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XR8 BA Manual FUEL SUCKS

9K views 46 replies 32 participants last post by  Swordie 
#1 ·
Hi Guys and Gals. I own an XR8 BA Manual 5 Speed. :wnc: Goes great, handles well. and is quite capable of sub 5's 0 - 100ks But boy am I dissapointed with the fuel economy. So far the best I can get out of a tank is 398ks. Admittedley I owned a VX com V6 up until now and it gave me 500 on average and 600+ on a trip. Twice gave me from Newcastle to Tweed heads on single tank with a shade under a 1/4 left. Tell me the falcon can get get better. The power is one thing but if this is the economy I think I will go for the blown V6 com. :fraz:
 
#2 ·
Mate to get almost 400km out of a tank would be great, on a good run i get 320 from a 65ltr tank, 4 speed auto driven in sports mode
 
#3 ·
BAs, Ford and most cars come out of the factory running very rich. This is a warranty friendly thing as if they are too lean, they burn... and also cars are made for less of the performance aspect than the daily driver aspect. So they tend to be a bit conservative and its always safer to run richer than leaner within reason.

Also, each engine is not individually tuned on the line - and each engine IS different. So some engines will run leaner than others....

I found that with mine. My AFRs were around 11 when it was first dynod. Which was about as bad as they had seen. I got a Unichip and it went up to around 12. Since I had the exhaust mods the fuel efficiency has improved again.

I would recommend getting it dynod to see where its at, if you havent already. And then think about some sort of chip to help with that. Either that or the Boss Edit, which I assume would also fix that problem.....

It would get better over time too, as you run it in....
 
#4 ·
JESUS I think I will get a towbar fitted so I can tow a fuel tank behind me. Thats bloody redicules. You would think with all this computer advancement you could get better economy. Mine only has 4000 ks on it and it hasnt been for a good run yet. Newcastle to Sydney is the longest its had. Yes I do run PULP, I think I will cahse a new exhaust and see what happens. Thanks Guys.
 
#5 ·
I average around 450 to a tank, 5spd manual, mixture of city and freeway driving, most of the time hard

Have gotten over 700km+ a few times from melbourne to canberra, i'm quite happy with the fuel consumption of it, better than my last V6 Rodeo. Perhaps it's the mods that I have, they lean out the fuel, cause a cleaner burn and use less petrol, but I've also heard that some cars use a lot more fuel than others from the factory too. A case of getting it flashed at the dealers
 
#6 ·
bigdodge said:
Hi Guys and Gals. I own an XR8 BA Manual 5 Speed. :wnc: Goes great, handles well. and is quite capable of sub 5's 0 - 100ks

Sub 5 sec 0 to 100 in a XR8 I would love to see that!!!!!
 
#7 ·
Rodderz said:
I average around 450 to a tank, 5spd manual, mixture of city and freeway driving, most of the time hard

Have gotten over 700km+ a few times from melbourne to canberra, i'm quite happy with the fuel consumption of it, better than my last V6 Rodeo. Perhaps it's the mods that I have, they lean out the fuel, cause a cleaner burn and use less petrol, but I've also heard that some cars use a lot more fuel than others from the factory too. A case of getting it flashed at the dealers
We have a larger tank in the ute Rodderz, we have 80 litres as opposed to 68 litres in the sedans. The bigger tank in my ute makes me feel better when I see that I am getting over 450 kms to a tank... I am averaging about 15l/100kms which would work out to 533 kms per tank.
 
#8 ·
Biggest change to the fuel economy of my car was noticed after having Unichip fitted. These cars are definately set up to rich from the factory. T he chip made a huge difference both to fuel economy & bottom-mid range power, mind you a lot has to do with the bloke fitting & tuning the chip too. I also altered the final drive ratio at the same time & this is counter-productive to good fuel economy yet the reduction in fuel consumption was still remarkable. Try the chip, it will pay for it self in no time.
 
