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Botswana / Zimbabwe safari fuel consumption

Posted: 06 Jul 2018 09:26
by mvcoller
I have just returned from a 10 day safari with my wife and two American tourists, who happen to be friends, not paying customers.

We left here on Sunday 24th June and went via Khama Rhino Sanctuary, Francistown, Pandamatenga, Hwange National Park, Victoria Falls, Chobe (Kasane) and back home via Francistown and the last night at Bela-Bela.

We were 4 up in the Patrol, will our luggage, a rooftop tent and a small roof-rack for firewood etc and towing my Buswakka Shorti trailer, also loaded with a Rooftop tent, 120lt of water and some luggage. I was really curious to she how the vehicle performed after the fitment of the new injectors, the chip and Madman in March, this being the first trip since fitment of the aforementioned.

I filled up 6 times and here are my recorded consumption figures. I was expecting it to be a bit better, so I may return to SAC to see if they can't do some readjustments. I am not disappointed though, as we were quite heavily loaded and the rooftop tent etc does add a lot of extra drag.

1 - Jhb to Palapye - 13.6lt/100km (average speed 100 to 105 kph)
2 - Palapye to Nata - 13.5lt/100km (average speed 100 to 105 kph)
3 - Nata to Pandamatenga - 13.5lt/100km (average speed 100 to 105 kph)
4 - Pandamatenga, via Hwange Ntl park, Vic Falls & Chobe to Kasane - 12.6lt/100km (speed between 40 and 105 kph)
5 - Kasane to Martins Drift - 14.5lt/100km (average speed 105 to 115 kph)
6 - Martins Drift to Jhb via Baltimore, Marken (shocking potholes for about 40km) and Vaalwater - 15.9lt/100km (average speed 105 to 120 kph)

This averaged out at 14.2km/lt

Re: Botswana / Zimbabwe safari fuel consumption

Posted: 06 Jul 2018 09:53
by ricster
That does seem a little steep for a 3.0 Patrol, but maybe with the added weight and trailer, still fair considering the motor having to work harder than say a 4.2 - 6 cylinder. I say this cause i think I would probably get around the same in mine. I know if heavily loaded with full roofrack, but no trailer driving to Moz, at an average speed of 110 -115Km/h, I can get 12.5L/100km. But that is also driving very nicely.

It might just need a little tweeking to get the torque range moved a bit.

Re: Botswana / Zimbabwe safari fuel consumption

Posted: 06 Jul 2018 12:33
by graham1
Thats great consumption!
Im actually quite impressed.

See how the 4.8 has jaded me. :rolling:

Re: Botswana / Zimbabwe safari fuel consumption

Posted: 06 Jul 2018 12:52
by offroadbiker
An average of 7km/l fully loaded with trailer and rooftop tent, I don't think that is bad at all :surprised:

What did you more or less expect?

I will post my consumption next month, 13 days in Botswana with double rooftop on the 4.2 with 3 people in the vehicle and loaded to the hilt :redface:

Re: Botswana / Zimbabwe safari fuel consumption

Posted: 06 Jul 2018 13:21
by ricster
yeah, but our 4.2's are also not really fuel efficient by any means... ok, better than the petrol patrols but we are heavier on diesel than the 3.0 diesels like Malcolms

Re: Botswana / Zimbabwe safari fuel consumption

Posted: 06 Jul 2018 13:33
by jan.dup
As a matter of interest - on my last trip to Namibia I did about 4200km. I did not take exact consumption figures but lets say I got (for me a very good) 4.8km/L with my 4.8GRX - that equates to 875 Liters and at the current price (R 16/L) comes to R 14 000.00. If I got 7 liters/km on the diesel (if I had such) for the same trip, this would be 600 Liters at (current price of R 14.44/L) R 8664.00 for the same trip :surprised: So yes it's a big difference - R 5336.00 and to be honest that could come in handy for extra trips, camera equipment and other nice things to do :biggrin: - especially over a prolonged period of time.

Re: Botswana / Zimbabwe safari fuel consumption

Posted: 08 Jul 2018 13:13
by mvcoller
I was hoping for around 12 to 13lt per 100 at around 100kph, so I was reasonably happy with what I got.

On the trip home, I travelled a bit faster and paid for it in extra fuel. That was not really a concern, as I was trying out the higher speed to see how it would affect the consumption.

This is my business safari vehicle, I will always travel around 100kph, but will not normally have it so loaded and will not normally tow a trailer. The RTT will ALWAYS be part of the set-up though.