How important is fuel economy to you?

[Tom D]

There’s a lot of criticism on Pistonheads re the Grenadier fuel economy, i suspect this will pop up in many of the upcoming reviews too. So how important is it?
For me it doesn’t make that much difference, not because I am filthy rich or own a refinery, but because for what I am going to do with the grenadier it won’t make much difference To the amount of fuel I’ll use.
Yes we’d all like a vehicle that can tow 3.5 ton at motorway speeds and get 50MPG but it doesn’t exist. What I have found is that once you load a vehicle up, especially with a trailer, physics takes over. There’s a certain amount of energy required to move a certain weight over a certain distance. So while the 2.2 TD I defender I had last was possibly better on fuel than my first 2.8 defender on a school run once you put a trailer behind it there was little difference. In fact the extra torque of a larger engine means you can run a higher gear.. I’ll bet if you towed 3.5 ton with a modern hybrid city car you’d find it did less than 15MPG.
Towing a 2.5 ton digger around will level up the fuel economy on most cars, there’ll be little difference between a 2.0l and a 3.0l its just physics. It will just be a nicer experience in the 3.0l.

 

[Krabby]

Fuel economy never factored into my decision to pursue the Grenadier - it hasn’t in any of “my” vehicles . Now, my wife’s car on the other hand, it mattered.

edit - full disclosure, my daily commute is 4 miles each way, my wife’s is 40.

 

[joejet]

Well I went for the diesel for its better economy, more to do with range really + it has the better gearbox.

 

[emax]

There is a limit which would stop me from buying a Grenadier. I don't know exactly where it is, but I can live with 24 MPG. Or, to put it in metric terms: 10l/100 km is fine for such a big and powerful car. At over 12 l/100 km in the long run, I would probably be out.

Some journalists on the current Scotland trip report 24.8 MPG for the Grenadier, I have read. This would be very ok and is imho easily feasible on country roads.

But cities are for me not a Grenadier habitat - due to the fuel burn. I have a scooter and my diesel motorbike for that, and a second car at 6l/100km (long term) as well.

 

[joejet]

I wonder if the 24.8MPG includes offroad? if it does that’s good.

 

[martinjmknight]

Fuel economy does matter but is difficult to improve on with a vehicle of this size. So my wife has passed on her old VW Golf to me for short trips to town and longer trips with just me (In case it breaks down). She has got a PHEV VW Golf because electric only are unworkable locally and especially with four children around the UK who don‘t have charging points. I‘ve been getting comfortably over 40 mpg In her old Golf. The Ineos Grenadier will be for off road, fully laden holidays, taking two large dogs etc. Plus getting large loads In the boot and/or back seat. Mainly short trips but some long. Petrol because short trips are a problem for diesel particulate filters, petrol engines reported to be cheaper to maintain long term (I‘m 65 so 15 or even 20 years should see me out). Also, it is reported, we are still dependent on Russia for diesel which is not good. We have never had three cars before but this seems environmentally justifiable. I agree that diesel has its attractions and great torque.

 

[Deleted User Account.]

It's never been important to me.

 

[OzyGrenie]

Fuel economy is the primary consideriation in choosing the car, the fuel type ( hence torque and not just power) the driving conditions intended, load ratings, tyre selection, especially off road for extreme conditions including temperature! This is experience. Economy is why diesel is tbe preferred fuel in ships, trains, trucks emergency power, etc,

For Australian conditions, it's not only fuel capacity choosing the car, it's also driving technique. (You won't last long off road full throttle).

Afterall on some trips you may need 250 litres of fuel (only underneath without exception) like for the Canning etc. Even with prepaid pre-arranged fuel drops hundreds of miles from anywhere. When you pay 3 times per litre for the fuel outback, everyone knows long range fuel tanks are the key. So load ratings and balance ( particularly when estimating dynamic load) is as much about economy than anything else!

 

[CountyV8]

NO

 

[Chris]

I’ve never looked at the mpg for any vehicle I’ve considered, they are all a lie, and towing makes a total mockery of it anyway!!

 

[Jean Mercier]

I am quite a number maniac, I have an excel with all (ALL) costs of my Suzuki Grand Vitara.
I have the car almost 10 years now, and I spent almost as much money in buying the car as I spent in diesel.
My average consumption is 7.92 l/100km (diesel), or 35.7 MPG (Imperial) or 29.7 MPG (US) ... ("Jesus", I prefer the metric system!).
On motorways, and even worse on German motorways where I drive faster, I can reach easily 10 l/100 km.
The lowest consumption is around 6.75 l/100 km when I don't drive on motorways at speeds around 80 km/h.

