Navara D40 2.5 Diesel fuel economy

[skipper01]

Hi all,
My wife Carol and myself have just purchased a caravan and are heading to Broome to pick it up and we would like to know what kind of fuel economy to expect. The caravan is 2250kg GVM. 6.3m

 

[joe2006]

Mine is a tad bigger than your's but my consumption figures have ranged from the 16's to about 24lph.

My advice is to get it into overdrive asap & try to keep it there.

I'm sure others will answer your question soon as well.

 

[Old.Tony]

Welcome to the forum!

+1 on overdrive. Use it as much as possible - if you have an auto, try to keep your speed above 75km/h on the highway, so that the torque converter locks and engages the engine-gearbox directly. The lower your RPM, the less fuel you're using. The auto box manages load vs speed rather nicely so just whack it in D and forget it.

We tow a slightly lighter van (500kg less) than yours but our Navara is a little heavier - about 2500kg without a load - so we're probably close to even on weight. We get as low as 15.5LPHK when we're gentle, 17s-18s for a moderate cruise and up to 24s when the going gets tough. I've yet to break 25LPHK but I haven't towed the van across vast tracts of sand - at the most we found just a few soft spots on the Ernest Giles Road requiring an excited heavy stomping on the accelerator. I don't expect the Birdsville trip via Windorah to be a lot different, although we'll be leaving the van @ Birdsville for the trek out to Poeppel's Corner (if we decide to go there).

 

[nathand22]

Welcome to the forum.
have a look at the d40 fuel economy thread, there is over 50 pages of info on there to get your teeth into.
here is a link to that thread, happy reading
http://www.navara.asia/d40-general-chat/39-d40-fuel-economy.html

 

[Wortho]

Ours is a lot smaller - fold up AVan tucks in low and is about 1250 kg on the road. Just back from the Flinders and Lake Eyre and averaged 10.6 L/100 for the trip, about 4600 km.

 

[Beergutz]

I just got back from Qld towing around 1800kg caravan. I've got a heavy right foot too and do not care too much on fuel economy. That's why I have a car with some grunt. Was managing around 20 L/100k. I know I can do a lot better but am not that fussed. I also tow a scissor lift quite regularly and it's around the same weight and manage around 17L/100. Just goes to show how much aerodynamics come into the equation.

 

[LLadnar]

hi and welcome too the forum

 

[Foxbat]

I just got back from Qld towing around 1800kg caravan. I've got a heavy right foot too and do not care too much on fuel economy. That's why I have a car with some grunt. Was managing around 20 L/100k. I know I can do a lot better but am not that fussed. I also tow a scissor lift quite regularly and it's around the same weight and manage around 17L/100. Just goes to show how much aerodynamics come into the equation.

You're not wrong there BEERGUTZ. I've towed lots af vans, campers, boats and horse floats and it is amazing how much the aerodynamics influences the fuel economy much more so than the weight. I have towed some large 'pop-top' caravans that have little in the way of frontal area and even though they weigh more than a single axle full size and lighter weight van, the fuel economy is better due to less frontal area.
The only time the weight really comes into it is if you are travelling in a hilly area or on 'take-off'. And since most of Australia is relatively flat, the weight means very little to the economy.
Of course the right foot has a big influence too, but the frontal area is the biggest hinderance.