It will pay you to hypermile
Allow me to regale you with my go-to story when there’s a lull in conversation at a party. Once, in 2015, colleague Bruce Fraser and I drove from Johannesburg to Cape Town on a single tank of fuel. Yes, it happened — but it wasn’t easy.
The chariot of choice? A Toyota Corolla 1.4D Prestige manual. Our initial calculations said we wouldn’t make it: using the tank size (55l) and claimed consumption (4.5l/100km), our theoretical range read 1,222km.
Which was no good, since the distance from our old office in Rosebank to the final stop at the Fire & Ice hotel in Tamboerskloof was 1,399km. Long story short, we managed to eke that additional 177km out of the humble Japanese sedan. Through exhaustive hypermiling, the consumption went down to 3.4l/100km! There’s a lot to be said about seeing the country at 80km/h … We even reached 100km/h at one point, downhill. The air conditioning stayed off and the windows firmly shut.
I was reminded of this undertaking last week when Ford invited us to test the frugality of their Fiesta 1.5 TDCi derivative in middle-grade Trend guise. It produces 63kW and 175Nm, shifted via a six-speed manual transmission.
As a self-proclaimed economy run veteran, the excitement was high. We would be battling against other journalists in attendance. Competitive element aside, the task reaffirmed that we can all save petrol or diesel by simply adjusting our driving styles. It really isn’t rocket science.
Our route took us from Menlyn, past the Cradle of Humankind region, through further outskirts of Tshwane and back to our starting point. In excess of 200km, give or take. Judiciously, using the clutch and not the accelerator, I nosed the compact Ford out of the underground parking bay, coasting using its own momentum. The manufacturer claims 3.3l/100km, which really is remarkable. And after a few minutes on the highway, we had matched the number — and bettered it for a while, too.
We already knew the car would yield outstanding figures. This exercise was merely a showcase of the varying degrees to which you could spare your diesel. Even the team that placed last didn’t exceed 4l/100km. With the Fiesta’s parsimonious character confirmed, let’s chat about the fundamentals of economical driving.
First of all: maintenance. Proper maintenance ensures your car runs optimally and efficiently. Make sure your tyre pressures are correct — if they’re underinflated, they’ll increase the car’s rolling resistance. Next up, be judicious with your application of the throttle. Depress that pedal with the tenderness of Humphrey Bogart approaching Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca.
When taking off, gently does it. The trick is to increase the momentum gradually, not with aggression. Shift-up as soon as you can: keep that tachometer needle hovering low. Momentum is a good word here.
You’ll want to keep up the momentum to hypermile effectively: coast where you can and time your arrival at traffic lights.
But I could simplify this even further. Forego these finicky techniques and just stick to the prescribed speed limits as if it were your job.
Of course, it helps to have the right tool. And in these challenging economic times, this oil-burning Fiesta makes a case for itself. But as an informed consumer, you may find more sense in the cheaper 1.0 EcoBoost Trend, which costs R269,900. Substantially less than the R300,900 demanded by the 1.5 TDCi. It too is quite economical and its engine lays claim to being the recipient of more than a few trophies in the prestigious Engine of the Year Awards.