Best and worst things for fuel economy...

[Jarchie Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Jarchie]

If you could name one thing that you did to your Prado that improved and one thing that worsened your fuel economy the most, what would they be?

[RanJ Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close RanJ]

Well I could come up with a whole list of heavy accessories or rectangles bolted to the roof rack but the honestly the biggest I have found is.... me! When I forget that it's big car and try to drive it through the city like our Benz... it bites me in the arse lol.

[BiLLz0r Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close BiLLz0r]

Worst things: weight, outside additions that add to wind resistance but ultimately the right foot.
Best things: opposite of the above.

[shodown Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close shodown]

Worst things: weight, outside additions that add to wind resistance but ultimately the right foot.
Best things: opposite of the above.

Be smart with your choices - most people notice increase fuel consumption when fitting roof racks, however mine would have been lucky to be 0.1 l/100 for the pioneer platform. Best decision I think I made.

Tyres - I noticed an increase going from Bridgestone passenger 684 H/T to 697 LT A/T. Yet I havent even taken them offroad (properly) in 10,000km. You could argue I probably would have been best served looking at passenger A/T tyres instead.

Exhaust - I fitted a 2.75" Beaudesert exhaust - didn't notice any fuel change, it lowered the turbo spool RPM very subtly but was it worth the cash investment, personally I don't feel it was.

[Guest Close Guest]

Fuel consumption increases with suspension lift and heavier, bigger tyres.

[Leethal Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Leethal]

When changing from Bridgestone 697 LT to Goodyear Wrangler MTR adds 1 L/100Km on therefore bad (but good as no punctures)

The supercharger is great in so many ways but surprisingly with it my consumption is consistent from 80 km/hr. to 110 km/hr. when loaded for a trip therefore is good

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

I didn't notice much of an increase in fuel consumption going up in tyre size from 31 to 32 inch. For me the fuel consumption difference was noticeable when I had the steel bullbar and winch fitted. The car felt heavier to drive off the mark then it did with the alloy bar that was fitted previously. I drive up the Toowoomba range every day to go to work and go through both tanks of fuel in a fortnight and get roughly 850km range. My drive to and from work is 30 min each way.

When I lived in Brisbane my commute to work was 1hr 10 min each way in constant stop start traffic and both tanks of fuel lasted me one month. I got approx 1,050km range.

[scottkz Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close scottkz]

Best thing iv done for fuel consumption. .. converting to diesel from V6!
Worst thing ... convert to part time 4wd it did nothing ! Not even 1 lt per 100 less
Few days ago i put light weight alloy wheels on wow surprised how much more power i have over the heavy std steel rims

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Roof rack and awning would be the worst, buying a diesel would be the best

Cheers Andrew

[gxl_d4d Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close gxl_d4d]

AC gas low seemed to cause me to burn more fuel for town driving as the compressor was always on. Didn't make much difference for long drives once the inside cooled down.

[kav Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close kav]

Worst thing to do is let the missus drive it . I loose between 150 and 300 ks per tankful when she drives it . Absolutely amazing

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Bad: size 11, good: no sparking plugs.

[AussieAndy Find all posts View Profile Close AussieAndy]

I hear you kav, it's like they only have two speeds around town, flat or stopped.

I would agree the worst thing I have done is the rooftop tent and roof rack, it burns the juice. I haven't done anything to mine to better the fuel consumption, the best it will ever get was the day we picked it up! Oversized tyres fitted when it was 2 days old and gone downhill from there

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

I'm not keen on letting my wife drive my car as it gets driven hard whe she does. She doesn't mean to but it's just in the female programming. Her car is faster and than my car is and on the odd occasion when she's driving my car and I'm following in hers, I can't keep up with her for the life of me.

[glen_ep Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close glen_ep]

The largest factor for fuel economy is by far your driving style and speed. Fast acceleration and driving at speeds over 95km/hour are bad for economy. Nothing will affect economy as significantly as throttle control.

Second to that is accessories as mentioned above - roof racks - taller vehicle and larger tyres, etc.

Other factors I've found quite considerable in the past were maintenance items such as replacing old air filters and overhauling seized brake calipers.