Fuel economy when towing

[AJ120]

Yes mate Carnarvon Gorge nearly killed me so more bush walking practice before the Kimberley for sure.

Cheers

Carnarvon Gorge is magic, I seem to recall being a bit stuffed after that as well.

Cheers Andrew

[Mark from Brisbane]

Make sure your nice and fit before your trip, you have to walk to see the best those places have to offer, and the best they have is well worth the walk.

Cheers Andrew

Yes mate Carnarvon Gorge nearly killed me so more bush walking practice before the Kimberley for sure.

Cheers

[AJ120]

And next year the Kimberley and Karanjini are beckoning!!

Make sure your nice and fit before your trip, you have to walk to see the best those places have to offer, and the best they have is well worth the walk.

Cheers Andrew

[Mark from Brisbane]

Well finally back in Brisbane, and the end result...average 17.9 Litres per 100......over 12965Kms.

To be honest not too worried, I know the little engine is working hard, and whilst I thought I'd do maybe 15-16, there were a LOT of hills AND a fair bit of headwind to contend with at times.

My original post wasn't so much as a whinge, just letting people know what the figures were.

I'm going to invest in a Scan Gauge for the 2015 trip, more to do with Auto Transmission temp than knowing about the fuel usage, that's just a cost we have to deal with to go to the places we love to see.

And next year the Kimberley and Karanjini are beckoning!!

[snapper49]

150 diesel just done 9560 kilometres towing a 2 tonne van
Average for the whole trip computer said 13.9 litres per hundred actual was 14.1

I might ad that I sat on 90kph (speedo) 87kph (GPS)
I used 4th gear all the time (sports mode)
I found if I went to 100kph my fuel consumption increased to around 15to 16 litres per hundred by the computer

[Frank2]

Pardo at its max

Having just returned from 13000 Kms towing my Lotus 2.5 Tonne (fully loaded ) van I thought I'd share with you how I went fuel wise .

I tow in S4 ( except when going downhill and I flip over to D for a bit , not that it makes much difference I guess), 2500 RPM, and about 92 showing on the clock but 87 on the GPS.

Best I got was 15 litres per 100, worst 22 ( short trip into a raging headwind), but averaged about 17 per 100.

I had hoped for better, and after my first short trip with the combo returned 15 I budgeted for that for this trip, how wrong I was!!

Clearly by the time I load up the Prado with extra gear, stick the Waeco in and load it up wine and beer, stick the Gennie in the rear, and fill the drawers with dry food it ads considerably to the load and thus the fuel economy.

I should add mine is the Diesel version.

Just thought for anyone considering towing a large van with the Prado that this might be interesting , by the way most 200 owners I talked with were getting between 22-25 per 100, so perhaps I shouldn't be complaining.

Cheers all

You can not expext any better from the pardo as it is working hard. A friend has a 200 and same van as mine 2300kg and he uses less fuel than my pardo and has 12 litres less in his tank. The v8 will always use less fuel as its not working as hard.

[Bushbasher]

From memory, with my fuel injected petrol 347 V8 running Bosch (Ford) EFI the ECU will always attempt to maintain a stoichiometric air:fuel ratio of 14.7:1 or thereabouts. So it makes thousands of computations every minute of driving depending on throttle, engine, temp, revs, load, speed, etc. So, by changing the octane rating of the fuel, this will make a small variation to that perfect ratio. It won't take tank-fulls to learn, it is always learning as you drive. Compression plays a big part for sure but the car will run on 91 or 98. It is happier on the good stuff of course. If your engine starts pinging then you have problems.

[Jaymboze]

Awesome...!
That means that my next full tank of premium should give 500 hp at the wheels.
Looking forward to that...!!!!

[AussieAndy]

Not sure why it would take the ecu several tanks to adjust for a higher octane fuel, but only 1 tank to adjust back to low octane...?
Doesn't sound right to me...

