Mazda Philippines hooks up with bloggers, car clubs for Skyactiv Experiment Part 2

FOLLOWING the success of the Mazda SkyActiv Experiment last year, Mazda Philippines conducted a second staging of the highly acclaimed fuel-economy run, this time for bloggers and car clubs.

As in the original event, which had involved the participation of the motoring media, the Mazda SkyActiv Experiment Part 2 featured the Mazda6, the CX-5 FWD Pro, and the CX-5 AWD Sport. Similar to last year's first staging of the event, the standard fuel used was Shell FuelSave Gasoline. Each SkyActiv model had three test cars, and each car carried three participants as well as a marshal to ensure that operating parameters remained consistent and as close to real-world conditions as possible. Pre-set cabin temperature, no-neutral coasting, no drafting and even pre-set speed were some of the rules of the participation. AAP officials were also on hand to observe.

At the end of the test, the average fuel-consumption figures for combined city and highway driving were as follows: 13.77 kilometers per liter for the 2.5-liter Mazda6, 13.42 kpl for the 2-liter CX-5 FWD Pro, and 12.28 kpl for the 2.5-liter CX-5 AWD Sport.

The Mazda SkyActiv Experiment Part 2, conducted over the course of two days, again used three test cars per SkyActiv model and Shell FuelSave Gasoline as the standard fuel. The first day was dedicated to city driving. After topping up the test cars and resetting the trip meters at the Shell C5 station, the participants followed a 30-km route that took them through high-traffic areas in Bonifacio Global City, Makati, and Quezon City. The city leg ended at Shell Balintawak, where the test cars were filled to the brim and the fuel-consumption figures were determined by dividing the distance traveled by the number of liters put in at the endpoint.

The second-day proceedings focused on determining which of two speeds—80 kph or 100 kph—is more efficient for highway running. After another topup at the Shell Clark station, the test cars were driven to the Hacienda Luisita exit of SCTEx and back again to Clark at a fixed speed of 80 kph. The tanks were refilled once more to compute for fuel consumption, then the entire 75-km round trip was repeated, this time to get the corresponding figure for the cruising speed of 100 kph.

“SkyActiv is now really picking up in the country,” said Steven Tan, president of Berjaya Auto Philippines Inc., the Philippines distributor of Mazda vehicles and parts. “We felt that it was important to expand the education and appreciation of Mazda’s SkyActiv Technology outside the automotive press community—and we decided to engage the bloggers and car club communities. The members of auto press community are very good at eco-run exercises. In SkyActiv Experiment Part 2, we wanted to discover and compare the fuel economy date between the two different groups of drivers—automotive press group and non-auto groups. The similarities are startling—which means that you don’t have to be an expert ecowarrior to yield amazing fuel economy results with Mazda SkyActiv technology.”

Apart from ultrahigh compression SkyActiv engine, strong but lightweight body and chassis, and SkyActiv DRIVE six-speed, direct lockup automatic transmission, the vehicles were also supplemented by other advanced fuel-saving features. In the Mazda6, the i-ELOOP brake-energy regeneration system harnesses kinetic energy under coasting and braking, channeling the energy to charge a capacitor to full capacity in under eight seconds. The stored electricity in the capacitor in turn powers the vehicle’s electricals to reduce the engine’s load by about 10 percent—saving fuel and boosting performance. The CX-5 AWD Sport, meanwhile, has a precise slip detection system that switches from front- to all-wheel drive, depending on available grip.