Outback traffic

**PAT303** · 17th July 2007, 06:32 PM

I've just returned from two weeks in Qld and drove back to home via western Qld and NSW and could not get over the amount of traffic that is out there. Every second vehicle is a four wheel drive towing a van driven by a retired couple at 80klms an hour.The real suprise was that most of the ones I looked at (alot) were petrol.One old guy told me he was getting 500k's out of his cruiser and the duel tanks held about 120 lts.I mentioned that gas would be a good option but told me the power loss is to much(I was driving my Disco on gas and said otherwise but he obviously new more than me) and told him a Tdi or Td5 Disco would tow it just as well for about 12ltrs per hundred klm's.It would be nice to have that much money to burn. Pat

**DiscoTDI** · 17th July 2007, 06:38 PM

There is a bloke out my way who drags a boat (biggest boat that can be trailered)to Mackay with a V8 cruiser, it is 200km and he has to stop half way to fuel up and if he goes over 90kmh he will not make the servo

.

He is also the saftey officer for a mine who has brought in a rule saying that it is too dangerous to tow a 6 x 4 box trailer behind a Hilux

**Captain_Rightfoot** · 17th July 2007, 07:33 PM

Originally Posted by DiscoTDI

There is a bloke out my way who drags a boat (biggest boat that can be trailered)to Mackay with a V8 cruiser, it is 200km and he has to stop half way to fuel up and if he goes over 90kmh he will not make the servo

.

He is also the saftey officer for a mine who has brought in a rule saying that it is too dangerous to tow a 6 x 4 box trailer behind a Hilux

I can second this. At one point between Longreach and Winton and I counted the traffic at around 50/50. That is 1 person with a van/trailer/camper to anyone else on the road.

You'd stop in a little town somewhere and have to wait to cross the street or fear getting flattened by a 4by with caravan!

Also the number of petrols amazed me too. I talked to one guy with a van, and a old diesel cruiser that was getting 6k/l and he thought that was good.

And I had the guilts burning around in a car using 10.5l/100...LOL

**crump** · 18th July 2007, 04:49 AM

go in summer, you will have it all to yourself.

**wovenrovings** · 18th July 2007, 07:03 AM

They were just starting when i went across to the Kimberlies in May.

**PhilipA** · 18th July 2007, 09:23 AM

Come on fellas. The

The truth is that as is constantly highlighted in news media, fuel consumption is only a small part of vehicle ownership cost.

Depreciation etc is far more.
It would cost me FAR more to sell my old petrol Range Rover and buy a new generation diesel than to keep the car and pay a bit more for petrol.
Similarly anyone with an older petrol vehicle is better off financially to keep it and pay extra for petrol.

Many of us do not consider gas a viable option due to the loss of carrying space and no supply in the outback. Its horses for courses.
At the end of the day, the extra cost of say $900 over a 10,000KM trip ( at 1.50 per litre and 10L per 100Km Vs 16L per 100 KM) is not all that big in the scheme of car ownership cost. And if you are on the coast the cost difference between diesel and petrol is less as diesel is more expensive.

I guess the evidence you see is the large number of petrol vehicles. Diesel is only about 5% of the Australian carpark.
I am surprised at your surprise.
Regards Philip A

**barryj** · 18th July 2007, 09:34 AM

Originally Posted by PhilipA

I guess the evidence you see is the large number of petrol vehicles. Diesel is only about 5% of the Australian carpark.
I am surprised at your surprise.
Regards Philip A

Excuse me for butting in, but are you saying that only 5% of four wheel drives are diesel? Four wheel drives are what this thread is talking about. Maybe another poll would help but this has been done on this site already.

One poll shows diesel vs V8 petrol\LPG http://www.aulro.com/afvb/showthread...highlight=poll

**Redback** · 18th July 2007, 10:06 AM

Originally Posted by PAT303

I've just returned from two weeks in Qld and drove back to home via western Qld and NSW and could not get over the amount of traffic that is out there. Every second vehicle is a four wheel drive towing a van driven by a retired couple at 80klms an hour.The real suprise was that most of the ones I looked at (alot) were petrol.One old guy told me he was getting 500k's out of his cruiser and the duel tanks held about 120 lts.I mentioned that gas would be a good option but told me the power loss is to much(I was driving my Disco on gas and said otherwise but he obviously new more than me) and told him a Tdi or Td5 Disco would tow it just as well for about 12ltrs per hundred klm's.It would be nice to have that much money to burn. Pat

I'll bet 95% of them were Victorians

Baz.

**Bigbjorn** · 18th July 2007, 11:45 AM

Originally Posted by PAT303

Every second vehicle is a four wheel drive towing a van driven by a retired couple at 80klms an hour. Pat

This is why the line haul truckies call them terrorists not tourists. In the outback the truckies are trying to make a mile and a dollar and pulling doubles and triples at 100-110kph and being faced constantly with mobile road blocks.

**Captain_Rightfoot** · 18th July 2007, 11:55 AM

Originally Posted by PhilipA

Come on fellas. The

The truth is that as is constantly highlighted in news media, fuel consumption is only a small part of vehicle ownership cost.

Depreciation etc is far more.
It would cost me FAR more to sell my old petrol Range Rover and buy a new generation diesel than to keep the car and pay a bit more for petrol.
Similarly anyone with an older petrol vehicle is better off financially to keep it and pay extra for petrol.

Many of us do not consider gas a viable option due to the loss of carrying space and no supply in the outback. Its horses for courses.
At the end of the day, the extra cost of say $900 over a 10,000KM trip ( at 1.50 per litre and 10L per 100Km Vs 16L per 100 KM) is not all that big in the scheme of car ownership cost. And if you are on the coast the cost difference between diesel and petrol is less as diesel is more expensive.

I guess the evidence you see is the large number of petrol vehicles. Diesel is only about 5% of the Australian carpark.
I am surprised at your surprise.
Regards Philip A

I certainly understand what you're saying. Changing a vehicle to get better fuel consumption is generally false economy. What is more, in an environmental sense the production of a new vehicle uses a considerable amount of energy in itself so a change for green reasons can potentially be even more futile.

Having said that, there weren't all that many older vehicles towing these behemoths. Generally they were new or near new vehicles. I supposed that many of them were bought to "tow the van". This is what surprised me. If I was buying a new vehicle with the intention of doing a trip like they were doing I would definitely choose a diesel, not a V8 petrol landcruiser of which I saw many.

Also, our trip to WA was 12k return. I'm guessing that these nomads would often cover many more k's than we did on these extended holidays. The average cost of diesel would have been at least $1.50 a litre

Thread: Outback traffic

Thread Tools

Outback traffic

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions