Fuel consumption survey (3.5L Kluger)

[RICE RACING]

On a highway trip a few months ago our display was showing 7.8L/100 km. And that was for:

KX-R AWD

91 RON

good tyre inflation (38 psi)

2 passengers

Oh, did I mention it was a learner driver? 80 km/h :)

More realistically, on an extended highway trip with mix of learner driver (80 km/h) and normal driver (100-110 km/h), 5 passengers, A/C on, cruise control on, lots of luggage inside and full "granny box" on top, the display hovered around 9.1L/100 km. I am still impressed with the fuel consumption. I've never tried 95 RON but others in this forum say it will lower the figure.

Ken.

^ Yes, I agree.

Fuel efficiency in these things is flat out amazing. I was tempted to sell out and a get turbo diesel as I was mildly skeptical about the claims of the V6 3.5lt low fuel use but after 30,000km in mine across all types of tests I am in no hurry to do so (documented here) > http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15886&st=150

Clincher for me was the economy when towing my RX7 over 1400km round trip on hilly country...... amazingly good for a heavy petrol vehicle that has exceptional outright performance for its size/weight too.

Edited June 7, 2010 by RICE RACING

[Kesawi]

Fuel efficiency in these things is flat out amazing. I was tempted to sell out and a get turbo diesel as I was mildly skeptical about the claims of the V6 3.5lt low fuel use but after 30,000km in mine across all types of tests I am in no hurry to do so (documented here) > http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15886&st=150

Clincher for me was the economy when towing my RX7 over 1400km round trip on hilly country...... amazingly good for a heavy petrol vehicle that has exceptional outright performance for its size/weight too.

Glad to see you stuck with the Kluger I'm looking forward to your next round of testing.

[Kingy14]

Fuel efficiency in these things is flat out amazing. I was tempted to sell out and a get turbo diesel as I was mildly skeptical about the claims of the V6 3.5lt low fuel use but after 30,000km in mine across all types of tests I am in no hurry to do so (documented here) > http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15886&st=150

Clincher for me was the economy when towing my RX7 over 1400km round trip on hilly country...... amazingly good for a heavy petrol vehicle that has exceptional outright performance for its size/weight too.

Glad to see you stuck with the Kluger I'm looking forward to your next round of testing.

[Kingy14]

Hi Guys,

I have just bought a Kluger Altitude and have currently put 3500 kms on the clock. With out towing anything the best economy i have gotten so far is 11.1 as the tank was almost empty doing country and freeway driving however i still only got 550 kms out of the tank. Is this likely to improve as the car does more kms?? Thanks

[GK200]

Hi,

Just come back from a holiday up to Darwin and back, our thoughts on fuel consumption and oil which covers a few topics.

Kluger 2009 KXS- AWD fully laden with Waeco and supplies in the back plus a 1700Kg caravan behind.

The Kluger had the 10k service before we left and we used Valvaline 0-40 fully sythetic oil.

Fuel economy before the service was not great, approx 11-12 on highway & 15-16 around city. Just after the service we noticed straight away that the fuel economy was heaps better, highway 10L/100 and under if I drove very carefully at 100ks/hr. Cruise control used more fuel. I'm thinking it was the oil that made a difference.

Anyway on the Darwin trip up through Alice springs and return we averaged 16.5 towing the van over 9000kms travelled. We were with another couple who had a Ford XR6 towing a similar van, he was most upset every time we filled up, yep we got exactly the same fuel consumption, often within a litre. Sometimes ours used less. He was not happy. So unhappy he was thinking of buying a Ford territory at Katherine.Why not a Kluger, I don't know.

Head wind towing happened on a couple of days with 21-22 L/100, still not to bad, best was 14.8 with tail wind.Even with a head wind both vechicles had the same fuel consumption.

