Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

I bought a used low mileage Gen 4 Pajero 3.8V6 LWB GLS a couple of weeks ago (low mileage) aware that the fuel consumption is high (I think Mitsubishi's claimed consumption is 15.5l/100km combined driving but was obvioulsy expecting a bit higher around town).

I have driven mainly only to work and back. I reset the trip computer and odometer when I filled up and have now covered around 240km with the fuel consumption averaging at 20.7l/100km per the trip computer. My tank reading is at just under half and trip computer shows I have around 140km left on the tank. So say 380 to 400km per 88l tank. I have been driving with a very light foot, mainly with just me in the car, revs under 2500 and pulling off slowly and sticking to speed limit to try and get consumption down. Only been on highway a couple of times.

This seems ridiculously high consumption, even for around town - is this normal consumption for the 3.8V6 or could there be something wrong with the engine (if so what should I check)?

Thanks

Firstly, don't panic until you have done your own tank-to-tank calculation of fuel consumption.

On the other hand, though I don't know the 3.8 V6 that well, I can't imagine it being much lighter on juice than the older 3.5 V6 and 20 l/100 km is about par for the course on an automatic 3.5 around town. On the open road the 3.5 can get around 13 l/100 km or thereabouts.

My boss gets 16l/100km average on his 3.8 SWB.

Half of his trips are open road.

Ngwenya,

You should not get too exited about the computer reading until you have done a tank to tank consumption check.

How far is your daily commute? Remember that the V6 sucks serious amounts of petrol while the engine is cold - it runs with a very rich mixture. Do you have a morning routine that involves idling while you wait for a garage door to close, then idling while a security gate closes, then idling at the first stop street? That could mean lots of fuel through the engine, but hardly any km under the wheels.

My suggestion is to zero your trip computer often. Get a feeling for consumption during different aspects of your trip.

If I don't get onto the open road, then my commuter consumption is never under 16l/100. On the open road and sticking to the speed limit, I get between 12 and 13l/100km. I find my trip computer to overstate my consumption by about 0.5l/100km. The error (I think) is due to the km being under read. I make that assumption because the avg speed it reports is almost 10% below the true accurate speed.

I would not even bother worrying about fuel consumption until I have done at least 5-6 tank to tank calculations.

I have averaged just under 16l/100km since I got my 3.5 so I would imagine that the 3.8 would get about the same or even better considering the 10 plus years advance in technology.