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VT Calais fuel Economy

VT97CALAIS

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Hey all I've got a 1997 S1 VT Calais with 3.8L ecotec motor.
From driving locally, around glenwaverley, clayton, knox etc, not in peak hour traffic, the best economy on the trip meter i can manage is 15.3L/100k's I'm keen to find out what other VT Calais owners get.
For me this economy sounds too high, 12-13 is more realistic.
And this is without me pushing it hard, its with me driving it grandpa spec style.
Anyone shed some light on this?

Cheers!
 

Misaprop

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Try not resetting your milage and fuel usage settings after every fill up, see how the economy goes for several thousand k's

Also on my V6 Calais I used to get fuel usage in the 15s pretty constantly, but that was with some lead foot driving. When I did not reset my trip computer for about 4,000kms i got a consistent usage of about 14.2L/100kms. That was with about a quarter of highway driving though.

I have also heard that you can calibrate your trip computer to show more accurate usage, and it should be explained how in your car hand book. I never bothered to look though and to find out the most accurate figures would be to use pen and paper and to record the number of k's travelled and the amount of fuel you had to fill up every time you fill up (I never bothered to do that either).
 

VT97CALAIS

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Thanks for that, I've had a look at doing the calibration thing but I don't see a need to go fiddling with it. The Calais used to be my dads and it was his daily driver car. Stop start to and from the city driving in traffic, he'd still be getting 12-13l/100k's. Only thing that has been changed is wheels, instead of 16 inch stock VT calais rims with 215 60 R16 I've got 17' VZ Calais 235 45 17 profile tyres... I havent even tried driving leadfoot - i'd shudder to think what it woudl be like, perhaps 18l / 100ks!
 

minux

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That is terrible economy. I have been monitoring fuel for myself last 2 weeks in the VT SS. I drained the fuel tank to ensure it would be accurate, first week where it was almost purely highway driving, i got 8.29 L/100km this last week from wednesday to last night i was 9.38 L/100km. Not bad considering the car is at the 230rwkw mark. Just takes sensible driving and not flooring it all the time, i dont think my tacho ever went past 2000rpm :)
 

VT97CALAIS

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A guy at work has a VT Calais which has a custom vortech blower setup with cooler etc. It has 300RWKW and he gets 15l/100km for suburban driving including traffic too.... So a highly modified VT calais gets better economy than my standard VT Calais? It doesnt make sense - maybe the trip computer is bullshit? Not very accurate. However when I filled up most recently, the K's travelled vs the Litres that went in, worked out to be 15l/100k's . A car thats 9 years old - would it need a new 02 sensor?
cheers
 

TigerVX

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VT97CALAIS said:
A guy at work has a VT Calais which has a custom vortech blower setup with cooler etc. It has 300RWKW and he gets 15l/100km for suburban driving including traffic too.... So a highly modified VT calais gets better economy than my standard VT Calais? It doesnt make sense - maybe the trip computer is bullshit? Not very accurate. However when I filled up most recently, the K's travelled vs the Litres that went in, worked out to be 15l/100k's . A car thats 9 years old - would it need a new 02 sensor?
cheers
Oxygen sensors are expected to last about 80000kms. So it could be worth changing. They aren't cheap and you'll need two. I think about $150 each.
 

EXCESSV

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i got them for $85 each from holden....mate works there so good prices all around :whistling
 

VT97CALAIS

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my calais has done 160,000 km's, not sure if oxy sensors have been replaced, would that be causing the fuel consumption to be so damn high?
 
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EXCESSV

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VT97CALAIS said:
my calais has done 160,000 km's, not sure if oxy sensors have been replaced, would that be causing the fuel consumption to be so damn high?

more than likely
 

Hairy Eater

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i'm told that that you can clean the oxy sensors with fine sandpaper and then they work like new ones again...
 
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