Toyota Kluger 2013 4WD KX-R - Very High Fuel Consumption Problem

Lgoliath on 31/08/2023 - 23:44
Last edited 06/09/2023 - 01:34 by 1 other user

Bought this used car Toyota Kluger 2013 4WD KX-R (petrol, V6 engine, 3.4litre capacity, AT) a few years back in 2014. I think it was like new when I bought it since it was the 2013 model.

Didn't drive a lot, regular maintenance, pay for whatever the service centre said. According to what the panel (I mean the dashboard, the meter showing this) said, the petrol consumption was always 16L/100KM - 18L/100KM. I drove most time just in the metro area, with typical 60 - 70 KM/h speed limit. For every 300KM or so I had to refill the tank as it was like only 20% fuel left.

Service centre never said anything about it.

I remembered they once did a throttle cleaning or something, but I didn't feel any difference. They did it just as regular maintenance work (like very x months, every x km), not because of anything specific

I thought it was normal until recently a friend of mine told me it's ridiculously high and can't believe I've been driving it like this for years (and lots of money wasted!!)

My knowledge is very limited and I'd like to know:

1, Is this normal?
2, If it's not, what can possibly be the issue and how can I have it fixed?

Many thanks.

===
My friend's car is a used Pajero 2016 bought 3 months ago. He said it's about 10L in urban area and slightly higher in the city

===
Yeah my friend's car on a diesel.

Automotive Car Toyota

Comments

  • t_c on 01/09/2023 - 20:54

    Byd atto3 uses 15.8kw per 100km avg. At 0.24c kw with charging losses, its about $4.20 to 100km

    Might want to run your numbers and consider a upgrade?

  • mountaineer on 01/09/2023 - 20:59

    Be careful to reveal your fuel consumption, especially that high with a SUV: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/toorak-tractors-…. Lolz!

  • Cheapskate Paul on 01/09/2023 - 21:18
    +1

    My XB Falcon GS 5.8 litre V8 used to get 39L/100KM (6mpg). Money didn't mean as much to me then!

    • ccrap on 01/09/2023 - 21:30

      Username does not check out

      • Cheapskate Paul on 01/09/2023 - 21:52

        Username did not check out. My main form of transport is now an electric mobility scooter. Very economical, but not quite as fast!

    • Willy Beamish on 01/09/2023 - 22:56

      Lol that's ridiculous amount of fuel consumption, ever run out of fuel on longer trips?

      • Cheapskate Paul on 02/09/2023 - 00:31
        +5

        I couldn't afford to go on longer trips lol.

    • Indomietable on 03/09/2023 - 21:44

      Hopefully, you keep it clean and well maintained. Its value has been on an upward trajectory lately.

    • bhubb18 on 07/09/2023 - 13:43

      Yeesh, I dailied my Aristo at ~27L/100km for a year, at least it was fun haha.

  • ShortyX on 01/09/2023 - 22:18
    +4

    …a few years back…

    Oh, so maybe 2020?

    …in 2014.

  • BartholemewH on 01/09/2023 - 23:03

    Your friend's Pajero is diesel, and likely does a bit (but not a lot) more highway from those figures.

    The Kluger is petrol and was known to be thirsty from day one. Your light wallet would likely have alerted you to this over the past nine years (!?)

  • kaleidoscope on 02/09/2023 - 00:26

    a few years back in 2014

    In car years speaking that would be an eternity ago…

    —-

    Those figures seem right to me. Friend’d brother owned one and all he could talk about was how much fuel this thing consumed on average 😅. They’re good for taking a big family for road trips or so, not so much for city driving.
    I can’t believe you’re talking about this 9 years after purchase and even that after your friend mentioned about something…

    • Cheapskate Paul on 02/09/2023 - 00:37
      +2

      In car years speaking that would be an eternity ago…

      It's a 10 year old car. The average age of a car in Australia is 10.6 years.

      https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/industry/tourism-and-trans….

    • goliath on 02/09/2023 - 01:53

      Yeah how silly I was…
      Began to think about this after so many years of driving right?

      The point here is actually not how much I paid, but how much (I thought) I probably have wasted

  • mattie on 02/09/2023 - 01:09
    +1

    I had a Kluger it guzzled the petrol , you can improve a bit by backing off accelerator when red light ahead and don't floor it of the mark but it's hard to adjust your driving habits. If you're only driving say 10000 ks a year you would only save 500 bucks a year by changing to a car with 20% better economy , you could save that 500 by not giving your mechanic an open CHQ book , just change the oil only unless something starts making noises

    • goliath on 02/09/2023 - 01:58

      True. My kms/year was perhaps even less than 10000

  • Vent89 on 02/09/2023 - 09:08

    A heavy v6 in city driving running E10 fuel. There's your answer, completely normal consumption given those parameters.

