else you might consider is the practice of putting your UHF channel on the back of the van, so trucks behind you can let you know they are there.

John

**Pedro_The_Swift** · 20th July 2010, 04:18 AM

Its probably the best you can hope for,,
only really one decent hill in that 600kays,,

you could chip it,
it would go faster everywhere,,
not sure on consumption though---

Congrats on the purchase

richard4u2 · 20th July 2010, 09:25 AM

if your worred about economy forget about the trip

Tombie · 20th July 2010, 11:47 AM

Fuel Economy is a product of torque as well...

Sit in the torque band and it will be much better.

Aim to be locked up (torque converter) in 4th and sitting around 2500rpm.

This is the engines max torque area.

Also, look at re-mapping the ECU to improve response and improve torque.

You should have a better towing arrangement then.

A re-map is something I can assist you with and AULRO members get looked after well.

**PhilipA** · 20th July 2010, 01:03 PM

From previous posts I gather that even a D2 ( like my RRC) has converter lock up at 85Kmh, so 90 would be about the most economical .
Regards Philip A

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