Just in case you’ve had your head in the sand for the last five years, modern cars have come under unrelenting scrutiny of late to achieve good fuel economy and low emissions. Five years ago, achieving an average fuel economy of less than 6.0 L/100 km would’ve been a good result. Nowadays we can go much lower than that with engines that are smaller and turbocharged. In addition, cars are lighter, feature engine stop/start systems and are more hi-tech about saving fuel. The overall result is that cars have never been more efficient.
In the UK, a competition called the ALD Automotive / Shell FuelSave MPG Marathon has just taken place to pit the most ardent hyper-milers and thrifty economy cars against one another. The winning car over the 592 km route through Britain and Wales, which is meant to be the most ‘real world’ as possible, was piloted by rally drivers Andrew Marriott and Andy Dawson and it was the Ford Fiesta TDCi ECONetic.
Powered by a 1.6-litre TDCi diesel engine, it claimed the win with a remarkable 85.6 mpg (or 3.3 L/100 km) on the combined cycle. The Fiesta ECONetic won the competition by a comfortable margin and their achievement showed 27% better combined economy when compared to the official figures provided by Ford, proving perhaps, that if you drive any car economically you can better even the manufacturers ambitious claims.
The only TDCi Fiesta five-door hatch sold in South Africa retails for R202 000 and is available only in entry-level ‘Ambiente’ spec. It produces 66 kW of power with 212 Nm of torque and manages a combined average fuel consumption of 4.2 L/100 km.