I know the Grenadier will be about 12l/100 km (Petrol), and that is indeed a big difference. But if I decided I can afford the price, I knew it "had a price!".
I pretend to have a new Excel sheet with all my costs for the Grenadier, and will share the results here

 

[DesertGecko]

I'm not sure.. what people expect. It would appear that the Grenadier is quite economical for what it is. My only question is what these cars return in the real world.

The landcruiser V8 does ok in the official fuel economy tests but in the real world seems to guzzle it. My TD5 Defender has a very similar official number to it but seems to do much better in the real world.

 

[bigleonski]

When people ask what’s the fuel economy of the LC 200 is I tell them if they want great fuel economy buy a Prius.
With 2” suspension lift 33” AT tyres and all sorts of extras adding weight (including the driver ) I’m happy when I get into the 11’s on the highway.

It’s 3 tonne loaded up and built like a box. If you get better than 12-15l/100km around town you’ll be doing well.

It’ll be interesting to see what it gets pulling a couple of tonne behind it.

 

[Defender2023]

I guess I shouldn't be too alarmed by this as I own a Lexus LX 470 ️
I'm also honestly most keen to buy the petrol version of the IG, even I like the D250 diesel in my Defender.

 

[bimmerteck]

My 2014 FJ Cruiser w/6mt averaged 16.3 mpg on a trip I do annually to the children’s grandparents house. My 1999 D1 w/4.0l v8 got 16.1 last month with a car top carrier on the rack. So long as the IG can post better efficiency than that I’m happy.

 

[emax]

When people ask what’s the fuel economy of the LC 200 is I tell them if they want great fuel economy buy a Prius.

It's not about fuel economy complaints, it's about personal fuel economy trade-offs, I think. I consider the fuel economy of the Grenadier ok. But I'd not accept more than a certain - personal - limit.

 

[DenisM]

How does one define fuel economy?
The wife's 2019 Sub. Impreza achieves 5.9-6.3L/100km on a "long drive"...120km, secondary roads, av speed 90+ km/hr
We live inner city and use the car a LOT for short runs (less than 2km because of the steep hills/weather/declining physical ability (age). Over say 6 weeks of short runs, the vehicle returns 11.5-14L/100km ...so the relative cost of fuel is essentially double for that period of time... (which is why an electric car would be ideal.)
The diesel Santa Fe is rarely used where the envisaged trip is less than 20 km (one way) unless it's to collect bulky goods from a nearby "big box" outlet (Aldi/IKEA ...you get the drift).
A three ton Grenadier diesel on a long trip, fully run in , tyres properly inflated and driven "smoothly" I'm sure will be able to achieve significantly <10L/100km . The Santa Fe diesel(2.2L) fully laden (2.4 T) currently returns 5.9-6.2 L/100km on the 2-day 1780km trip from Brisbane to Cairns (av speed 85km/hr....'motorway' conditions it "ain't" !!) -aerodynamics no doubt play a role in this.
Once you trick out a vehicle like the Grenadier (with its relatively high drag coefficient) with all sorts of add-ons with their attendant additional weight and parasitic drag, the negative effect on fuel consumption is the price one pays.

 

[AnD3rew]

I have no desire to unnecessarily burn extra money in fuel or add unnecessary CO2 to the environment. However anyone who thinks you can have a vehicle with ladder frame and solid axles with the aerodynamics of a brick and weighing 2.7tonne etc that will also be low fuel consumption has no understanding of physics at all. To my mind it would be extremely difficult to do much better that Grenadier has done.

 

[Tazzieman]

As my wife is now smugly using electrons from green sources , I can indulge myself with fossil fuels en route to Valhalla.
They are building a biofuel plant in Tasmania so fire and brimstone aren't necessarily awaiting me.
Oh economy? It's a heavy wheeled box that has to overcome the "sightless couriers of the air£ - Shakespeare = wind.
So economy + boxy 4x4 = a cheerful pessimist , an oxymoron.

 

[frankkk]

I like the Irish approach to the fuel question. If you'd ask anyone, how much is fuel, they would say something like "50€, thats what I always fill up for" Serious. Commercial users aside, no one is aware of the actual cost of fuel.

On a 4x4, unless used on a daily basis for long journeys, fuel economy is irrelevant. It's a workhorse that needs to be fed. The more it works, the hungrier it gets. The BMW engines are not know to burn excessive fuel and if you are used to Toyotas you'll be in for a pleasant surprise. Economists or climate activists might want to choose a different type vehicle for their daily commute.