Fuel Consumption - Towing TDV6 2.7

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

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
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

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bulletman

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

Bulletman

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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.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scarry

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.

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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

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.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stuarth44

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

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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.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scarry

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.

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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