Turbo Diesel Driving Technique For Best Economy

[tubaman]

Being the new owner of a 2006 2.2 Avensis T180 & never having driven a turbo diesel car before, I understand there are certain driving techniques I should be using to get fuel economy with a diesel engine.

As the car produces best torque/power in quite a narrow band 1800-3200 rpm what techniques should I be employing to get best fuel economy ?

I`m aware of the standard stuff eg. tyre pressures, weight in car etc I`m really looking for the techniques of when to change gear (what revs ?) & what gears to be using.

Many thanks

[cabcurtains]

Being the new owner of a 2006 2.2 Avensis T180 & never having driven a turbo diesel car before, I understand there are certain driving techniques I should be using to get fuel economy with a diesel engine.

As the car produces best torque/power in quite a narrow band 1800-3200 rpm what techniques should I be employing to get best fuel economy ?

I`m aware of the standard stuff eg. tyre pressures, weight in car etc I`m really looking for the techniques of when to change gear (what revs ?) & what gears to be using.

Many thanks

The best way to drive a Diesel is to change gear at the top of the torque band, when the next gear is selected the tacho needle should drop in to the bottom of the torque band. The chances are the max torque about 1800-2500 RPM.

[OldSkoO1]

Exactly what he said, the engine is working most efficiently in the high torque bands.

Just to add, don't do at a snails pace. Whilst you are accelerating your still requesting more fuel to increase speed, doing it slowly means your asking for fuel maybe not at a high rate but over a longer period of time, because its slow.

Therefore, you should accelerate with about 50% throttle so quite quickly, up to speed and stick at that speed.

Full throttle to get up to speed very quickly, using a lot of fuel but only for seconds i think is a bit overkill on economy and harder to do in traffic.

[hertsnminds]

You can also use engine braking more with a diesel so coming to a stop in gear is better than selecting neutral and just using the brakes. A diesel effectively uses zero fuel when coasting in gear. Have a look at your instant mpg reading in different conditions this is a good indication of how fuel efficient you are being (rather than an exact reading of mpg).

[igormus]

Being the new owner of a 2006 2.2 Avensis T180 & never having driven a turbo diesel car before, I understand there are certain driving techniques I should be using to get fuel economy with a diesel engine.

As the car produces best torque/power in quite a narrow band 1800-3200 rpm what techniques should I be employing to get best fuel economy ?

I`m aware of the standard stuff eg. tyre pressures, weight in car etc I`m really looking for the techniques of when to change gear (what revs ?) & what gears to be using.

Many thanks

hello

I do not believe a normal driver will look at the RPM clock during hard city trafic.

The idea is to not overload the diesel engine and hear its working. The experience will come soon.

It's my opinion. I ve been driving diesel and only looked at RPM clock what are an idle rpm.

Cheers/Igor

[OldSkoO1]

Being the new owner of a 2006 2.2 Avensis T180 & never having driven a turbo diesel car before, I understand there are certain driving techniques I should be using to get fuel economy with a diesel engine.

As the car produces best torque/power in quite a narrow band 1800-3200 rpm what techniques should I be employing to get best fuel economy ?

I`m aware of the standard stuff eg. tyre pressures, weight in car etc I`m really looking for the techniques of when to change gear (what revs ?) & what gears to be using.

Many thanks

hello

I do not believe a normal driver will look at the RPM clock during hard city trafic.

The idea is to not overload the diesel engine and hear its working. The experience will come soon.

It's my opinion. I ve been driving diesel and only looked at RPM clock what are an idle rpm.

Cheers/Igor

It is impossible to hear the RPM or load on the engine in the t180. Normally, when your RPM is too low most cars shudder, splutter and become rough. The t180 engine does nothing unless you glance down and see its running at 1k rpm and the green down arrow is lit up.

