Thread: Been to Fraser Island lately?

Well, we have just gotten back from a week up at Fraser Island. It's been 6yrs since our last visit and it was a bit of an eye opener....
The number of 'tag-along' vehicles and tour buses is unbelieveable! One thing I did notice though with all the tag-along vehicles is that I saw NO new model ones at all. All the Tag-along ones were ALL OLD vehicles. They ranged from 80/100 series cruisers (plenty of 80's), really old Pajeros and I saw quite a few of the old Discovery-1 Tdi300 hire vehicles as well and the odd Disco-2's. This surprised me a bit but I guess it makes sense too as they probably cheaper to buy, probably more reliable then the modern 4wd and cheaper to replace when stuffed.

We took the missus Prado 150's D4d and I was a bit disappointed in the economy we got for the beach driving side of things. We filled up at Rainbow and then refuelled again when we left the island. A total of 547kms for a total of 121.64ltrs (22.2ltrs/100kms). 140kms of this was towing our Trailer, the rest was just driving over the island. I was a bit disappointed but I guess when u consider driving the soft inland tracks, etc, it's probably not too bad.... (btw: tyre pressure was down to 15psi)

Originally Posted by PAT303

The D4D is not economical at all,my last one,a Hilux used 14ltres/100 on the highway. Pat

Been on a long run with my BIL and his 150 Prado,D4D,it actually got slightly better fuel economy than my D4.Around 9i/100.
Both lightly loaded,calculated,not using the dash readout.
The D4 is heavier,bigger,and the 2.7 D4 was never as good on fuel as the 3.0l,particularly the later models with the 8 speed.

We log our fuel in our work vans,the yota 3.0l D4D(2.8 not yet in the vans),MY17 has done 15000K and has averaged 10.9l/100K since new.
Half the mileage around town,the other half on long runs,and loaded,ladders on roof,etc.And it has the aerodynamics of a brick...

The Hilux may have lower gearing,similar to 70 series vehicles?