Recently purchased a 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe diesel. I drive it mostly, but I'm gradually noticing the fuel economy is going down. Example: fill up and it tells me I have 584kms. It will be off by about 60-100kms per fill.
Recently had the first service and they said use shell or bp only as they are better quality but I haven't found a difference using shell. Is there an actual difference between diesels or it doesn't matter? The dealer said they don't investigate until 10,000kms which I still have a way to go. I don't know if I should push the point or what else I can do.
Diesel Economy in Hyundai Santa Fe
Licyprincess on 26/12/2015 - 13:31
Comments
584km you see on display is no more than a car best guess based on your recent average consumption, useless imho in most cases.
Thank you! Could not have said this better.
As a diesel mechanic and after years of working in stealerships as the head technician on diesel cars, this was the bane of my life. It's the cars best guess at a full tank. Then people hitch up a trailer, jam 4 people in there and gear and then drive up into the mountains and complain They only got half what the display told them at fill up.
Thanks for that.
Would you think that there is a difference in fuels say if I fill up in BP or Shell or Caltex or Metro?Not really big diference between brands, but try to use the higher end fuel ofer by each brand, for instance BP ultimate vs BP normal diesel whatever they call it. That is if you love the car, but its not really compulsory. What does the manual say about fuel? If you havent read manual, try to stay away from biodiesel, or adblue.
Try to do your own fuel reading, its easy, run the car til lights on, fill to full, reset odo, run it to lights on again, look at odo, fill to full again. The number of liters you fill the second time will reflect the amount of fuel use for x number of km shown on odo.
For a start, diesel is not like petrol, it doesn't come in regular and super. Ultimate is just a marketing junk word that people buy into (easy to see with comments such as "love your car"). It's just diesel that is cleaner due to euro vehicles not liking the typical truck diesel we sell in Australia. Oh, and it has some extra anti foam additives as well. All that means is that it makes it faster for people to fill their tanks. And people who get on forums and tell you that their butt dyno reads a 10% extra power increase and 150 extra km out of "Ultimate" diesel are kidding themselves. The 60 to 100 difference OP is experiencing is normal driving fluctuations. I fill my car and it says 520 till empty, I drive a bit heavier than most, so I get about 400 to 420…
The other thinig is, adblue is NOT diesel. It is not a fuel and should never be used to fill up a car. Your car will not run on adblue. So, saying stay away from adblue, while correct, is misinformation in the context you have used it.
Bio-diesel is a different ball game altogether. It's the "omg, I wouldn't use ethanol in my car" of diesel fuels. InB4: it doesn't have ethanol in it!!! No, it doesn't, but is looked at the same way… like Ethanol or biofuel additives in petrol cars, some cars will tolerate it and some cars won't. Some bio fuels are made from vegetable oil and some from used waste oil, but generally speaking, its best to find out where your bio diesel is coming from and if your car can tolerate it. But to give you an idea, Diesel engines will run on kerosene if you are in a pinch (and don't mind paying $5/lt…)
How big is the tank?
I have a Volvo XC60, D5 twin turbo diesel, 2013 model. From memory, i think its a 70 - 75 liter tank. I usually get 900 = 950 KMS per tank, driving to work, kids school drop off etc. So, city driving.
I have had the car since new, averaged 900 - 950kms per tank since new.
When we got our diesel van I read through many Nissan forums (we have an Elgrand) and what I gathered is to always preferably go to BP, only to Caltex if you can't find a BP and avoid Shell like the plague. My understanding is that each place has a slightly different mix to their diesel - different additives etc. It was a few years ago that I looked into it however and I guess it's possible that the quality of Shell has improved, but this is the recommendations we've stuck to.
One other tip I read was that you should fill up when you get to the 1/4 line, rather than leaving it till nearly empty to avoid any air getting in which is apparently very bad.
I don't really know much about mechanics, but the people (particularly on the Elgrand forum) I was reading from LOVE their cars so that was good enough for me.
You will find that in Southern Queensland BP uses diesel supplied by Caltex . Some other areas of Australia also, does BP even have a Refinery in Australia anymore?
They do in Perth.
List of all the refineries in Australia (Sadly only 4)
Victoria
Geelong Refinery (Vitol), 130,000 bbl/d (Shell) Vitols aim is to only supply Victoria from this plant.
Altona Refinery (ExxonMobil), about 75,000 bbl/d
Queensland
Lytton Refinery (Caltex), 104,000 bbl/d
Western Australia
Kwinana Refinery (BP), 138,000 bbl/dIf people think they are getting petrol or diesel refined by BP on the eastern seaboard they are dreaming they will be predominantly getting fuel refined by the mega refineries in India and Asia.
Hi I'm looking at buying an 04 elgrand this weekend and I'm having some troubles finding forums can you please comment with a link? Cheers
the computer is guessing
the only way to know accurately is to keep records or mileage and fuel added - try fuelly.com - it works well
diesel is diesel - do NOT believe the marketing BS. what is VERY important is that you get fuel from a station with tanks in good condition. what kills diesel engines is water. old or poorly constructed underground tanks get water ingress and you won't know it's bad until your engine fails. use a station that has new tanks. ask the attendant when the tanks were installed. they won't know, but ask them to find out. or ask a local mechanic which stations to avoid. a decent mechanic will know which diesel cars are suffering from bad fuel and which stations have new tanks. replace your fuel filter at the required intervals and ask your mechanic if there is any water in it.
This. The computer guesses your fuel remaining and the calculates the the fuel consumption based on your driving style. If you've been driving around town for a while and then hit the highway it isn't unusual for a distance to empty (DTE) display to go up as the highway running is more efficient. Also if you've been out on the highway on a long trip the DTE will drop faster once you get back into town.
You need to work out your consumption by measuring the fuel going in and the kms covered. Mine (in an old forester) will vary between under 9 and 11 (range 400-550) for each tank depending on the driving style for that tankful.
Downloaded fuelly and will give it a shot. At Lyne very least it will give me some information to take back to the dealer of the mileage continues to be poor.
Thanks
I just got a diesel triton. I buy BP as number 1 and called as a back up. Would not buy anything else. BP gives better economy and has a higher cetane rating which helps keep my engine quieter.
Thanks all. Will try BP and will track accurately. Appreciate the advice
I have a 2013 santa fe, highlander
fuel consumption for this car compared to other diesels is a little higher. you will average around 9-11 litres per 100Km with city driving. and that's being careful not to over accelerate and rev the engine when driving
however if you drive a lot of highways and motor ways this is where this car gets most of its fuel efficiency, can go down as low as 4-5 litres per 100km.
Wonder how the OP is getting on?
Holy dead thread resurrection, Batman! I commented above and didn't look at the date! Lol! :D
hahaha and I followed you and did the same
I tracked for a while. But it all seemed to be fine so I stopped tracking. Found minimal difference between BP and Caltex.
Good vehicle, congrats with your purchase.
Dealer is right, fuel consumption will settle (especially for diesel) after a couple of 10th of thousands kms. Also while taking your time to drive that far I suggest to learn more accurate ways to estimate your fuel consumption.
584km you see on display is no more than a car best guess based on your recent average consumption, useless imho in most cases.