    Could try improving your driving style for a little improvement. Don't take off hard and back off the accelerator earlier when slowing down, try to maximise coasting without holding up traffic. Look up hypermiling techniques without going too stupid with it (don't turn off your engine at lights etc unless the car specifically has that feature).

    For your next purchase consider a hybrid, your driving conditions are exactly where hybrids shine.

  • od810 on 02/09/2023 - 09:17

    I have a 2010 kluger awd, and 16-18L for local driving is normal. Bought an EV and hardly touch the kluger anymore, thank god otherwise it would be painful to refill the car every week.

    Your friend's Pajero is Diesel?

  • jlogic on 02/09/2023 - 09:31

    Sheesh that’s alot. More than double my consumption on a combined use.

    Get 7.5l/100km.

    Turbo Diesel same age vehicle.

    • vshek on 02/09/2023 - 10:18
      +1

      Diesel will always have low fuel consumption compared to similar power pertrol engine. hence Diesels are popular for larger vehicles.

  • IpGem on 02/09/2023 - 10:52

    Dad used to have 2012 kluger which he sold during covid for the exact same reason.
    From memory it used to average about the same, 15l or 16l per 100ks

    I think in all these years he easily could have paid more on feeding the beast than he bought it for

  • sillyhead on 02/09/2023 - 11:08
    +2

    The toyota 3.4lt V6 petrol is notoriously thirsty in any of the toyotas it was fitted to. Prado, Hilux, Kluger. They are great cars though if they werent as thirsty they would have a higher retained value. Sometimes I guess it depends on how many K's you do whether its worth changing cars. If you only use it as a weekender, its okay. Buy if you go over 25k kms a year it can start to get financially crippling.

    Basically, the maths don't lie. You can do a cost comparison between the changeover cost, maintenence cost and fuel cost between your car and your propsed car and work out what the best solution is. Its always difficult comparing petrol cars to diesels as diesels can have higher servicing costs and more complex systems that are more expensive and likely to fail, (e.g. injectors, Turbo, Fuel pump). Sometimes if theres only a couple of thousand a year difference its better to have the petrol car depending on circumstances (towing would be one circumstance of importance)

    I have a fortuner diesel now at 8.5l per 100k compared to my old 16l / 100k pajero. The upgrade wasn't financially worth it but since I tow and 4x4 alot i needed something with better fuel range and reliabilty. The pajero was just getting old and though never broke down on me there was alot of small nusiance issues.

    I find with these decisions its best to park emotion and take the aspect of a fleet manager. Let the numbers and the use requirements do the work.

    • Dogsrule on 04/09/2023 - 18:02
      +1

      The toyota 3.4lt V6 petrol is notoriously thirsty in any of the toyotas it was fitted to. Prado, Hilux, Kluger.

      OP is wrong, their Kluger has the 3.5 2GR-FE, not the 3.4 5VZ-FE which was only in the Hilux and Prado. Both thirsty engines though.

  • brad1-8tsi on 02/09/2023 - 11:08

    Pajero 2016 bought 3 months ago. He said it's about 10L in urban area and slightly higher in the city

    Your mate must be using the very optimistic guessometer on the instrument cluster or is a BS artist.
    I have a 2016 Pajero Sport which has a lighter body and a more economical 2.4l diesel engine than the 3.0l diesel Pajero. On the highway it's 10-11l/100km. Around Sydney it's 14-18l/100km and I don't thrash it. That's measured properly, not the lies on the dashboard.

    According to what the panel said, the petrol consumption was always 16L/100KM - 18L/100KM.

    What panel? The instrument panel consumption meter?

    I drove most time just in the metro area, with typical 60 - 70 >KM/h speed limit. For every 300KM or so I had to refill the tank.

    We had V6 Klugers at work. They got about 20l/100km around town. About 14l/100km on a regional trip. They like a drink.

    Service centre never said anything about it.

    What are you expecting them to say? They have no idea how much fuel you use.

    • bhubb18 on 07/09/2023 - 13:46

      You should be doing better than that IMO

      My wifes challenger, using the older 4D56, lifted on 33" mud tyres gets ~15-17L/100km. The economy the car measures is substantially different to what it takes to fill though haha.

      • brad1-8tsi on 11/09/2023 - 17:30
        +1

        You should be doing better than that

        Should be but doesn't. It's not helped by the 40mm lift and the +50mm ATs but it should be better.

  • rave75 on 02/09/2023 - 12:10
    +1

    Your friend's pajero is not diesel right?

