3 litre economy

**discotwinturbo** · 21st February 2012, 11:24 PM

The accuracy seems to be getting worse.

Now on the 8th tank load since new. Did about 200kms of 3.5 tonne towing over the last fill which covered 1200kms. Disco showed 12.9....got to be happy with that, until I do my usual check of fuel put into the tank compared to kilometres travelled....15.2. To date the average error was between 1.5 and 2 lp 100 and now it's worse. I use the same pump, at the same server, at the same time in the morning.

This guage really ****s me....and economy compared to similar trips with our touareg, is pretty ordinary (usual fill up on touareg was around 800 plus kms). Touareg accuracy hovered at around 0.2 lp 100 in the cars favour ...you an certainly live with that.

I guess I need a fault-mate to make it more accurate, and use less of the loud pedal then I am used to using with the touareg.

I know the disco is heavier than my touareg, but really disappointed with its economy so far.

Maybe I need a bigger tank than my 190 litres, for remote travel.

Happy with the disco in general but....it even uses more than my old patrol around town. I had to strangle the patrol to make it go, which should use more fuel.

What am I doing wrong ?

**Disco4SE** · 22nd February 2012, 04:30 AM

Discotwinturbo, Considering the weight of your van, I would have thought that was reasonably good economy.
I am happy with mine around town considering it tips the scales at a fraction under 2.8 ton without me in it.
Maybe worth speaking to your dealer. There was an engine management patch released recently.
I agree, the inaccuracy of the guage is annoying.

Cheers, Craig

**NTB** · 22nd February 2012, 08:23 AM

I do agree that the Trip Computer's Figures on my SDV6 3.0L are also very inaccurate.

I have to record all my running figures etc for the Business. So I have expanded this to also include a Running Average of Trip Computer Fuel Economy Figures and Actual Fuel Economy Figures. I am so far averaging a Error of 12.3% or about 1.5L/100. This in my books is unacceptable.

I have had other Ford and Holden products with Trip Computers and both were very accurate.

I asked about this at the Dealer and they asked me to wait until I had travelled 10,000km. I have currently travelled 6800km.

The Fuel Economy Figures are not what LR have quoted but are still good considering the weight of the vehicle and performance. I did not choose the 3.0L because of the economy. I choose the 3.0L for the Power and Torque Figures. But on the other hand, it would be good to get closer to LR's quoted figures.

NTB

**mowog** · 22nd February 2012, 10:13 AM

Real world figures of 15.9 with 3500kg attached is pretty good.

I have had between 14-19l/100 under tow with a 3500kg van. Yes you will need a long range tank if you want to do remote travel.

BUT....

Your van at 3500kg plus the weight needed to add a long range tank and rear bar for the spare will not leave you much allowance before you hit the GVM limit.

What you are left with is 2 people in the D4 and a very light load in the D4.

**CraigE** · 22nd February 2012, 10:33 AM

Thats not bad considering you are towing 3.5 tonne. What speed is that at? I get about that in my Defender TD5 even up to 17 towing 2.5 tonne at 90-100kmph.
As for the accuracy of the fuel consumption gauge, I do not even look at these on any car as they are so inaccurate.

**discotwinturbo** · 22nd February 2012, 03:09 PM

I think you missed part of my post. Only 200kms of the total trip had 3.5 tonne behind. That means I was using a huge amount towing.
My touareg sits at 16.5 lp100 when towing the float.....on average the car sits around 11.5 lp100 with a miss of towing and around town.
The disco came in at 15.2 lp100.
I love the disco but find my economy is not as sharp as I think it should be.
Touareg is not a box, weighs about 300kilos lighter, but feel it should be a little closer in economy than what it is

**discotwinturbo** · 22nd February 2012, 03:17 PM

Originally Posted by discotwinturbo

Doh...typo....on average the car sits around 11.5 lp100 with a miss of towing and around town.

Typo miss should say bit

**Hoges** · 22nd February 2012, 03:39 PM

I'd have thought you'd need to run the engine in for at least 20,000 to loosen up properly and then see what the figures are. BTW I agree that the overall figures you quote seem reasonable for the weight being shifted. I'm reliably informed that in carefully monitored tests the weight of a spare wheel in some vehicles was worth 0.25L /100km and aircon 0.5L/100km. Not surprising that 3.5T should add a few more!

The Holden vehicles (Berlina/Calais) had an arrangemet on the trip meter setting where by fiddling with the different buttons, you could calibrate the "fuel used" (Litres) against the servo bowser. This in turn sharpened the accuracy of the average L/100km setting... is there no similar fine adjustment on the D4?

**scarry** · 22nd February 2012, 06:14 PM

The accuracy of mine is WAY out as well

My brothers honda thingy is within .2 L/100......!

Bit of a joke really,a 100K vehicle ,approx,& it is that far out.

Can't help you with the real fuel economy though,except suggest it may get better as the car gets a few more K's on it.

The economy of mine (2.7) i recon is worse than the D2,hopefully it will get better as well.

**BobD** · 22nd February 2012, 07:55 PM

Fuel consumption seems to rise rapidly above 100kph. When driving my new to me 3l with 60,000km on the clock back to Perth from Sydney I was using less than 10 while in NSW where speed limits were generally 100 and around 12.2 when in WA where speed limits are 110 and we were doing 119 on the GPS with cruise control on. Both of these were on the super optimistic trip computer but show the difference pretty well.

The real fuel consuption in WA was more like 13.5 l/100km. My car has ECB bull bar, Brown Davis long range tank (full when refueled), Kaymar rear bar and Mitch Brown tow hitch as I purchased it in Sydney, so it is no light weight.

Interesting comparison with previous cars actual fuel consumptions.

VW T4 with 2.5 TDI (75kW 250Nm) and 5 speed manual, fitted out with after market 8 seats and ply floor gave 7.5l/100km all the time, even with 8 people and 115kph touring.

VW Multivan T5 with 2.5 TDI (128kW 400Nm and DPF) and 6 speed lock up everything auto, simlar to D4, more than 12l/100km all the time, despite claimed fuel consumption being better than the T4. Trip computer at least as optimistic as the D4 so it was useless for anything. This was very disappointing.

The D4 is now using slightly more than the T5 VW but with a lot more power and a little bit more weight so it seems about right for the modern high power turbo diesels and auto transmissions that we now have. All 3 cars had A/C in use at all times but the T5 VW and D4 both have very powerful climate control air cons and it is very hot in WA most of the time.

Thread: 3 litre economy

Thread Tools

3 litre economy

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions