Hope i havnt made the wrong choice :(

[Trublusk8er]

on monday i bought my first car.
91 nissan Terrano 2.7 turbo desiel 128,000kms for $6250.
Took if for a drive when i looked at it and checked it over and it seemed PERFECT. The people who owned it also serviced it every 3 months regardless of millage (since 80,000kms).
Recently had fuel pump replaced and injection system.

But today i took it to work and back and i used 1/4 of a tank (cost $75 to fill it at $1.22). I live in rockingham and work is in Mandurah but i also did some driving around Mandurah. I probably did around 70-100kms.
I did have the over drive on for the first 40kms though. Could this have somthing to do with it????

So what do you think this could be?? im gonna put it in for a full service this week

[JK]

$75 @ $1.22L = 61.5L fuel therefore 1/4 tank = about 15L or so.

Driven 75 to 100km on 15L = 15L to 20L / 100ks

Seems very high for a small turbo diesel. Should be getting 8 to 12 L/100ks.

Take some more accurate fuel figures to see if this is right.

Also check your fuel and air filters.

Does it blow any smoke as if it is always under load?

How deep do you have your foot buried when driving?

[Trublusk8er]

no smoke at all.
I had my foot planted for a SMALL period of time just to test its speed and acceleration.

I purposly got this car because i heard that fuel prices were goinf up to around $1.30- $1.40 for desiel. So i wouldnt be able to afford a big 4.2 litre beast like i originoly wanted (well not on my wage).

Either way im feeling abit down about it beacuse i have saved for SOOOO long to buy my first car and now it looks like i gotta save more to get it running properly

[Beastmavster]

Barely better fuel economy than a 4.2 PETROL patrol. Worth getting someone to check it out who knows their diesels, since it wouldnt take long to recover costs at that rate.

About 10km/l would be expected on a smaller TD.

[Trublusk8er]

Anyone know any good 4x4 service centres??

[jtraf]

my suggestion is not to pay too much attention to the gauge as they are most likely not reading 100%.

fill it and zero the counter. Then drive it for a couple days and clock up a couple hundred kays. Stop at a servo and fill it again. This will give you a rough estimate on consumption. so if you get 200kays with 20lts that is 10lt's per hundred etc.

Ensure that the speedo is correct as well if you can with a GPS unit would be the easiest option for this. Bigger tyres may have been fitted and you might be under reading which could also explain bad figures....

But as others have stated ensure all filters are clean and diesels don't like being driven with the pedal to the metal. If you wanted a car to be a rocket you should have bought a petrol. Driven correctly you should get around 10lt's per hundred all day every day.

Leave the 4 sp auto in overdrive mode cause when you are crusing this will help lower fuel usage as long as tyres aren't larger than standard and the car is struggling to push you along.

[Trublusk8er]

thanks very much jtraf. Very helpfull advice there. I not one of thoose people who drive with foot falt to floor. I was just testing to see how fast it could accelerate so i can judge overtaking and intersections.
Im definatley gonna get a full service though as i have NO IDEA about cars (yet). Im only just 18 and this is my first car. But im sure after a while i will start to learn a few things

[jessie928]

you should have bought something with lpg, 40c a litre

[JK]

you should have bought something with lpg, 40c a litre

Nah, Terrano's are a great little bus. I'm sure he can sort it out and will find he can get great economy out of it.

[chimpboy]

you should have bought something with lpg, 40c a litre

Nah, Terrano's are a great little bus. I'm sure he can sort it out and will find he can get great economy out of it.

Agreed, and a much better choice than 99% of us would have picked for our first car.

I agree with Jtraf too. On my SWB Maverick I flipped out the day I bought it because the first "half tank" on the gauge only got me about a hundred km, which is like 40 litres in theory. But then the second half tank on the same gauge got me another 300 or so. The gauge is just totally non-linear so you have to do measurements as Jtraf described.

Fill it, start counting kilometres, then fill it again. It's the fill AFTER the driving that tells you how many litres you used. Then you reset and start counting again.

A "full service" could cost a lot. Make sure you know what you're getting into before you let them start working on it. I've lost count of the number of times a mechanic has told me "we'll call when we find the problem" so I can say whether I want to pay or not, and then ended up with some bill I would categorically not have agreed to. To be honest, to me it sounds like the car has been well maintained so I'd be checking the fuel economy more accurately before putting it in for a service. But I hate spending money if I don't have to

Jason