First world problem yes, so what do I do to get more range so I don't have to stop so often at the station. Which cars have large tanks or even a second one?
Is there a car on the market that has a large fuel tank or perhaps even 2 fuel tanks? My current 50 liter tank lasts only 2-3 days until I hit reserve and I'm getting bored to stop so often, sometimes even more often if I drive more.
mine is 14 years old and has a 70 litre tank but that lasts me 4 days also.
buy a diesel.
2nd tank would be aftermarket
Drive more economically; get a manual shift; smaller engine; diesel.
Cut ..... nose ..... spite ..... face.
What do you drive? A tank?
Before searching for a vehicle with more than one tank... maybe you might want to consider a vehicle that goes further on a tank full.
Does the car overnight in your garage every night? if so you might want to check out the opel ampera / chevy volt.
50 liters is pretty small. What type of car do you drive? Average consumption? How many kilometers per day?
Tank size to consumption ratio varies wildly across different models. Generally, a big car (often equals a bigger fuel tank) with a small engine might do the trick.
I am tempted at getting a diesel but all those stories about injectors changing and pumps failing are putting me off. Everybody I know is telling me whatever I save with the diesel will go later on repairs for the engine.
2nd tank aftermarket is not an option for me due to MFK regulations after and all of that.
I drive at the speed limit, I average exactly what the factory said that the car will do, even a bit less... But it is a 2000cc petrol, automatic engine. Not the most frugal one but it's not that different in the specs shown for the manual transmission one, around 15% less efficient...
OK, to be honest, sometimes I push the pedal to get some face
No, far from tank, it's a Toyota RAV4 4WD, when you think about it, it's pretty economical for what it is, I average less than 9 liters / 100 combined motorway/city without being too careful
No, I have no garage the car stays on the street.
The US manual for the RAV4 says that it has a 60 liter fuel tank. The French version that I have doesn't mention the size of the tank. The most I have been able to pump has been 47 liters. At that point the gauge was beyond red and the range shown on the dash was 0. So either the reserve is quite large or the EU model of the RAV has smaller tank.
My average consuption is a bit less than 9, or exactly 9 liter per 100, I do a 160km every day. Once I reach 440-450 km I am near the reserve. The most I have gotten out of a tank is around 500 km.
When diesels go wrong, it's expensive. But there are certain engines - iirc peugeot? - that are very reliable. If you change cars every few years, the chances of it making a difference are minimal.
Maybe you should just move house? :-)
problem with diesels is that a lot are turbo and people drive them hard and then dont allow for a cool down period or the engine doesnt have a cooling pump.
a lot of audis have a cooling pump that runs for a few minutes after the engine is off allowing the turbo bearings to remain lubricated/cooled.
oil changes are also important with diesels.
my next car wil be a a jap diesel and ill take advantage of the cheap diesel in france and germany
By a 2wd car, 4wd are less fuel efficient than 2wd, some causes of this are the extra weight and energy losses in the drivetrain. You might also want to look into hypermiling
The only cars I know of that have a second fuel tank are those with LPG conversions, can't say that I have noticed any LPG filling stations in Switzerland though, that said I haven't been looking
If you are driving that many, some 40-50k a year, fuel economy really gets more than the convenience of how many stops you make at a pump.
Before my dad retired did he drive equally much and had a 270 CDI e-series. When I used it for a long range high speed trip did I get down to 6.5l in a heavier and stronger car than yours. If you'd compare a more similar car are you looking at 5-6 liters per 100km of Diesel. Even in a worst case scenario of "only" 40k km and only 3 liters less per 100km do you save 1200 liters PER YEAR... and realistically likely more. If you estimate it for some 4-5 years are the savings worth to change your car.
The modern Volkswagens / Audis with TDI engines will typically go 900-1000km on a tankful, halving the number of times you'd need to fill up vs. your current car. As others have pointed out, the fuel savings are substantial.
Modern diesels are clean, quiet and reliable. Give them another look.
I second this. Our Nissan Qashqai diesel regularly gets over 1,000km to a tank, averaging 5.5 litres per 100km and it has a 65 litre tank. One of the reasons we bought it was to cut out one weekly fuel top up for the OH when he’s driving from Fribourg to Lausanne and back every day. Now we only fill up once a week. The Qashqai diesel has a 1.6 Renault engine, but it’s more powerful than the 2 litre petrol version we had before. Diesels also need less servicing than a petrol model. The service interval is 30,000km as against 15,000km for a petrol driven car. Diesel engines are usually more robust than petrol ones too so last longer.
Switch to a diesel manual drive car and you’ll be quids in.
FWIW, the Qashqai diesel has better fuel economy than just about any other 4x4 out there, so if you're in the market for something to replace your RAV4, this is a good alternative.
It’s also very stable on the road, even without having the 4x4 turned on.
Go for a LM002
It has a 290 liter tank (but will not solve your problem).
Probably because the majority are FWD & really crap in snow!