Range & Fuel Capacity

[Cro]

Just got back from QLD, up the pacific and down the new england.
Mostly doing 15km over, with a bootfool every time overtaking was necessary. Consumption was 9.9 on the way up and 9.5 down the way down.

This time I religiously used BP fuel, as opposed to Caltex last time which got me over 10l consumption both ways.

[Swallowtail]

I can get into early 8s if I baby it... 9s are easy on highway runs. Average is late 11s for about 50% highway / 50% city kms driving.

[2muchcoffeeman]

I can get into early 8s if I baby it... 9s are easy on highway runs. Average is late 11s for about 50% highway / 50% city kms driving.

With pretty much 100% city driving around inner Melbourne, 15s are about if for me- and that's with a fairly light foot.

[Swallowtail]

With pretty much 100% city driving around inner Melbourne, 15s are about if for me- and that's with a fairly light foot.

Ooooooooch.

[passatpout]

How do people get less than 10L/100km on the highway? I sit on around 120-125km/h (satnav speed), and best I have seen (after filling up just out of sydney and resetting the trip computer) was 10.2 on a drive to Canberra.

I set the cruise and didnt touch the pedals from Pheasants nest to Just outside the ACT.....

Is something wrong with my car....

Average on Menu 2 of the average consumption says 12.3L/100.... which I am happy with, but everone else seems to do better!

Simple - probably by driving a bit slower. Kinetic energy is proportional to the square of the vehicle speed, while drag and other losses usually mount up proportionally to the cube of the vehicle speed. Doesn't sound like much difference, but the change in going from 110km/h to (say) 130km/h, which is an 18% increase in speed, results in KE going up about 40% and drag going up about 65%. The cost of this is burning more fuel generate more power to overcome the proportionally significant losses encountered by travelling faster.

Other factors come into play as well - like the most efficient rotational speeds for the engine and gearbox to operate at, hills/gradients, ambient temperatures, wind direction relative to the car (I've about about a 1l/100km difference on a trip from Sydney to Melbourne between no winds and reasonably strong head winds), tyre pressure, road surface friction levels, load in the car, fuel type, etc, etc...

[Pana]

I can get into early 8s if I baby it... 9s are easy on highway runs. Average is late 11s for about 50% highway / 50% city kms driving.

This is about what I get as well.

[apom]

I can get into early 8s if I baby it... 9s are easy on highway runs. Average is late 11s for about 50% highway / 50% city kms driving.

ditto, but cant say I baby it too often! Mostly using Caltex at the moment. I think in Brisbane, Caltex and BP come from the same refinery, correct me if I am wrong please if your a local and know?

[OilBurna]

not in brissy they both have thier own refineries. Syd - BP and Shell same refinery unless imported, Melb - BP and Mobil. WA - BP have their own refinery which supplies all the others unless they import.

[passatpout]

Squeezed in about 67.5 litres last night, having done about 970km on the tank, with the fuel needle not moving when the car was started and the MFD saying range was 0km.

[apom]

not in brissy they both have thier own refineries. Syd - BP and Shell same refinery unless imported, Melb - BP and Mobil. WA - BP have their own refinery which supplies all the others unless they import.

Thanks for clearing that up OilBurna, What about Shell and Mobil in Brissy

[Rocket36]

OK... Using only Shell V-Power, my trip to Melbourne consisted of the following...

678km...

Cruise set at 120kph in NSW (113kph indicated in climate display).
Cruise set at 117kph in Vic (110 indicated in climate display).

All 100kph zones, which I was plesantly surprised to find hardly exist on the whole trip any more, cruise was set at 106kph (100kph indicatedin climate display).

Passed a few cops on the road and even got RBT'd in Holbrook but no indients and not stopped.

First stop was exactly 4hrs in at the Glen Rowan BP / McDonalds on the Highway, well into Victoria. I went that far simply because the roads are so good now and you skip straight past Albury/Wodonga on the new bypass. It's great! Was stopped for 30min for lunch only. No fuel needed.

Didn't stop again until the West Gate Freeway Shell Service Centre (east bound) for my first refill exactly 2hrs later with range still indicating 80km.

6.5hrs Canberra to Melbourne with one 30 min stop included, on one tank of fuel is AWESOME!

Averaged 8.6 litres per 100km for the whole trip too. Also impressed with that!

[OilBurna]

great result rocket36

1086km filled with 68 litres (range showing zero, not that it was deliberate the lowest it has been dropped from 20km to zero which was interesting), result of 6.2l/100km mix of city and highway driving - 103kw tdi

[tryingavw]

great result rocket36

1086km filled with 68 litres (range showing zero, not that it was deliberate the lowest it has been dropped from 20km to zero which was interesting), result of 6.2l/100km mix of city and highway driving - 103kw tdi

good result. i reckon our 125kW does about 7.0l/100klm so the extra power ends up costing at the pump. gee that's a surprise.

[Rocket36]

Each to their own. I like the power and feel of a petrol engine, as well as my car not sounding like a truck.

And to be honest, petrol could be $3.00 a litre and I still wouldn't change my driving habits.

[drbass]

OK... Using only Shell V-Power, my trip to Melbourne consisted of the following...

678km...

Cruise set at 120kph in NSW (113kph indicated in climate display).
Cruise set at 117kph in Vic (110 indicated in climate display).

All 100kph zones, which I was plesantly surprised to find hardly exist on the whole trip any more, cruise was set at 106kph (100kph indicatedin climate display).

Passed a few cops on the road and even got RBT'd in Holbrook but no indients and not stopped.

First stop was exactly 4hrs in at the Glen Rowan BP / McDonalds on the Highway, well into Victoria. I went that far simply because the roads are so good now and you skip straight past Albury/Wodonga on the new bypass. It's great! Was stopped for 30min for lunch only. No fuel needed.

Didn't stop again until the West Gate Freeway Shell Service Centre (east bound) for my first refill exactly 2hrs later with range still indicating 80km.

6.5hrs Canberra to Melbourne with one 30 min stop included, on one tank of fuel is AWESOME!

Averaged 8.6 litres per 100km for the whole trip too. Also impressed with that!

Wow, interesting to read that the police now have RBT units that don't require stopping - what will they come up with next?

Last time I drove down from Canberra I had to fill up at the BP on the Hume near Wallan, didn't quite make it home. Mind you, I'd driven up to Canberra on the same tank for a total of 1,257 km/68.6 l/5.46 l per 100 km.

I sat on the speedlimit (plus legal error allowance) according to Garmin GPS on the way to our lovely capital but was admittedly bitten by the economy bug driving back home and slowed down by about 10 km/h. Doesn't actually add that much time to the trip.

And you might be surprised that at cruising speed, and in most other everyday situations, my car doesn't even remotely sound like a truck. I also like the abundance of effortless torque while wasting less resources. But, as you say, each to their own.

Enjoy Melbourne - putting on quite the perfect weather right now, and thankfully the promised drizzle stayed away this morning (yes, I'm currently driving a freshly detailed black wagon already collecting dust).

Seeya,
Michael