Fuel Usage

[Dave010378]

Hi, after driving commodores most of my life, I now own a series 1 au wagon, which to my surprise actually drives really nicely. I have just serviced it and replaced plugs and oxygen sensor. I have one concern though around town it is averaging 15l/100km but on the open road drops to just over 9l/100km. is this acceptable? i would think the 15l around town is a bit much!

any thoughts on this
thanks Guys
Dave

[robbyj]

hows your driving style? but it does sound a bit much if your just driving normally.

[Dave010378]

driving in econ mode very easy no leaks. it has me stumped

[crakrz]

Does sound a bit heavy, if you truly are being light on the pedal. I average mid 13's around the burbs, high 8's on the fwy. That's in a 5.0L. My last tank was 16 even , with some spirited WOT driving included.

[fasty73]

NUP!! This sounds about right. It's a 6 cylinder, heavy car. These figures sound about right for the car.

[b2tf]

Change the oxygen sensor, clean air filter and all the usual servicing and see if it improves. I would think you should see an improvement.

[fasty73]

Taken from NRMA motoring.
Underneath, the platform was made more rigid and a new double wishbone front suspension introduced. There were three rear suspensions available. The wagon has a simple leaf spring rear suspension. Sedans were available with a standard rigid rear axle set-up with coils and multi-links which had been modified for better control and more forgiving handling. The all new independent rear suspension was an option on all models except the Fairmont Ghia which had it as standard.

Handling in the AU is much improved over previous models and it's only when you start hurrying the car over rough and uneven surfaces that you miss the benefits of independent rear suspension. IRS also copes better with mid-corner bumps.

Inside there was plenty of standard equipment, and even the base model Forte included air-conditioning, four-wheel-disc brakes, driver's airbag, electronic engine immobiliser, keyless door and boot entry, electrically operated mirrors, tilt and telescopic steering column, lumbar and height adjustments on the driver's seat and a 60/40 split-fold rear seat.

There's also plenty of room inside the vehicle. Up front there's ample leg room and class leading head room, and the seats are comfortable and supportive. The rear isn't quite as accommodating as the seat shaping tends to push the outer occupants inwards, making life rather squeezy for a centre rear occupant. However, comfort is good for the two outer seat occupants and leg room is best in class.

Fuel economy is not bad for such a large vehicle and a well maintained AU automatic sedan should return fuel economy figures of 14.0 litres/100 km in the city and 10.4 litres/100 km on the highway cycle.

[bodes-sh]

Originally Posted by fasty73

Taken from NRMA motoring.
Underneath, the platform was made more rigid and a new double wishbone front suspension introduced. There were three rear suspensions available. The wagon has a simple leaf spring rear suspension. Sedans were available with a standard rigid rear axle set-up with coils and multi-links which had been modified for better control and more forgiving handling. The all new independent rear suspension was an option on all models except the Fairmont Ghia which had it as standard.

Handling in the AU is much improved over previous models and it's only when you start hurrying the car over rough and uneven surfaces that you miss the benefits of independent rear suspension. IRS also copes better with mid-corner bumps.

Inside there was plenty of standard equipment, and even the base model Forte included air-conditioning, four-wheel-disc brakes, driver's airbag, electronic engine immobiliser, keyless door and boot entry, electrically operated mirrors, tilt and telescopic steering column, lumbar and height adjustments on the driver's seat and a 60/40 split-fold rear seat.

There's also plenty of room inside the vehicle. Up front there's ample leg room and class leading head room, and the seats are comfortable and supportive. The rear isn't quite as accommodating as the seat shaping tends to push the outer occupants inwards, making life rather squeezy for a centre rear occupant. However, comfort is good for the two outer seat occupants and leg room is best in class.

Fuel economy is not bad for such a large vehicle and a well maintained AU automatic sedan should return fuel economy figures of 14.0 litres/100 km in the city and 10.4 litres/100 km on the highway cycle.

So the nrma says. I get better city economy in mine that has a mixer lpg system on it, on lpg.

[fasty73]

I guess so. You must be a lightfoot driver!!

[Dave010378]

i put a new oxygen sensor in it about 6 weeks ago, the fact its so heavy around town but so good on the open road confuses me

[Uncle_Ken]

I get 320 k's per 60 ltres on LPG. All city driving, stop start stuff.
UK

[bodes-sh]

Originally Posted by fasty73

I guess so. You must be a lightfoot driver!!

i meant to say about that, not better, lol... i'm not that light footed, but where we live in perth there isn't too much traffic or traffic lights most of the time so there's not a lot of stop start driving anyway...

before it was comverted to lpg i would get a consistant 10l/100km on mostly city driving. there were a couple of longer stretches at 90km/h but that had a stop or 2 in the middle as well...

then again maybe that's to do with the maintenance of the car, that and i have a full exhaust (extractors, high flow cat, cat back) on it too which probably helps a little bit...

[robbyj]

These stats are taken from redbook, which i find very useful when looking up cars such as market price etc.

Fuel Urban (l/100km) 11.5
Fuel Extra Urban (l/100km) 6.8
Fuel Combined (l/100km) 8.5

http://www.redbook.com.au/used-cars/details.aspx?R=56817&__Qpb=1&Cr=1&__Ns=p_Make_Stri ng|0||p_ClassificationType_String|0||p_Family_Stri ng|0||p_Year_String|1||p_SequenceNum_Int32|0&__N=2 994%204294961316%204294843582%204294965791&silo=13 00&seot=1&__Nne=15&trecs=53&__sid=13008522A96E