THE NRMA VERIFY FUEL CONSUMPTION RESULTS

The Winnebago Fuel Economy Safari
From the Gold Coast Qld to Winton Raceway Victoria, July 27 to August 1, 2008
The results of Winnebago’s fuel economy run have been verified and released by the NRMA.

The official fuel consumption results over the 1400 kilometre journey from Biggara Waters on the Gold Coast to Winton Victoria are:

Winnebago Birdsville 23’ (7 metre) motorhome, Fiat Ducato chassis - 11.34ltr/100km
Winnebago Leisure Seeker 23; (7 metre) motorhome, Iveco Daily chassis 13.52 ltr/100km
Winnebago Longreach 31’ (9.5 metre) motorhome, Isuzu NQR chassis 16.47 ltr/100km
Winnebago Nullarbor 32’ (10 metre) motorhome, Kodiak chassis- 19.52ltr/100km
Galaxy Caravan 18.6’ caravan towed by a Toyota Landcruiser 20.52ltr/100km
Travelhome 5th wheeler 25’ 5th wheeler towed by a Nissan Navara 14.40ltr/100km
Fiat 500 Fiat 500 car 4.69ltr/100km

Winnebago , partnered by the NRMA, Dick Johnson Racing, Isuzu Australia, Iveco Australia, Fiat Australia and others conducted an RV Fuel Economy Run from the Gold Coast in Queensland to Winton in Victoria, arriving for the V8 Supercar series race to demonstrate that RV’s overall are the most economical way to see Australia.

“The results are a fantastic boost to the RV Industry” said Max Mayo from Winnebago Industries. “they demonstrate unequivocally that the cheapest way to see Australia is by Motorhome, especially when you consider that motorhomes are fully self contained so you can cook your own meals, sleep in the comfortable beds and enjoy the bathroom facilities thus avoiding expensive hotel accommodation and the necessity (and cost) of eating out every day”, Mr Mayo said.

Winnebago says that a saving of up to 75% on daily travel costs can be achieved because of the self contained nature of motorhomes.

The fuel consumption run closely replicated an actual journey over well travelled roads, mainly along the Pacific Highway to Sydney and the Hume Highway to Winton, in differing weather conditions from calm and sunny to windy and showery.

The vehicles all carried loads expected by private motorhome owners, water tanks were filled and the drivers, including Dawn Fraser, were just your average driver. The style of RV varied in different styles, lengths, weights and engine power in order to demonstrate the fuel usage in each combination.

The NRMA monitored fuel consumption from start to finish, an official NRMA car accompanied the Fuel Economy Run and staff from the NRMA fuelled each vehicle and sealed the fuel filler cap with special security “anti tamper” tape, recording the odometer reading and litres filled for each of the official RV’s”

“We are grateful to the NRMA who was more than happy to come on board, recognising the value of the messages the safari was attempting to deliver” said Mr Mayo.

Fuel is a topical issue and at risk for rural centres is a great deal of money because at any given time around 75000 RV’s are on extended travel and on average they spend $600 each week on fuel, accommodation, food and entertainment. That’s $45 million per week given to mainly rural centres. If travel plans were curtailed because of fuel costs, rural centres would suffer severely.

Also travelling with the Safari was a number of Winnebago RV Club members, and whilst their fuel consumption was not monitored by the NRMA, each motorhome kept meticulous records of each fuel fill and the distance travelled. The results achieved mirrored the official result very closely.

Release ends 13/8/08

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