#9 ·
The GT's get around 400 klm to the tank, city driving,but you have to remember that they are a big beast and a heavy car with that big Boss engine underneath it.
Cheers John
 
#10 ·
bigdodge said:
JESUS I think I will get a towbar fitted so I can tow a fuel tank behind me. Thats bloody redicules. You would think with all this computer advancement you could get better economy. Mine only has 4000 ks on it and it hasnt been for a good run yet. Newcastle to Sydney is the longest its had. Yes I do run PULP, I think I will cahse a new exhaust and see what happens. Thanks Guys.
I think with all the computer advancement you are getting bloody good fuel economy, can you image how much fuel a 400hp pushrod, carburatored v8 would use? besides, 400km out of 65 litres is like 16litres/100km. thats less than average for the boss. Can you imagine the boss290, that stupid 5.7ls1 motor averages between 15 - 22litres/ 100km(+5litres of oil per 100km).
You should have done some research before you bought it, plenty of boss owners out there. Besides, what are you comparing it to? a v6 dunnydore? you said you got 500km from that 150kw thing, and now your getting 400km from a 260kw v8, giveme the 8 any day.
 
#11 ·
I have a BA xr8 ute, 2500klm on the clock. The first tank of fuel got 400klm mostly freeway driving. now I am getting 600klm to about 58 ltrs. That works out to about 10.5 ltrs per 100klms. driving from gold coast to brisbane daily.

Around town i get it up to 15 ltrs per 100klms

How the instant fuel milage on the dash, when you get up it I have seen it hit 64ltrs per 100klms ( scary ) :AAHHH:

An exhaust & air filter will help.

And I do think in thsi day of age fuel milage should be alot better. As the SS commy get 9.5 per 100klms on the hwy
 
#12 ·
mcdennis1 said:
I have a BA xr8 ute, 2500klm on the clock. The first tank of fuel got 400klm mostly freeway driving. now I am getting 600klm to about 58 ltrs. That works out to about 10.5 ltrs per 100klms. driving from gold coast to brisbane daily.

Around town i get it up to 15 ltrs per 100klms

How the instant fuel milage on the dash, when you get up it I have seen it hit 64ltrs per 100klms ( scary ) :AAHHH:

An exhaust & air filter will help.

And I do think in thsi day of age fuel milage should be alot better. As the SS commy get 9.5 per 100klms on the hwy
Sorry mate but your fuel figures are wrong, if you get 600km from 58litres highway driving, it is 9.6litres/100km, not 10.5. Therefore it is more powerful than ss and is heaver, 0.1litres/100km more sounds good to me.
 
#13 ·
mcdennis1 said:
I have a BA xr8 ute, 2500klm on the clock. The first tank of fuel got 400klm mostly freeway driving. now I am getting 600klm to about 58 ltrs. That works out to about 10.5 ltrs per 100klms. driving from gold coast to brisbane daily.

Around town i get it up to 15 ltrs per 100klms

How the instant fuel milage on the dash, when you get up it I have seen it hit 64ltrs per 100klms ( scary ) :AAHHH:
I get the same as you in my manual xr8 ute. I'm using Caltex Vortex Gold for fuel because i got it as a fleet car and i have to use Caltex.
 
#14 ·
bigdodge said:
Hi Guys and Gals. I own an XR8 BA Manual 5 Speed. :wnc: Goes great, handles well. and is quite capable of sub 5's 0 - 100ks But boy am I dissapointed with the fuel economy. So far the best I can get out of a tank is 398ks. Admittedley I owned a VX com V6 up until now and it gave me 500 on average and 600+ on a trip. Twice gave me from Newcastle to Tweed heads on single tank with a shade under a 1/4 left. Tell me the falcon can get get better. The power is one thing but if this is the economy I think I will go for the blown V6 com. :fraz:
If it goes great you are obviously using the go peddle, hence using more fuel, but if you want to compare distance's between the Commy and the Falcon let me tell you this, you claim to get 500klm's out of the V6 commy and 400klm's from the V8 Falcon, but remember the Falcon only hold's a 68 litre tank were as the commy has a 75 litre tank,that's 7 litre's different, now tell me wether you think the holden is much better on fuel, if you only got 500 in town from your old commy and 600+ in the hwy, well I get 500 in town and 700+ on the hwy in my AU II XR8 at about 230+kw, once again with the 68 litre tank againt's your commy's 75litre.
 