  • TRANCE on 02/09/2023 - 12:29

    My 4cyl Lexus es300h is advertised as 4.8L/100km, but I am averaging 5.4L/100km, unfortunately the manufacturers always lie about the real world numbers, I'm with you, I want my 0.6L of petrol per 100km back, it all adds up.

    • xuqi on 02/09/2023 - 21:24

      You'd need to run in Eco driving mode to get closer to their quoted numbers.

  • gromit on 02/09/2023 - 14:58

    Your friend doesn't have a clue. As others have pointed out that is about what to expect from a SUV of that size with city driving.

  • jason101 on 02/09/2023 - 14:59

    I once had a 2011 3.7L CX-9 AWD, 15.7L per 100 km from the day I drove it off the lot to the day I sold it 6-7 years later. The number is burned into my brain as it had a 1 line display screen in the dash and taunted it me with its ridiculously high fuel consumption ever time I looked at the screen.

    • BartholemewH on 04/09/2023 - 01:55

      The first gen CX9 was also renowned for its fuel use. You read reviews and still went ahead went it, surely the consumption was factored into the purchase decision?

  • diasaha on 02/09/2023 - 16:59

    We drive a 2012 kluger, in city driving we get about 500kms on a full tank (63liters) which is about 13L for 100km.
    I guess we must be lucky!!

    • gromit on 04/09/2023 - 10:28
      +1

      full tank is 72 litres not 63.

  • ribze1 on 02/09/2023 - 19:43

    It weights 2 tonnes without you or anything else inside it. Could be sitting at 2.5 tonnes loaded up quite easily, of course it's going to drink petrol.

  • duchy on 02/09/2023 - 22:20

    Toyota Aurion owner here. These numbers seem correct for city driving. V6 are guzzlers in the city.

    • Munki on 03/09/2023 - 03:33

      My Presara does around 12-13L/100km. Starting to hurt with these $2+/L fuel prices.

  • PappaLuigi on 02/09/2023 - 23:52

    its a V6 tank… as ppl said, quick online search would have told you it aint great on fuel..
    but..
    based on that… what i am taking away from this thread is that its a good time to buy a 2nd hand model of this Kluger given the high fuel prices… carsales.com here i come!

  • pogichinoy on 03/09/2023 - 00:16

    Expected consumption.

    To get a more accurate reading on your fuel consumption, download an app like Fuel Map and enter your refuelling details. Ie km driven, and amount of fuel refuelled.

    My 2018 Prado (4 cylinder diesel) choc full of camping gear and tools averages 12L/100km in the city. Previously my old 2005 CRV (4 cylinder petrol) was averaging 11.5/100km.

    Yours is a V6 petrol. That is quite thirsty.

  • morrisoc on 03/09/2023 - 03:51

    If it has got progressively worse over time it could be the long term fuel trim settings have become stuck or the upstream / downstream sensors are not functioning correctly. If you have a obdc scanner you can check the sensors and perform a emisions systems reset, effectively setting the long term trim back to zero. The trim setting refers to your car running lean or rich with the long term trim being a memory of sorts so when your car starts it begins using that historical number. If you don't have the scanner try disconnecting the battery for 30min, this will also clear all the emisions data and start from scratch just the way it came from the factory. No guarantees it won't drift back up again but there is nothing to loose.

    • MrFrugalSpend on 03/09/2023 - 07:54

      They are always this bad, had one, heavy AWD petrol for urban driving - was a ridiculous guzzler from new, had to sell it was so bad

  • MrFrugalSpend on 03/09/2023 - 07:43

    Hey, did you buy my old car!?
    Shortest time period owning a car ever my AWD Petrol Kluger experience…. re-sold it very quickly solely because of the fuel consumption.
    Was ridiculous. Combo of petrol, weight, and AWD plus the smallish tank for a large vehicle it felt like I was always at the petrol station…
    plus the fact many people use them in very urban kids transport contexts…

    I did mostly urban driving, found it used way more fuel in $s than my previous LS1 V8 Holden which I ran on Ultimate 98 and being a V8 I drove it harder!

  • curtturtle on 03/09/2023 - 10:03

    As a hilux owner I had the same thing. First step is to clean that MAP/MAF sensor in the aribox.

  • Bid Sniper on 03/09/2023 - 12:06
    +1

    Sell it, buy a used hatchback with direct injection motor since you mainly drive city.

    Wont cost anything, save 10L/100km problem solved.

  • AMLagonda on 03/09/2023 - 12:15

    Wow and I thought my old xtrail used a lot but I worked it out the other day to be 11L/100km

  • billy72 on 03/09/2023 - 14:09
    +1
    1. V6
    2. 10 years old car
    3. City driving.