Overall opinion of the kluger for the trip,absolutly fantastic. Radio is not good, 6 stacker CD was used heavily. Bluetooth not good. Tom Tom gps & Bluetooth great.

cheers

Geoff

Edited July 16, 2010 by GK200

[volgren]

Wife and myself have been on the new KX-R AWD for about a month now, been using Shell 98 exclusively and we get:

- 10.6L/100km for a long round trip to the airport (50% freeway/50% suburban conditions)

- throw in some suburban / mum's taxi work after and the figure becomes 12.7

More than impressed when doing on freeways where literally a light touch on the accelerator keeping the engine revving @1750rpm will happily keep the thing at 100km/h, whereas in my previous Rav4 I'll have to keep pressing and work it at >2500rpm to keep the same speed (not that I'm complaining heavily on the Rav4 though, it's still good for going to all sorts of places)

The only thing is the display thingy still only shows the current figure (no last refill, 2nd last refill etc) after 2 refills. Does the unit saves these value whenever the petrol cap is opened, or it saves when you pump at least half a tank of petrol, or is this something that I'll need to get the dealer to fix at the next service?

Edited July 19, 2010 by volgren

[Freewuns]

Wife and myself have been on the new KX-R AWD for about a month now, been using Shell 98 exclusively and we get:

- 10.6L/100km for a long round trip to the airport (50% freeway/50% suburban conditions)

- throw in some suburban / mum's taxi work after and the figure becomes 12.7

More than impressed when doing on freeways where literally a light touch on the accelerator keeping the engine revving @1750rpm will happily keep the thing at 100km/h, whereas in my previous Rav4 I'll have to keep pressing and work it at >2500rpm to keep the same speed (not that I'm complaining heavily on the Rav4 though, it's still good for going to all sorts of places)

The only thing is the display thingy still only shows the current figure (no last refill, 2nd last refill etc) after 2 refills. Does the unit saves these value whenever the petrol cap is opened, or it saves when you pump at least half a tank of petrol, or is this something that I'll need to get the dealer to fix at the next service?

The current figure will reset automatically when you put petrol in the tank.....detects a change in fuel tank level from last known reading before turning off. Doesnt need to be half a tank. It reset for me yesterday when I topped up and put $15 in it which was about 13lts of fuel.

Your last 5 previous readings will only be saved when you hold down the display button (in the grande anyway). Its all in the owners manual.

Edited July 19, 2010 by Freewuns

[Kesawi]

Was towing a small box trailer around on the weekend, probably 400kg extra weight, and had a slight increase in fuel consumption by around 0.5L/100km

[idisc]

Some of you guys seem to be getting some really good fuel consumption figures.

My 2010 AWD Altitude with around 800km on the odometer is averaging around 15.5-16L/100km around town. Not peak hour traffic, but off peak city driving with (sometimes very frequent) traffic lights etc.

Running 38psi in all 4 tyres and 95RON Caltex fuel. Im taking it very lightly on the throttle and keeping the revs down too.

I've noticed there's quite a big difference between when the car is economical (cruising) and when the car wants to be thirsty.. i.e. even after racking up 250km on the one tank, if I am cruising, the fuel consumption figure will drop quite quickly, but if I'm banked up in traffic, the fuel consumption average also rises very quickly too.

Hopefully after I rack up a few more K's and change over to some better oil the car will become more economical.

Edited August 16, 2010 by _kit_

[wilsact]

Some of you guys seem to be getting some really good fuel consumption figures.

My 2010 AWD Altitude with around 800km on the odometer is averaging around 15.5-16L/100km around town. Not peak hour traffic, but off peak city driving with (sometimes very frequent) traffic lights etc.

Running 38psi in all 4 tyres and 95RON Caltex fuel. Im taking it very lightly on the throttle and keeping the revs down too.

I've noticed there's quite a big difference between when the car is economical (cruising) and when the car wants to be thirsty.. i.e. even after racking up 250km on the one tank, if I am cruising, the fuel consumption figure will drop quite quickly, but if I'm banked up in traffic, the fuel consumption average also rises very quickly too.

Hopefully after I rack up a few more K's and change over to some better oil the car will become more economical.

Hey,

There is no advantage using 95 ron over the normal 91 in a car not tuned or designed to run on it. The higher octane rating only matters in cars that are designed/tuned to take advantage of this type of fuel. Despite all the hype,and posts saying there is a difference, it just doesn't work. The 98 high density fuels (the high density, not the octane rating is the important part here) such as BP ultimate and Shell V power will give you more km's per tank, and the superior engine cleaning additives. I have seen this all proven in a comprehensive university study.

Don't waste your money on the 95 over 91, step up to the 98 if you want any difference i.e the extra km's per tank. You would then have to decide whether the extra km's per tank (and added cleaners) justify the price per tank difference. In my Kluger I would say it does. or very close anyway.

Don't get me started on the ethanol blended fuels, NEVER think you are getting better value with these.

cheers

Edited August 16, 2010 by wilsact

[GKLUGER]

Hi all,

Just discovered this great site.

Thought I add my figures.

2008 Kluger KX-R AWD - 59000km - so far averaged 11.29l/100km. Records are manually kept for every litre purchased (on a fleet card). I'm impressed giving the size of engine and car. It did better than my 2005 3.3 Kluger and even better than 2001 3LV6 Camry Touring Wagon.

Driving habits - 50% local suburban driving (30km round trip work/home)and weekend driving. 50% highway driving, mostly between Sydney and Stanthorpe (via Putty Road/N.E Highway).

The lowest reading I ever got was 8.6l/100km on a long stretch. Worst has been 12.2l/100km (city driving). Now to achieve the magical 11.0l/100km as indicated in the owners manual......

Used a mixture of fuel - E10, ULP, PULP95 and PULP98. Couldn't really see that much difference in economy. But 98 provides extra responsiveness on the throttle compared to E10. Other than that I mostly drive on 91 and use a tank of 95/98 every 5000km (to use the supposed cleaning properties of the higher premium for the engine - if it's not true then nothing lost

except for extra $ for a tankful of PULP).

[Brim13]

Hi all,

First time commenting but thought I would share our towing/fuel economy experience from last year.

We have a KX-R AWD and tow a 20ft van with a weight of about 1650kgs loaded up. Trip was Adelaide to Sunshine Coast over 4 weeks with a bit of trekking around NSW (had to take the boys to see the Bathurst track!). We did not get off-road but covered all up just under 6000k's of which all but about 500ks was towing the van. For the whole trip we average 18.5 l/100klms with my best (whilst towing) 16.1 and worst (crossing the Hay plain into a severe head wind on the way back) at 28.2.

This was our first "long" trip so did not have much to compare to but the Kluger was a dream to drive - generally sat on 95-100kph and was about as relaxed as you could get at the end of the day, even after a couple days of 700+klms covered. Whilst much of the terrain was flat the Kluger handled any of the hilly parts comfortably and I never hesitated to pass at speed when needed.

Although I would love to have the long range tank of a Prado I have to admit that for the extra $$ to trade up if you aren't planning a lot of serious off-road work then the Kluger would tick the box for most things you would need when towing a van.

Would be interested to hear others stories from towing as we are planning our next long trip (over to WA) now.

Thanks,

Greg

[Dreama]

good to hear all your fuel economy number, just wondering what you all think might be the reason the kluger does so well?

have toyota mated the right power to weight and to the right gearbox?

and im also thinking that the Aurion must get even better economy ??

i currently have a 2007 Xtrail 2.5petrol CVT Auto and about Jan2012 will be replaceing it, so Kluger is high on the list. My Xtrail gets about 11L/100kms, so Kluger sounds great.

[DHOUS]

Hi all,

First time commenting but thought I would share our towing/fuel economy experience from last year.

We have a KX-R AWD and tow a 20ft van with a weight of about 1650kgs loaded up. Trip was Adelaide to Sunshine Coast over 4 weeks with a bit of trekking around NSW (had to take the boys to see the Bathurst track!). We did not get off-road but covered all up just under 6000k's of which all but about 500ks was towing the van. For the whole trip we average 18.5 l/100klms with my best (whilst towing) 16.1 and worst (crossing the Hay plain into a severe head wind on the way back) at 28.2.

This was our first "long" trip so did not have much to compare to but the Kluger was a dream to drive - generally sat on 95-100kph and was about as relaxed as you could get at the end of the day, even after a couple days of 700+klms covered. Whilst much of the terrain was flat the Kluger handled any of the hilly parts comfortably and I never hesitated to pass at speed when needed.

Although I would love to have the long range tank of a Prado I have to admit that for the extra $$ to trade up if you aren't planning a lot of serious off-road work then the Kluger would tick the box for most things you would need when towing a van.

Would be interested to hear others stories from towing as we are planning our next long trip (over to WA) now.

Thanks,

Greg

Greg

I have a similar setup and got around 17ltr/100km hot windy conditions over 250km, my question is how did you manage the transmission, Auto ? and if so were you able to hold it smoothly enough to prevent the O/drive from dropping back, did you at any time manually select out of O/drive and maintain this, I found if you can maintain a smooth cruising style up to 100km/h its possible to keep it in O/D even though Toyota dont recommend it.

It would be nice if Toyota could come up with an adjustmet for towing purposes.

Regards

Don

[Brim13]

Hi all,

First time commenting but thought I would share our towing/fuel economy experience from last year.

We have a KX-R AWD and tow a 20ft van with a weight of about 1650kgs loaded up. Trip was Adelaide to Sunshine Coast over 4 weeks with a bit of trekking around NSW (had to take the boys to see the Bathurst track!). We did not get off-road but covered all up just under 6000k's of which all but about 500ks was towing the van. For the whole trip we average 18.5 l/100klms with my best (whilst towing) 16.1 and worst (crossing the Hay plain into a severe head wind on the way back) at 28.2.

This was our first "long" trip so did not have much to compare to but the Kluger was a dream to drive - generally sat on 95-100kph and was about as relaxed as you could get at the end of the day, even after a couple days of 700+klms covered. Whilst much of the terrain was flat the Kluger handled any of the hilly parts comfortably and I never hesitated to pass at speed when needed.

Although I would love to have the long range tank of a Prado I have to admit that for the extra $ to trade up if you aren't planning a lot of serious off-road work then the Kluger would tick the box for most things you would need when towing a van.

Would be interested to hear others stories from towing as we are planning our next long trip (over to WA) now.

Thanks,

Greg

Greg

I have a similar setup and got around 17ltr/100km hot windy conditions over 250km, my question is how did you manage the transmission, Auto ? and if so were you able to hold it smoothly enough to prevent the O/drive from dropping back, did you at any time manually select out of O/drive and maintain this, I found if you can maintain a smooth cruising style up to 100km/h its possible to keep it in O/D even though Toyota dont recommend it.

It would be nice if Toyota could come up with an adjustmet for towing purposes.

Regards

Don

Don,

Did the whole trip in Auto only and did not find it to be a big problem although I had not considered going into manual until reading these forums - plan to on our next trip later in the year and will update then.

One thing I did find (and did not add to the original post) was the difference in economy depending on the fuel UL91 vs UL98 and even more significantly UL91 between brands (found Caltex to be consistently better than others???) - again interested in others experiences with that as well.

Greg

[Brim13]

good to hear all your fuel economy number, just wondering what you all think might be the reason the kluger does so well?

have toyota mated the right power to weight and to the right gearbox?

and im also thinking that the Aurion must get even better economy ??

i currently have a 2007 Xtrail 2.5petrol CVT Auto and about Jan2012 will be replaceing it, so Kluger is high on the list. My Xtrail gets about 11L/100kms, so Kluger sounds great.

Not sure why the set-up is as good as it is but am certainly glad it is - as it is not just a good towing vehicle, I have found it to be very "car-like" when driving around town as well.

I had a 2001 X-trail before the Kluger and used it to tow our old van (a camper) for a couple of years upgrading when we bought a full size van.

Would certainly recommend adding the Kluger to your shopping list as I loved the X-trail (even considered going to a diesel when we need to upgrade but couldn't go past a V6) and whilst hard to compare cars because they are so different in size. power to weight etc have never regretted moving on the the Kluger (just wish it either had a long range tank and/or a diesel option for the longer hauls with the van).

Good luck!

[Robo]

2010 - Grande

Traveled 55600Km since new, I have always used BP Ultimate:

Best at 9.1 highway(on my own, avarege 10.4 with the family (4)

12-14s in town.