[cabcurtains]

Max Torque band is 2000-2600 RPM in the T180, everyone loves a bit of boost ;)

[antred]

My T180 has returned anything between 32 (commuting around town) and 44 (44 on a run), however driving yesterday from Sheffield to Derby on the M1 (junctions 33 to 24) at a nice sedate 60 to 65 and 50 through the miles of roadworks nearly all with cruise on I acheived, according to the computer, wait for it, a figure of 58.3 MPG. I am amazed (or the computer has gone t*ts up) however I was in 5th not 6th for most of the journey so lowest RPM doesn't always mean best economy.

[tubaman]

Thats not the first time someone has said 5th can be better for economy than 6th. I think 6th is probably only of any real use over 80mph on this car unless someone tells me different.

[antred]

58.3 is not the norm though, I don't think the T180 is really an economy car, it is economical given the performance, and it is really clean emissions wise but for out and out economy (but worse emissions) the 120 or 150 BHP versions are better suited. I have owned diesels since 1995 (Citroen, Puegeot, Mitsubishi) and I did expect slightly better economy than what I am getting, but given the performance and low emisions along with the build quality, comfort etc I am well pleased with mine and will keep it for a good few years, something I never said about my Peugeot 407 SW 136 (looks great, falls apart and although I got 40 MPG aroung town I an never remember getting 58 on a run)

[cabcurtains]

Thats not the first time someone has said 5th can be better for economy than 6th. I think 6th is probably only of any real use over 80mph on this car unless someone tells me different.

The Lexus IS 220d has to be doing 80+ for 6th to be used, as they share the same engine they probably have the same gearbox if not the ratios have to be very similiar.

[dgman]

i drive a 220d and for optimum fuel economy the owners manual recommends the following,

1st gear up to 10 mph

2nd gear up to 22mph

3rd gear up to 31mph

4th gear up to 43 mph

5th gear up to 75 mph

6th gear above 75mph

not all but most of the above are below 2000rpm which contradict's the theory about best economy between 2000 to 2600,last weekend i dove along a 13 mile stretch of the m1 with a 50 mph limit,i was in 5th gear showing 53 mph on my speedo at 1700 rpm,i zero'd the avg and acheived 69.5 MPGand i know that my fuel computer is accurate to 0.5 mpg.

[cabcurtains]

Almost every modern 2.0Ltr Diesel will achieve 70MPG if driven fully warmed up at 50MPH as the engine will be using about 20BHP to hold the speed, that 13 mile section is flat bar the hill after jnc 28 if you were going south, if you were heading north it would require no throttle for that section. 2000-2600 RPM is the max Torque band, 1700 isn’t far off that so it will be producing a reasonable amount of torque more than enough to hold 50 MPH.

The image below displays the revs which produce the maximum torque in the green section, in order to obtain maximum fuel economy the revs should kept in there when ever possible as this is area produces the peak torque, obviously cars don’t have this but if the T180 did then the 2000-2600 RPM area on the rev counter would be green 300 RPM either side wouldn’t make a huge difference to MPG but every little helps, sorry if anyone has fallen to sleep reading this ;)

Yes this is from a truck and lets hope the driver is hill climbing ;)

[OldSkoO1]

I had nearly 60mpg out of my t180 too. My routes dont vary much day to day but on this occasion it was summer, warm engine and flat A roads at between 50 and 60mph for good 200 miles.

t180 will get good MPG but only in certain conditions. I regularly get 58 to 63mpg on a 40mph flat 5miles stretch on the way home. Of course once i hit about another 5miles of congested town that plumits.

And the most common advice appearing here and i've said it too is, always using the max torque band; where the engine is working most efficiently. And don't accelerate at a snails pace, but not foot to the floor either.

[tubaman]

Wow, really good & interesting information guys.

Just took my T180 on a motorway run 65-70mph mostly on cruise control & achieved 45mpg with 4 people in the car. I suppose I could have got 50mpg or more if I had stayed in 5th & dropped the speed to 55-60mph.