FYI - R36 Wagon Fuel Consumption on recent trip to the snow

[snerlo]

Hi guys,
Thought i would share my fuel consumption log with you for the recent trip that we did to perisher from Brisbane. Now most of the driving was highway, obviously, but the speeds were mostly at 110-115km/hr. About half the trip had two adults and one 13month old as i flew my wife and baby down to Sydney, the rest was with with me alone. He car was loaded up quite full but not completely jammed. At first i was a little daunted by how much we had laid out on the garage floor to take with us but the R just kept swallowing it up and we ended up having room to spare. I did have the spare back seat crammed as i wanted to try and see out the back window and did have a little success with this.

Highway - 121km for 12.2L (10.08L/100km)
Highway - 284km for 24.5L (8.63L/100km)
Highway - 580km for 56L (9.66L/100km)
Highway/Sydney peak hour going to south of the airport(Sutherland area) - 400km for 40.3L (10.08L/100km)
Highway - 675km for 62.4L (9.24L/100km)
Highway/Sydney - 398km for 39.8L (10.15L/100km)
Highway - 616km for 55.2L (8.96L/100km)
Total - 3068km for 290.4L (overall average 9.46L/100km)

Overall, i was really impressed with how the car went. It got better fuel economy than my in laws' Ford Territory but their car didn't do too bad either if I'm honest. I was only just bettering them on most stretches but they have a slightly bigger tank. The car needed the run too considering it has been a city car for pretty much all its life before we bought it on Christmas eve last year from John who looked after it. The car got better as the trip went on. Love this thing! Anyhow, thought i would just share my findings with you in case anyone was wondering.

Edit: some photos attached. I finally sold my XR8 so now I can get rid of these awful plain number plates and put my personalised ones on the beast.

[revivor]

Looks pretty good there in the snow!

Did you put any snow socks etc on? Any issues driving on snow with our cars? I'm planning to go next yr. Waiting for my youngest to turn 3 so the kids can all play together.

[Passat R36]

thanks for sharing!
hows the snow driving? is the 4 motion good enough in R36?

[snerlo]

As you can see from the photo, this was actually when we were leaving. We were packing the car and it was snowing quite heavily. Before we left, the whole drivers side of the car was completely white as that was the side of the car copping the snow. With regards to the auto socks, we didn't actually have to put them on. I guess technically, we should've (on both cars) but seeing as though we were heading out, we couldn't be bothered for a couple of kilometres of driving. All the cars coming up were putting on chains etc. I did see one Peugeot with the auto socks on the front wheels but in perisher, they don't recognise the socks as being legal. Everywhere else they are ok. Possibly something to do with the road being in a national park or something, but we weren't worried due to the AWD cars. The car drove fantastically in the snow. We were only driving at 40km/hr so we were being super careful as we knew we possibly should have put the socks on. There was no need for the haldex system to kick in so I really couldn't tell you what it felt like but if you are careful, you shouldn't have a problem and it is good. The socks were purchased as an extra safety feature because we most certainly would've put them on had we been going up the mountain that day. A couple of years ago we were quite nervous when we were seeing 4WD's sliding around so you can never be too careful just because you have 4WD. My advice, get something as an extra safety precaution because it is not worth spearing off the road because you think that 4WD will save you. Plus we bought them when they were on special for $150. My 2 cents!! Any more advice you would like to know, just ask.