Thread: More Towing Fuel Economy with the 2.7L

Originally Posted by John_D2

Would it be possible to buy a solar panel (or a piece of marine ply) and mount it as a wind deflector to your roof rack. Of course I’m assuming you have one. You could buy everything at a hardware or get some handy person to make it quickly during your travels. Just an idea.

Hi John - not convinced it would help!

Originally Posted by 101RRS

Yes but West Australia/ns is/are just plain weird

As someone who has lived in every state and each mainland territory, I'm still trying to sort out the logic of this!M

Mind you, one definition of sandgropers is that they are the only ones happy to drive 300 km for a carton/bottle of milk from the corner deli.

Originally Posted by gavinwibrow

Hi John - not convinced it would help!

I’ve obviously got the wrong idea of your setup in my head. Care to share a pic?

Originally Posted by scarry

Correct,and the caravan towing holiday maker may actually be doing around 86KM/Hr.

This is an issue, Jo Average in their new car, more than likely is sitting on(or has the cruise set on) 100km/hr,but actually the real speed they are going is 95 or 96km/hr.
Most modern cars read around 4 to 5% less than actual.
So the truck driver will actually be doing 9km/hr more than Jo average,and won't take long to get frustrated,but Jo Average thinks the truck is speeding.
Well the truck is speeding,but not by much and probably won't get pulled over,only 5% over,not 9% over.

Even if the truck is doing 100Km/hr,its still 4 to 5 Km/hr faster than than Jo Average,who thinks he/she is cruising on the speed limit.

I drive by my Garmin street finder all day,and have for years,never had a ticket.
And some days i go through over 10 speed cameras,and a few cops sitting on the side of the road with speed guns,at least.

FWIW,and in my opinion,car speedometer read outs that are lower than actual are no real benefit,and are actually, in some ways,dangerous.

But not for we fortunate ones who can tweak the speedo reading to be correct via Nanocom, Gap II, Rovacom IQ or whatever.

Originally Posted by BradC

Wow! We're a bit more relaxed over here in WA. Here I generally cruise past at 107 in a 100 zone and don't get a flash. I *have* had flashes at 108, but never been sent an infringement. Of course the day I missed the change of speed sign and went past at 107 in a 90 zone I copped it!

The digital speedo I built for my Volvo is accurate to about 0.2% at 100kph, so I kinda pay attention to exactly how far I can push the boundaries. In the D3 I use the GPS speedo on the phone to tweak the cruise control settings. Not anywhere near as accurate, but still better than a waving needle.

Y

I disagree. You have been lucky - WA is set for 3 kmph over the stated/posted limit, and there is little leeway given.

Originally Posted by discorevy

any % difference whether it be at 100 kph or 50 kph will be the same
eg: speedo reads 105 actual speed 100, actual speed 50 , speedo will read 52.5 kph

Gavin , what have been your max egt on the trip, which I hope you are enjoying

Cheers Craig - been impressed (assuming the gauge is approximately correct). Much cooler than the D2 and normally maxes out at around 500 degrees C. Will know more as we test out the roads to the East.


Can't help myself - one for Evo et al.
Q - Why wasn't Jesus born in the eastern states?
A - Because they couldn't find 3 wise men.

And before you crucify me, I'm originally from the east, and brought over to improve the breed!

Originally Posted by John_D2

I’ve obviously got the wrong idea of your setup in my head. Care to share a pic?

I'm on the road, but an old pic with the D2 might give some idea. Don't forget the perspective makes the D2 look bigger.

Originally Posted by gavinwibrow

I'm on the road, but an old pic with the D2 might give some idea. Don't forget the perspective makes the D2 look bigger.

I’m not sure that anything you do will improve your fuel economy given that your towing something that resembles a shipping container. Short of spending lots of money on a nose cone for the trailer, IMHO you might just have to put up with the fuel economy that you’re getting and maybe slow down 5km or so to try to decrease wind drag a bit.

Good luck