French capture economy run crown
RENAULT is the most fuel-efficient brand in the country based on its winning result in an extremely tight and closely fought battle over 2 500km of South African roads on the 2019 WesBank Fuel Economy Tour in partnership with FNB – the French brand just edging out Suzuki by 0,0275 l/100 km.
The event, which started in Johannesburg, took 40 competitors to Durban and onwards to East London via Umtata and then to Port Elizabeth, George, and finally, to the finish in Cape Town.
The original fuel economy event was born out of the fuel crisis of the late 70s when speed limits were slashed, fuel stations closed early, and motorsport all but shut down. This event incorporated dirt roads and, towards the end, saw vehicles with “blueprinted” engines and tuning tweaks that were well off the standard specification.
Charl Wilken, organiser of the revised event, says: “Our aim is to provide WesBank with a usable database of actual fuel consumption achieved in real-world conditions, with no modifications of any sort permitted to the cars.”
Real world enough that each competing car had to carry a minimum of 10 kilograms of luggage each day.
In the end, it was a trio of Renault cars – Captur, Duster Techroad and Kwid Climber – that took the coveted title by 0,0275 l/100 km. The battle between these two brands swung back and forth during the event, with Renault coming out top at the end of the first day, Suzuki topping the chart at the end of the second, third and fourth days, with Renault taking the honours at the critical final refuel in Cape Town.
The title was judged by averaging the fuel consumption of the best three performers in each of the brands that had cars in the field. Renault’s average was 5,0695 l/100km, while the Suzuki trio of a Baleno, Ignis and Swift had a combined average of 5,0970 l/100 km.
Third place went to Mahindra (KUV 100 and two XUV 300’s) ahead of Nissan (Qashqai, Micra and Navara) and Ford – Fiesta, Kuga and Ranger.
The car with the lowest consumption was the Renault Captur with a 1,5-litre diesel turbo-charged engine, crewed by motoring journalist Wynter Murdoch and experienced rally navigator Carolyn Swan. It averaged 4,7319 l/100km.
Next best was the Toyota Aygo with a 1,0-litre normally aspirated petrol engine, crewed by motoring journalist Carri-Ann Jane and yoga instructor Roxanne Jones. The Aygo averaged 4,8328 l/100 km.
Third best on fuel consumption was the Nissan Qashqai 1,5 diesel turbo at 4,8526 l/100 km crewed by Diete and Eckhard Engelbrecht.
The tussle among the bakkies competing in the class for turbo diesel double cabs with engines of less than 2 500 cc was also very tight, with the Ford Ranger 2.0-litre, driven by another motoring journalist, Colin Mileman and navigated by experienced Henry Kohne, eventually taking top honours with an overall average of 6,8179 l/100 km. It was followed by a Mitsubishi Triton (6,8513 l/100 km), a Nissan Navara (6,9692 l/100 km), a Toyota Hilux 2.4 (6,9782 l/100 km) and a Mahindra PikUp (7,7867 l/ 100 km).
Suzuki ended up with six class wins (Ignis, Vitara 1.6, Vitara 1.4, Baleno, Swift Sport and Ertiga), while Ford (Fiesta and Ranger), Hyundai (Sante Fe and Venue), Renault (Captur and Duster) and Toyota (Aygo and Hilux 2.8) all won two classes, with the other class winners being Honda (HRV), Lexus (UX Hybrid) and Mahindra (KUV 100).
The competitors were monitored throughout the Economy Tour by Ctrack, a leading vehicle tracking and mobility solutions company. Real-time information from Ctrack was available continuously to the event organisers. Ctrack could accurately measure the average speeds that participants achieved as well as how long they took to complete individual timed sections.
Using the system, it was possible to see if participants got lost or purposely deviated from the route, thereby providing the organisers with more control over proceedings. Penalties were imposed for late arrival at control check points and for driving infringements at the rate of one litre of fuel for each penalty point.
“The objective of this event was to provide consumers with fuel consumption figures that are relevant to going on a road trip in South Africa using main roads,” says Wilken.