Still running on the original Bridgstones.(I recon i've got another 10K left on the tread)

[Taka]

2010 - Grande

Traveled 55600Km since new, I have always used BP Ultimate:

Best at 9.1 highway(on my own, avarege 10.4 with the family (4)

12-14s in town.

Still running on the original Bridgstones.(I recon i've got another 10K left on the tread)

Good numbers and good on you using the best fuel available. I can't afford them but tend to get good numbers when I use them.

I conclude not that what sort of city traffic and who drives the Kluger determine the fuel consumption. I can do it using 95 RON around 13L in light traffic. However, if I 'gun' the car in Melbourne CBD looking for a car spot than I will be lucky to get under 25L.

10L/100km whenever I go out on trip - that never get higher even I'm doing 120kmh on interstate motorways (with allowance for speedo error I never get pull over in NSW btw - realistic I was prob just over 110 :P)

Still love the car! Now getting old and making noise but still can't find anything better in the price range. Always want an BMW X5 diesel though

[AD8]

Noob questions here... How do you guys get readings (without resetting) for say, Hwy, traffic etc? All i can get is the average fuel consumption.

[mayhewga]

My 2007 KX 7 seater 2wd has just hit 100,000km and at each service I reset the fuel consumption screen, so the photo shows 100k, 90k, 80k, 70k and 60k, at which point I fitted new tyres which I run at 38psi.

I usually run standard ULP, and only refill when empty (at around 650-700km), and put in a tank of 98 every 5 or 6 fills.

I would get better consumption if I didn't have to run the aircon all year round (living on the QLD Sunshine Coast with 80% humidity)which I have proved twice on non-stop runs from Cooma in the NSW southern highlands to Caloundra and used just 2 tank fulls achieving around 8 litre per 100km, in winter without air. (Hume and Pacific highways)

Because most of my running is on highways with very little city driving, my consumption is probably better than what would be normally achieved by city drivers (but I bought the Kluger with my usage in mind).

[Matty P]

Wow that is really good, even with mostly highway driving!

I think having 2WD instead of AWD makes a fair difference, because I don't think I could get that economy consistently on the highway.

[CROCO]

MY 2007 KLUGER AVERAGED 8.8L100 RECENTLY ON A TRIP TO THE BLUE MOUNTAINS AND IN SYDNEY TRAFFIC GOT 12.8L100. COMING BACK FROM SYDNEY I FILLED UP WITH SHELL VPOWER AND GOT AS LOW AS 7.6L100 THE KLUGER AND 3.5LV6 ARE A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN. THE KLUGER IS A LITTLE HONEY.

[John1]

Recently did a 200 km round trip from Sydney to the Central coast. Mostly freeway driving. Fuel consumption was 8.5.

I normally get about 13 around town

[Robsjack]

Have had my 2011 KX-R Kluger since Christmas and have just under 5K on the clock. I average around 10.5l/100km around town and this drops to around 8.5l/100km on the highway. Have got as low as 7.8l/100km on a trip from Sydney back to Wollongong. Very pleased with the economy. Certainly beats the15-16l/100km from my old Jackeroo. B)

[Shreks Donkey]

My 2007 KX 7 seater 2wd has just hit 100,000km and at each service I reset the fuel consumption screen, so the photo shows 100k, 90k, 80k, 70k and 60k, at which point I fitted new tyres which I run at 38psi.

I usually run standard ULP, and only refill when empty (at around 650-700km), and put in a tank of 98 every 5 or 6 fills.

I would get better consumption if I didn't have to run the aircon all year round (living on the QLD Sunshine Coast with 80% humidity)which I have proved twice on non-stop runs from Cooma in the NSW southern highlands to Caloundra and used just 2 tank fulls achieving around 8 litre per 100km, in winter without air. (Hume and Pacific highways)

Because most of my running is on highways with very little city driving, my consumption is probably better than what would be normally achieved by city drivers (but I bought the Kluger with my usage in mind).

You know that the pic you`re showing is NOT 100k, 90k, 80k and 70k, it`s STILL your last 5 tanks! You cant reset that graphic to span 10,000kms!!