When you are travelling long distances both on and offroad, you definitely will notice that travelling around in a 4WD, that your vehicles fuel consumption will definitely show a huge difference when compared with the better half’s family sedan.

Here are our top tips for getting the most out of your 4WD when you are driving both on and off road.

Our first big tip to getting the most fuel economy offroad is making sure that your vehicle is running in 100% A1 condition, by giving your 4WD a good service before your trip you can ensure that all mechanical components are able to operate smoothly and efficiently, requiring less energy to drive your vehicle.

Maintainance

This means you should change all of your oils and switch out your filters for fresh filters regularly this means that you will have the least amount of resistance with fuel, oil and air flow into your engine.

By running clean oils, and new filters your vehicle will respond quite well with more performance at the pedal, as well as needing less right boot to get your 4WD rolling!

Whilst your vehicle may be now running in tip top condition, chances are, you have a new found love for how much pickup it has when you plant your foot.

This leads us to the next point…

Driving Behavior

By reducing the amount of accelerator you apply and taking off slow and steady, you will find that your fuel consumption figures are greatly improved, as tempting as it may be to race the young gun in his hot hatch off the lights, you will find at the end of the day,  your vehicle is a couple of tons and launching that heavy weight, requires a lot of energy and you will pay for it at the bowser.

Another thing you can do to ensure you have the maximum fuel economy when you are driving your pride and joy is to keep in mind that when you are travelling down hill your vehicles weight will conserve its momentum and even accelerate you without any pedal input at all, and by actually removing your foot from the pedal (depending on your fuel system) you will prevent excess fuel from being pumped into your engine and burning for no reason. This means that by simply releasing the accelerator you will find your figures improve dramatically.

The same can be said when you are in traffic and approaching the traffic lights, stopped traffic, and even  there is no reason to keep accelerating up to a stop, keep your eyes scanning well ahead down the road, and you will be able to predict the stopping distance your vehicle requires, every time you stomp on the brakes and stomp on the accelerator your vehicle will chew through your fuel! With this in mind if you are rolling down a big hill, gaining enough momentum to roll up the other side will save your engine the labour required to push your 4WD up the steep incline.

When tackling big hills, if you don’t maintain momentum, no stress, just jump in the left lane and let the motor do it’s thing, even If your vehicle has the power to push your 4WD up the hill at the speed limit, with a fully loaded vehicle a bit of right boot on a hill you can almost watch your fuel gauge needle dropping in front of your eyes…. A scary thought!

No matter what terrain you are driving on, there is one factor that you have absolute control over that will have the biggest impact on how your vehicles fuel consumption is, and that is your tyre air pressures.

Air pressures

By driving on underinflated tyres you increase the rolling resistance of your vehicle by many factors, this is due to the increased tyre surface area touching the track/road surface as well as the flex in the sidewalls meaning power transmission to the surface feels “spoungy” and “wallowy” by running the correct tyre pressures for the surfaces you are driving on you will find your 4WD will thank you with improved fuel consumption figures.

By kitting yourself up with an Adventure Kings Air compressor and a purpose made tyre deflation tool you can ensure you have absolute control wherever you are, without having to rely on a service station compressor which often have huge lines and inaccurate gauges.

When driving on soft surfaces, you will find that your vehicles weight pushing down on the soft surface will require lower pressures in your tyres to increase the surface area and improve your “float” over the surface, this is due to the tread flexing and applying less PSI on the track surface.

On soft terrain like sand and soft mud, your vehicle effectively sinks in, and because it is lower than the track surface, the tyres need to constantly “climb” their way along as they chew up the track surface, this means even on relatively flat sections your 4WD will have to use as much energy as when you are hauling up huge hills, decreasing your economy. This is why letting your tyres down on soft surfaces will allow you to conserve your fuel consumption and even give you the ability to drive over surfaces you wouldn’t consider possible with highway pressures in your tyres.

Large diameter tyres

It seems to be all the rage at the moment to fit HUGE rubber to your vehicle, however this does contribute to decreased fuel efficiency, and harder driving without critical gearing upgrades in your diffs to not only compensate for your increased rolling resistance but also for the change in your speedo readouts which will be upset by fitting larger rubber. Even for those who barely spend time offroad, it has become popular to fit anything from 2 or 3 sizes larger than factory sized rubber.

This coupled with the typically increased rolling resistance of aggressive lug tread patterns typically found on “Mud Terrain Tyres” or “Aggressive All Terrain Tyres” you will find that you’re fuel economy may suffer.

GVM and loaded weight

When packing for a big trip away, or even if you have a set of Titan Drawers fitted in the back of your 4WD stuffed full of your camping essentials ready at a moments notice, the more weight you carry on your 4WD with accessories, barwork and unessentials stashed away, the more weight your vehicle needs to push around in everyday life. This gives the net result of burning more fuel and costing you more in everyday running costs.

This is also a factor when considering your vehicles GVM. Manufacturers rate chassis, suspension, brakes and drivelines to operate within the GVM rating given by the engineers at the factory, obviously staying below this number will ensure not only better economy but also that your vehicles insurance is still valid and that all of your occupants and your vehicle are safer and more likely to get home in one piece.

TOP SPEED

The final straw on the camels back, is your top speed – whilst most modern 4WD’s drive just like a family car and are fitted with all the latest mod cons, such as stability control automatic braking, lane assist, and much more. Air resistance is one of the biggest factors in decreasing our fuel economy on the highway. As a vehicle increases its speed it exponentially increases its fuel consumption resulting in horrible fuel consumption figures particularly when packed to the high water mark with bulky gear on your roof racks.

As a golden rule, 90km/h is the sweet zone where you can giddy up down the highway without guzzling fuel unnecessarily, by adding just an extra 10 km/h to your speed increases your air resistance a significant amount and makes your consumption figures worse by many factors, and again if you add an additional 10km/h to drive at the posted 110km/h freeway speed.

So knock the top off your speed, don’t carry too much excess weight, run the correct tyre pressures and tread patterns, and sizes for your vehicle, as well as keeping the RPM’s down, and keeping your vehicle up to date with its maintenance schedule. You will be surprised at just how many Kilometers you can get per Liter of fuel!