This is because the ecu will advance the timing in small increments, but only if it hasn't had a pinging situation in x amount of running time. Every time pinging is sensed the ecu retards the timing. So, with good fuel the ecu may take up to 1000Km before it finds the optimum timing for this fuel, but put a poorer fuel in and it pings, ecu immediately retards timing. Different make vehicles do this in different time frames, not sure on the exact spect for Toyota though.

[Jaymboze]

I have now started to use only 98 octane from Shell only, when I can.
Won't use BP again after a bad dose of diesel in my last car made it run like a real pig until I could refill.
Not sure what difference it will make to towing, but I'm picking up my new CUB Camper next week so time will tell.
I know from past experience that different premium fuels from different outlets can have a noticeable difference with both power and economy, depending on how you drive of course. My old xr6 turbo loved caltex premium, but no joy with some others.

Quote "A good friend of mine also pointed out that with unleaded, 91 / 95 / 98 is the octane rating. Octane stops pre ignition (pinging) on high compression and doesn't necessarily mean there is a higher energy content to the fuel, although it can too. The ECU in your car will advance the timing over time if you run higher octane fuel however this may take a while to kick in ie several tanks of fuel.

So generally, running on 91 octane and filling with 98 for one tank will result in no immediate net performance benefit. Always running your car on 98 may give you some extra power due to the auto timing advance on the ECU, but one tank of 91 will drop it back."

Not sure why it would take the ecu several tanks to adjust for a higher octane fuel, but only 1 tank to adjust back to low octane...?
Doesn't sound right to me...

[Bushbasher]

There's no such thing as economy when towing. There's good consumption, reasonable consumption, crap consumption and let's just blow this place and get home asap consumption. If you want to drive Miss Daisy home with your van in tow then don't speed. Simple. Enjoy your holiday and stop worrying about how much it costs to fill up. Every time I see tourists at the servo jotting down litres and kilometres I think to myself why do you want to keep reminding yourself how much fuel you are burning. I know I'm not as bad as the bloke with the F350 and Lotus Trooper getting 22 - 30l to the 100K.

[Mark from Brisbane]

You would be better off pushing this forward on the roof. From an aerodynamics point of view, a pointy end and a flat rear creates a lot of drag.

That's interesting as well, I have it there also as its easy to get to, spare items such as electric drill/screws etc which you use a fair bit wen you take a van off road are easily accessible that way BUT if it made a litre per 100 K's difference then that's a fair saving over 13000 of them!!

Yep and probably little to no wind resistance.....on top of my Prado I have Rhino heavy duty racks and basket (needed for my off road adventures), currently I have a space case full of spares and bits and pieces on the roof, as far to the back as I can get it.

You would be better off pushing this forward on the roof. From an aerodynamics point of view, a pointy end and a flat rear creates a lot of drag.

[Mark from Brisbane]

Hi guys
I am using the diesel to tow a Cub off-road camper trailer. I agree with comments thus far that weight and wind resistance will make a big difference. Generally, I get 12.5 l/100km getting out of the Sydney area with the Blue Mountains in the way. However, west of the Newell Highway when the country flattens out, I can get just under 11 l/100km travelling at 100kmh in S4. Still running OEM tyres

Cheers
Mark

Yep and probably little to no wind resistance.....on top of my Prado I have Rhino heavy duty racks and basket (needed for my off road adventures), currently I have a space case full of spares and bits and pieces on the roof, as far to the back as I can get it.

And naturally having a full size van there's a fair bit of that up and above the Prado, so not surprised you are getting the lower figures snowman.

I was just keen to know if anyone out there had a similar set up to me and how they were going.

[Snowmann]

Hi guys
I am using the diesel to tow a Cub off-road camper trailer. I agree with comments thus far that weight and wind resistance will make a big difference. Generally, I get 12.5 l/100km getting out of the Sydney area with the Blue Mountains in the way. However, west of the Newell Highway when the country flattens out, I can get just under 11 l/100km travelling at 100kmh in S4. Still running OEM tyres

Cheers
Mark