    My car is 2.4 but city driving often double highway driving in term of fuel

  • corvusman on 03/09/2023 - 14:48

    My experience with 2007 Aurion 3.5L: 11 L per 100 km on average (mostly city driving). 2014 Kluger with the same engine did 12.5-13L per 100 on average (mostly Parramatta road).

    16 is a bit too much.

  • Tleyx on 03/09/2023 - 18:55

    Thats like what $40 in petrol per 100km, how do people afford this? .insane

  • JimB on 03/09/2023 - 20:11

    I have a similar sized/weight/power SUV but a little older. Hurts when you pay $120 and get 400km out of it.

    Uses similar fuel on 95 but we such low KMs as it’s a second car now.

    Try pumping the tyres a bit more.

    I switched from low resistance silica tyres to regular tyres (thanks MyCar Pirelli deal) and I think it probably uses 1/2L more now.

    I do say 150km of pure city driving a week. Most trips are 2km so it really doesn’t have time to warm up.

    Worked it out, based on our usage it’s much cheaper to keep it than to buy a newer fuel efficient car. It’s still reliable so hoping to keep it for a few more years. Will probably go EV in future to replace the main family car, the current main diesel family car will then become 2nd (and long road trip/snow) car.

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 03/09/2023 - 20:43
    +1

    TIL a few years ago is a decade ago

  • capslock janitor on 04/09/2023 - 00:04
    +1

    it's a heavy ass 4wd suv with v6 engine, whatchu expect

    • Poor Ass on 04/09/2023 - 14:30

      sounds like they expect good fuel economy and V6 power

      • capslock janitor on 04/09/2023 - 15:50

        if only they're cruising on freeways to the airport ..

        which we did recently and got it to just under 10L/100 hahaha

        • Poor Ass on 04/09/2023 - 16:01

          or just not move at all

  • npnp on 04/09/2023 - 08:24
    +1

    Used to have 2020 Kluger (I think newer generation engine compared to OPs) and got about 10 L/100 km mostly urban driving. Now driving a smaller corolla Cross hybrid and getting an amazing fuel economy (roughly half of that of Kluger, internal space isn't too bad, it's like 80% of the size of Kluger I'd day). Despite being a bigger car, Corolla Cross fuel economy is pretty comparable to my good old Prius (which, after 13 years with original hybrid battery and 230K on the clock, still runs at around 5L/100 km range - this beauty has saved me thousands of dollars just in fuel alone).

  • Venustrap87 on 04/09/2023 - 09:19

    Try trading it in for the kluger hybrid

  • RolandWaites on 04/09/2023 - 10:46

    The lesson here is don't buy a Kluger if you're just going to go city driving.

    • Poor Ass on 04/09/2023 - 14:28

      you mean a V6

  • ChickenAdobo on 04/09/2023 - 12:12

    My mum has a 2019 Kluger and i have 2020 Outlander. Her car eat fuel like nothing. While i would love the more powerful engine in my outlander. At the end of day my wallet will be paying for it if i had a kluger engine under my bonnet.

    Next time go hybird or go full ev. I think you should be in the market to trade in for your next car. Take the operating cost into consideration with sky high petrol cost.

  • Poor Ass on 04/09/2023 - 14:28

    Is not possible to have a V6 petrol that's not thirsty no matter what driving you do

    • capslock janitor on 04/09/2023 - 14:36

      yo my bro got v6 aurion sedan and hes doing 14L/100 with heavyfooting lol

      • Poor Ass on 04/09/2023 - 14:45

        how fuel efficient!

  • lppepper on 05/09/2023 - 07:39

    16L/100km for urban driving with a 3.4L V6 sounds about right.

    We have a 2014 Kia Grand Carnival that has. 3.5L V6 and when we used to live in Metro Melbourne (and with my lead foot) I saw 17-18L/100km sometimes.

    Likewise, our old 2004 CR-V manual with a 2.4L I4 would average 13-14L/100km for urban only short trips.

    You’d probably get closer to 10L/100km for highway driving. But yeah, what you’re getting sounds about right.

  • tonyjzx on 08/09/2023 - 02:08

    i like klugers but i think this one has every clanger in the book

    the Kluger is a Toyota Highlander… its clearly built for the US market where petrol used to be $1 for 4 litres.

    the motor is a low comp. 3.5 V6 with PFI

    you are dragging around a 2 ton SUV with the 4wd sapping a lot of power

    if you run aircon and the usual then 16 per 100 isnt that unusual… also your o2 sensors are probably cactus

    eg. my other half runs a fwd 2.5 xtrail and it always gets 10-11 maybe 12… maybe 9 on the hwy

    and this thing is only 1,500kg and its only fwd and 4 cyl

    but i mean its pretty eye watering to pay $2 for petrol and the car just pisses it all away like that

    i used to get better econ than 16 out of a Commode V8!

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