#15 ·
Re: XR8 BA Manual FUEL SUCKS :edit:

Well I love this site........ You get a good mix of feedback and thats a good thing.:bsr:
I did forget about the extra tank size of the commodore. Now that you mention that I am not feeling to bad. OK as for research, I did. Now here is the kicker I had done a heap of research and really wanted the XR so I did all the preliminary paperwork and went over to the USA for three weeks. While I was away my wife recieved the final order forms in the mail, she filled them out to the letter and posted them off. I knew when I got home I would have a new XR6 non turbo manual sitting in the driveway. Two weeks into my trip in the USA I has been phoning home every day or so just to check on family, not really worried about the car. A week before I am due home I ring my wife and she says I have some bad news and some other news. OK give me the bad news, she tells me that Phantom colour is no longer available so she ordered the other Purple, oh well its purple no biggie, then she says, you know how there was 3 boxes to tick for the model? Yes I says, well I ticked the XR8 one by accident she says.:AAHHH: :wnc:
And that is how I ended up with it. I dont mind it was just a bit of a shock thats all, To be filling the tank up twice a week instead of once.
So thanks for all your useful advice guys and gals.

OH And so far the worst I have done is 5.13 for 0 to 100 the best is 4.94 This is with an old KR11 speed gun tripod mounted and recaled every 3 months. And 2 citizen chronos
 
#19 ·
That's not a bad way to get into an XR8. I get around 450km around town, or 15litres/100 on the computer, just about to hit 25000kms. For what it is, that is very good fuel economy with that size tank. My old XF Ghia EFI 250 with 3spd auto was probably around the same, and I know the XR8 has better economy on the highway to boot.
 
#20 ·
xr6 ute said:
I think with all the computer advancement you are getting bloody good fuel economy, can you image how much fuel a 400hp pushrod, carburatored v8 would use? besides, 400km out of 65 litres is like 16litres/100km. thats less than average for the boss. Can you imagine the boss290, that stupid 5.7ls1 motor averages between 15 - 22litres/ 100km(+5litres of oil per 100km).
You should have done some research before you bought it, plenty of boss owners out there. Besides, what are you comparing it to? a v6 dunnydore? you said you got 500km from that 150kw thing, and now your getting 400km from a 260kw v8, giveme the 8 any day.
Give me that pushrod carburetted engine as my BA XR8 gets 340klm per tank with cruise set at 100kph on open highway no hills.Around town 290-300klm max and that is like driving miss daisy as well.
 
#21 ·
FRUSTRATED said:
Give me that pushrod carburetted engine as my BA XR8 gets 340klm per tank with cruise set at 100kph on open highway no hills.Around town 290-300klm max and that is like driving miss daisy as well.
If you are only getting 340 odd on the hwy then there is something seriously wrong with your vehicle, I'd check that out if I were you.
 
#23 ·
Yeah that is a big problem, I know it isn't the same motor, but my EF 5.0 gets 700-ish Km to a tank in country driving, sitting at 110-130kmh.
 
#24 ·
As the k's get up on the car the fuel consumption improves. when i first got the car i was getting about 350 per tank. now i have 20k on the clock 500km mostly hwy driving per tank. on a recent trip to brisbane i got 610kms with 18k's till empty. but if you drop the boot in goodbye fuel economy
 
#25 · (Edited)
galaxy xr8 said:
If you are only getting 340 odd on the hwy then there is something seriously wrong with your vehicle, I'd check that out if I were you.
I would agree with that wholeheartedly!

I took my brand new XR8 to the Whitsundays for our first cruise and we averaged 10Lts/100 and we're getting 15-16 around town and I must admit I give her a giddy up occassionally, but not all the time (cause there's not enough action up here!!!)

The highest I've seen the instant fuel readout is 54, however I hardly ever have it on thet setting and when I'm booting it I usually don't spend time looking at that!!
 
#26 ·
bigdodge said:
Hi Guys and Gals. I own an XR8 BA Manual 5 Speed. :wnc: Goes great, handles well. and is quite capable of sub 5's 0 - 100ks But boy am I dissapointed with the fuel economy. So far the best I can get out of a tank is 398ks. Admittedley I owned a VX com V6 up until now and it gave me 500 on average and 600+ on a trip. Twice gave me from Newcastle to Tweed heads on single tank with a shade under a 1/4 left. Tell me the falcon can get get better. The power is one thing but if this is the economy I think I will go for the blown V6 com. :fraz:
How can you compare a high performance 260kw Quad cam 5.4L V8 to a 3.8L v6 buick fitted to the main stream commodores. Of course the Buick V6 will have better economy. I bet that a GenIII V8 will have neck n neck fuel economy to the XR8.
 
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