hi guys..

what sort of fuel economy do you typically get in a 30m/ 3.0L Mivec diamantae??

cheers

hey im in nz , although i have a 3,5l diamante (aussie made) i see a few around and one parks at the hospital down the road regulary so i will try talk to an owner and see. Try trademe as there is usually one or two for sale and the seller should know some figures if you ask. I have never driven one but one guy i talked to said it didnt feel much better than the standard dohc 3l and didnt feel like the 197kw power claimed. ill check online for torque specs, may find its not much more than the sohc 3.5l, and torque is what counts.

the comsuption rating i found is 10.8L per 100km, city/highway average for 30m.
the torque of the 3l mivec is 301.6 Nm @ 4500, the power 198kw @ 7000.
the torque of the 3.5l sohc is 313 Nm @ 4000, the power 153 (+) @ 5000.

they 'say' that the 3.5 gets about that sorta economy.. anyone who drives there auto 3.5 around town/built up areas will tell you it is a c u n t on fuel..

only reason i asked is cos there was a mivec half cut here pretty cheap..

Thats funny, my 3.5 4 speed is actually really good around town, but then most of the time it doesnt get above 3000rpm. on highway i get 400km from $35 worth @ $1.65 ave.

only reason i asked is cos there was a mivec half cut here pretty cheap..

3.8? Where? How much? What vehicle model?

Cheers,
Alan

3.8? Where? How much? What vehicle model?

Cheers,
Alan

Not a 3.8, a 3L MIVEC.

up here in QLD..... it's location will remain silent untill i convince myself it's a good/bad move..

Thats funny, my 3.5 4 speed is actually really good around town, but then most of the time it doesnt get above 3000rpm. on highway i get 400km from $35 worth @ $1.65 ave.


are you saying you get 400km from only 21L of petrol?? so average 5.25l/100km... i think you are a little out in your calculations.. what does your trip meter say you get ave fuel econ??

i almost never drive on the highway....

so doing the daily grind to and from work.. stop and start etc etc, be lucky to get under 14.5L/100km..

up here in QLD..... it's location will remain silent untill i convince myself it's a good/bad move..

MIVEC as such is a waste of money. For most purposes the 3.8/modified 3.8 is all you need. We are interested from the aspect of checking out rockers to see what is useable for a solid lifter cam and separated ex rockers in non-MIVEC engines.

Cheers,
Alan

are you saying you get 400km from only 21L of petrol?? so average 5.25l/100km... i think you are a little out in your calculations.. what does your trip meter say you get ave fuel econ??

i almost never drive on the highway....

so doing the daily grind to and from work.. stop and start etc etc, be lucky to get under 14.5L/100km..

Does seem a bit on the exaggerated side, 400km freeway for me would be about 30l which is around 7.5l/100km

honestly, my family lives 320km north of me and if i put in $40 gas in @ $1.60 from the empty line, i arrive just over the empty line. done it many times. the drive is 60% motorway and long streches of strait across hauraki plains. at 100kms an hour it sits just over 2000 rpm. honest!!!

oh dont have trip metre

that is normal..

as i have said in my posts.. freeyway economy is great.. the auto just keeps her ticking over at 2k the whole time.. i get single digits all the time..

the issue is CITY DRIVING that is what i am trying to work out here.. is the 6g72 Mivec any better on stop start, stop start, city driving.. which kills fuel economy in any car.. i don't give a flying **** about highway driving..

Ok well sorry for trying to help at all, i wont give a **** either. :)

The biggest killer in city driving is vehicle weight. Engine size is the second biggest killer.
Unless you are going to strip 300kgs out of your car, or drop in a 1.8 four banger, you're not going to change much.
It will still take the same power to accelerate the vehicle up to 80 km/h. Weight is the killer when you have to accelerate all teh time and you can't change that.
Our TW always gets 11.5l/100km commuting and a reasonable amount of that is stop start. Considering the car was so cheap we bought it outright and are not paying interest on it and the car works out dead cheap. Fuel costs are such a small aspect of teh total cost of owning and running a car, I wonder why people get so bent out of shape over 1 litre/100km. Better to actively devote money on keeping teh car very well tuned.
Things like MIVEC are only good for improving peak performance but still keeping mild manners when driving normally, you don't usually see much of an improvement in fuel economy, as it is not targeted by teh manufacturers.

Regards, Andrew.

Yeah i would imagine it would be the same as a sohc 3l. im not sure how much influence been dohc and mivec would have on fuel consumption, but it wouldnt be much. the only reason i quoted highway figures was you said you got an average of 14.5l/100km combined and i thought considering they are economical on the freeway strech, you must be driving quite hard to go from 7.5/l to what must be like 16km/l (or more) in town. we put in $40 a week to get my son to school and back plus weekend driving and all the other stopstart stuff we do. and im always left with a bit in the tank come payday. if you drive it right the 3.5 is pretty good i reckon.

yeh, i understand what your saying typhoon, and Rob,

as my normal driving doesn't involve highway driving whatsoever, i have decided to not take the verada to and from work anymore.. in favour of the 93 CSi corolla hatch..

around $80-$85 a week fuel... vs $20ish per week for the same km's... :) :)

selling the verada in favour of an IS200 manual very shortly anyway.. my fear is if i don't sell the verada now for the piddley money they seem to be worth.. what sorta resale value will it have in the coming years!! :( :(

I have a 3.5lt tl and i can average 7.1lt ever 100kms on the highway and it go's to 10.2 when in city.

yeh, i understand what your saying typhoon, and Rob,

as my normal driving doesn't involve highway driving whatsoever, i have decided to not take the verada to and from work anymore.. in favour of the 93 CSi corolla hatch..

around $80-$85 a week fuel... vs $20ish per week for the same km's... :) :)

selling the verada in favour of an IS200 manual very shortly anyway.. my fear is if i don't sell the verada now for the piddley money they seem to be worth.. what sorta resale value will it have in the coming years!! :( :(

Which is why I ride my bike as much as I can when commuting, $30 lasts me 8 days.
My commuting car is a turbo Volvo, puts out 230hp (2.3L 4 cyl) but gets 9.5-10l/100km around town. Can't beat turbos for grunt and off boost economy! It weighs about the same as our TW as well.
The missus is the one who gets 11.5l/100km around town, she's no leadfoot, so that's about as good as it will get. I could see 14l/100km somewherelike Sydney, stuck on Parramatta rd for example.
Don't bet on the Lexuses being economical, go as light a car as you can find/tolerate. If I was to buy a commuter, I'd buy a turbo four banger again for sure. Cheap to run but plenty of power if you want it, and easy to get more power but retain good economy.
As for Magna resale value, always been a problem, no way round it except keep the car 10 years. Best time to sell a car is around November, weather hotting up, people's cars dying, they want replacement cars for xmas. After xmas is the suck for selling a car though.

Regards, Andrew.