Optimize fuel consumption

Hi all!

I thought it would be better to open a new thread instead of 'messing around' on someone else's topic.

Like I've said on my introduction post, I am thinking about getting a Defender. Yet fuel consumption might be an issue on my final choice because the car is mainly for city use.

I've been reading some topics about fuel consumption on the Defender, and I can't seem to find a "final answer" regarding the question:


- Is there any way to lower the Defender fuel consumption?


I've read people talking about chips and other hardware accessories to make this, but what chips and accessories are those? Anyone wants to step up and share with us?

I want to tell you why this is important, specially here in Portugal where our government has wicked taxes towards fuel prices. Over 60% of the price we pay in fuel is going directly to the government pockets.

But imagine this... here a liter of diesel costs about 95 cents. Well, if I travel 100Km and the Defender consumes 13l/100 I spend about 12,35 euros. And after a quick translation for you Brits that's about 11.35 pounds for 62.1 miles!

And I have to remember you that now diesel is pretty "cheap" since it's costing 95 cents / liter. Some months ago it was over 1,30 euros / liter. Wicked!


So let us all know if there is any way to lower the fuel consumption. The buying - or not - of a Defender for me is depending on that

I want to thank you all in advance for your attention!

Hello in sunny P'tgul,
i've got me a beauty it's a V8 petrol that has been gased up (lpg autogas) £30 gets me around 240miles which i am quiet happy with and it's left hand drive and i use it everyday to get to work. Have you thought about a V8 and then getting it gased up? A V8 and a landy twice the fun
hope you find what you want? When you do cherish it........
regs Scrumpy

how much is the auto gas in Port/gul?

scrumpyj said:

how much is the auto gas in Port/gul?

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Have no idea. I'll try to check it out later...

Yet, I don't really want to use autogas because here in Portugal it's forbidden to park cars inside public buildings with vehicles running that. And I always park my car on an interior park. :dizzy:

In town driving gives an MPG of about 0mpg. If you want something that is fuel efficient get a motorbike as they rarely get stuck in traffic and my 1000cc Triumph Tiger gets 70mpg.

Making a Defender fuel efficient would involve changing the engine to a modern VW green lump, then removing all the weight like the 4x4 running gear and large heavy wheels and tyres and ladder chassis. Finally the aerodynamics would have to be improved from a drag co-efficient of brick. This would give you a VW Golf/Polo that currently do 68mpg on diesel.

See where I am going with this?
You can't make a Defender fuel efficient with any amount of chipping, gassing, head flowing or snake oil methods.
30-35mpg is the best you will get out of town. MUCH lower in town.

Or run it on Vegetable oil and don't buy any diesel.

Patman1200 said:

In town driving gives an MPG of about 0mpg.

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I think your driving style needs looking at, Pat

If you get stuck in traffic doing 0mph and you leave your engine running achieving 0mpg you get fed up, bored and wonder why you are in this traffic jam that happens every day.
Meanwhile I am on my bike drifting through the traffic wondering why ANYONE uses a car in town during rush hour still getting 70mpg.

indeed, filtering through the traffic, until some prick thinks 'whats causing this traffic then' and opens his door to get out and see... WHAM!!!'

chipping involves fitting a new, modified ECU to the engine to adjust how it runs. These rarely achieve mroe economy, but rather extra power. However, also, they canonly be fitted to more 'electronic' engines, like the TD5 and the TDi.

Oh, you know nothing about expensive fuel...

We pay around 98 pence per litre here, not cents. It was up to around £1.30 per litre 6 months back an all.

As for economy... You can do things to help it, like road biased tyres, fitting a discovery transfer box, which will lower the engines RPM for a given speed, and driving gently. If Veg Oil is cheap where you are, then running a TDi on this will give slightly higher MPG but makes it much cheaper, i wouldnt like to try running one of the older diesels on it though, as they can suffer.

Why can't you park LPG cars inside??

boydy1989 said:

indeed, filtering through the traffic, until some prick thinks 'whats causing this traffic then' and opens his door to get out and see... WHAM!!!'

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Very true but rarely happens as those "morons" are too busy staring at their ****navs for another route, waiting for the red lights in front to go out so they can crawl forwards another millimetre whilst on their mobiles complaining that they are once again stuck in the same traffic jam that happens every day

Granted I can't foresee every idiot's next move but armoured leathers and very large boots for taking off wing mirrors have helped.

As we are at 1 euro the the squid now our fuel is 1 euro per litre for diesel and went up by 2 cents today. We now pay 78 cents (ish as I can't be bothered to find out the actual amount) per litre direct to the gubbermint.

i was mainly bein sarky patman mate

didn realise the euro was equal to the pound now though, what has the UK come to...

S'alright, I'm in a sarky mood too. For some reason today is a wind up everyone day!

To the original question, A defender for city use isn't a good idea. If you have to ask about fuel consumption, then it's probably not for you.

What sort of off road ability do you need? Something like a Discovery might be a better option for you?

Ghost said:

What sort of off road ability do you need? Something like a Discovery might be a better option for you?

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I have some farms with very difficult car access (big rocks, dirt, mud, etc).

Anyway, the Discovery would do fine but the Discovery costs here (base price) about 70.000 euros - yes, seventy thousand euros.