So... what car do you guys drive when not flying?

[Quickstatus]

best horse won

I dunno, have you seen the spare wheel?
Any "tourer" without a proper spare wheel should be disqualified IMO

 

[JohnM]

I've racked up just shy of 9K clicks in my new-gen Everest Trend 2.0L Bi-turbo in exactly 4 calendar months. That includes two long country spins - one out to the WA Goldfields on a lot of stony dirt, the other just this week to the S coast mostly on bitumen, but with some reasonably challenging 4WDing in sand.

It's been roughly 50:50 city:country driving.

I noted with interest the reviewer's comment that the previous Everest was underrated. I agree. I got superb use out of that vehicle (also 2.0L).

I'm pretty happy with the new one but the fuel consumption is a good 10% higher than my previous Everest, despite the same engine. It's running at 9.5 L/100km, compared with a little over 8.5 L/100km of the previous vehicle. Based on that, it was surprising that the review returned 9.5 L/100km for the 3.0L V6.

The specs claim 7.2 L/100km for the 2.0L and 8.5 L/100km for the V6, so mine is way off the mark for both engines.

What is really surprising to me is that my new Everest's fuel consumption is consistently 9.5 L/100km in city driving and country cruising. Whenever I went on a long country run in the previous vehicle, the overall average fuel consumption would noticeably fall away - as one typically expects. It's the first vehicle that I've had where country cruising hardly increases the projected range when fueling up to a full tank.

It's very puzzling. I'll mention it when it goes in for its first service at 15K clicks, but whether anything can be done about it, I do not know.

Any comments about this from the brains' trust?

 

[jakeseven7]

Polestar 2 orders on hold as they move to the MY2024 facelift, including RWD - so you can only get pre-config cars now.

I came very close to pulling the trigger, bit of luck there!

 

[Quickstatus]

ments about this from the brains' trust?

Weight of new vs old?

New engine - likely needing to get some wear in?

Also no two vehicles are exactly the same. And the differences are enough to show up in fuel consumption.

 

[JohnM]

Weight of new vs old?

New engine - likely needing to get some wear in?

Also no two vehicles are exactly the same. And the differences are enough to show up in fuel consumption.

I don't know whether there is much weight difference between the models, but I suspect not enough to make the difference I'm seeing.

I would have thought at 9,000 km the engine would be sufficiently run in, but that's just a guess.

The other possibility is tyres. In a post on the Everest thread in the Ford forum, someone stated that their fuel consumption was 1 L/100 km greater on AT tyres than on the standard tyres. That chimes with what I'm seeing.

The tyres on my old Everest were LT-rated Michelin LTX 'crossovers' with a tread pattern not a great deal chunkier than highway-rated tyres. My new one has Cooper Discover AT/LT tyres that have a much chunkier tread.

It could explain why I'm seeing very similar fuel consumption in city and country. Pushing out to the 110 kph WA limit, compared perhaps to something like 90 kph, may be where the tyre drag becomes exponentially greater for the chunkier tyres? That is just a guess, but it is a suspicion hinted at by fluctuations that appeared to be occurring in measured fuel consumption while on my last 1800 click bush trip earlier this week.

 

[tgh]

IMnsHO you are spot on .. the AT tyres will have more rolling resistance
Current eg is much thirstier than the old eg on a long run..... same engine with similar KW
Maybe euro emissions tuning or even the low profile rubber..

 

[Quickstatus]

Also

Kia Nero Hybrid GT

What other model vehicle is it similar in size to?
The S or GT?

How long was the wait?

 

[cove]

Kia Nero Hybrid GT wait was about 7 days in Sydney for that work car. It is surprisingly spacious internally. We test drove one in Adelaide and it was really good. The driver was 6 foot 3 inches and no problem.
We will check if it runs at around 4.0 L that is claimed.
The Camry Hybrid 2018 went for $13500 with almost 270,000 kms due to the 20 month delay on the replacement not turning up.

 

[Quickstatus]

Camry Hybrid 2018 went for $13500 with almost 270,000 kms

Was the battery still working?

 

[cove]

My eldest son has a Toyota Prius that is 14 years old with no battery issues.
Taxis tend to have to change the Toyota Camry Hybrid batteries in Sydney around 400,000kms.
We have a fleet of Toyota Camry Hybrids and never had a battery issue.

 

[Quickstatus]

Toyota Camry Hybrid

What is the avg fuel economy for the fleet?

 

[cove]

Average 4.8 L for the fleet. The managers cars are the dual exhaust SL and they are around 5.2 L
It has become a bit academic as the wait time has run out to 2 years so we may have to buy more Kia Nero models.
We have 4 Camry Hybrids on order but receiving dust…..
The Camry has been too successful….

 

[Quickstatus]

Average 4.8 L

On a cost per km basis, EV do not come close even with current incentives

 

[cove]

Yes we figured that out @Quickstatus.
We plan to increase our solar systems in WA and SA so that when we switch to EVs the electricity recharge will be closer to zero in cost.
Our car fleet does more than 1 million Kms each year so controlling fuel use is important.

 

[Quickstatus]

We plan to increase our solar systems

Im exporting 20MWh annually out of my residential array. So more than enough for EV recharge. Maybe 2 at a time. But cant charge while the sun shines as not working from home

 

[cove]

We have a friend whose daughter bought a BYD EV. She absolutely loves it.
BYD stands for Build Your Dreams. They are number one EV supplier in China.

 

[Quickstatus]

The Kia Nero EV actually looks good.
I'll see if the local Kia has one on the showroom,

 

[cove]

Kia and Hyundai have really improved and can now be considered in fleet plans.

 

[JohnM]

I had an Uber driver show up a couple of weeks ago in a Kia Niro. He had a Camry hybrid on order but the wait became stalled.

I was impressed. They are very roomy.

The driver is very happy with it. He informed me that they are widely used for taxi-type work in S Korea.

It seems that they are set up for paxing work - extra grab handles seem standard and the high roof makes entry and egress easy.

Before going into Uber driving he was a fleet sales person for many years with probably Perth's largest multi-franchise independent dealer, so he knows his stuff.

 

[Quickstatus]

I tried to get an ioniq 5 but H is selling these in batches on line so there is a mad rush at every intermittent release - like buying concert tickets.

I actually didn't know about the Nero until you mentioned it.

high roof makes entry and egress easy.

It's the one reason I never got the Camry. I get scalped on entry