Fuel Economy In My XR6

[XR Rob]

OK, in the three weeks of owning the XR6, I have experimented:

Week 1 - adaptive shift - about 405km from the tank. Admittably this was 98 octane because I wanted to give the car a good clean out, so maybe that ****** things up a bit, sensor-wise?

Week 2 - economy - about 450km from the tank on 91 octane.

Week 3 - performance - was about 450km and the car saying it had another 40km left when I refuelled. Again, regular old 91 octane.

Each week has been the same... driving to work... stop-start traffic... air conditioning from time to time. Not a lot of variation between the three weeks.

Any idea why performance, of all the settings, has whipped the **** of settings which, you would think, would be more fuel conservative?!?!?

[Mechan1k]

I think you will find it's the stop/start traffic that has been keeping it fairly uniform.
I guess when you start doing more outer-metro/highway/country driving in ECON mode ... you will notice more of a difference.

I certainly notice the difference (mind you I don't have an XR6) ... but when I compared stop/start city and inner suburbs driving (with different loads) ... and then cruising outer metro/rural ... there's a massive difference indeed.

[XR Rob]

Yeah, I guess... but in that outer-metro/highway/country driving, would I really want to be in ECON mode?

The engine feels so constricted, to me, when in that mode. It was no biggie driving for a week in ECON mode when I was in traffic the whole time, because you never get to stretch the car's legs anyway. Indeed, it's actually useful in stop-start traffic as the car doesn't want to leap away into the rear of the car infront, like it tends to do when I touch the pedal in Performance mode...!

I'm still just very surprised that the city traffic is making Performance BETTER than ECON mode, to the tune of some extra 40km per tank...!!!

[Mechan1k]

I'd say the reason for that is that it shifts into 4th earlier and punts along at lower revs ... I find when ECON is off ... it shifts into 4th at a much higher speed. So in traffic around 60-70km/h 3rd isn't working as hard as 4th is ... hence most likely using less fuel ... and also less likelihood of kicking down when under heavier throttle as it is already in a lower gear as well.

Once on the highway though at higher speed ... and having ECON on ... there will be less likelihood of kicking down on slight inclines ... it will hold onto 4th a little longer and use less fuel in this case.

Well ... that's the way I see it.

[DJM83]

Only just changed mine to performance mode (AUII TE50). and all econamy went out the window lol iam yet to do a comparo between then 3 modes but i will from next week. I also found in econ mode that my car wasnt that great on fuel and very very sluggish (needs a tune though)

[AU dude]

running a premium octane in your car, you should get more kms out of a tank. but its not goin to work straight away. you need to run premium for at least 4 to 5 times, to actually notice the difference. if u fill up and you still have unleaded in the tank it goin 2 be a lower octane than wat u filled up with, e.g. 91 RON(in tank) + 95 RON (from pump)= around 93 RON. premium petrols also use an injector cleaner, so any crap that has built up in the fuel system is goin to be runned thru the engine. this is wat can make a car run bad when switching to a premium petrol, plus the computer is getting used to the higher octane than normal. i use a 95 RON premium petrol and get alot more kms out of the tank then when i used to use normal unleaded. but i also fill up half tank so i dont have to tow the extra weight. using 98 i dont find much difference...

[HLC]

i find, that when im driving around suburbia or in stop start traffic, i normally manually select 3rd gear.

prevents the car making unnecesary shifts into 4th/overdrive. which seems to be a little better on fuel... any cruising around 70-80 kays ill drop in into D.

but i dunno, my economy has gone out the window lately... too busy shifting like a manual the whole time. wish i had SSS like the BA's :P

[Dark Horse]

I remember Stampy did this test in his XR8 Rebel a year or two ago.

Not much more than 50-100 km difference across all three modes.

[XR Rob]

Well I guess it's interesting to see other members doing it, and getting similar results, given the different driving styles and conditions that we'd all be experiencing.

[mbukukanyau]

is it a V8?

[james22]

Originally Posted by mbukukanyau

is it a V8?

did you even read the first post or thread title? :