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Christchurch to Fieldays on half a tank of gas
Christchurch to Fieldays on half a tank of gas
A demonstration of how every New Zealander can make great fuel cost savings from an average family car was completed today.
The Hyundai Bledisloe Fuel Economy Run finished at midday at the Fieldays, Mystery Creek, Hamilton, with two cars each achieving a run from Christchurch on approximately half a tank of fuel.
The challenge was a debut for a new manual transmission variant of the diesel-engined Hyundai Sonata, a popular model in New Zealand, the two Sonatas used were the new facelift models launched to the public today.
The drive was called the Bledisloe run because of its transtasman nature. It involved Australian adventurer and noted economy driving expert Hans Tholstrup, who took on Brian Cowan, a Christchurch motoring writer with similar skills.
They started off in Christchurch during morning
rush hour yesterday and arrived in Cambridge at 10.30am this
morning, each having traveled nearly 850km in identical
2.0-litre diesel sedans.
The figures to beat
The factory fuel economy litres/100km figures for the facelift Sonata 2.0 CRDi M6 were tough to beat at a miserly 6.0 litres/100km.
The previous 2007 model diesel Sonata last year was 7.3 litres per 100km for its combined factory fuel economy. This was then lowered to 6.0 in a fuel economy run last year, a fuel saving of 17.8%.
The results
- Total
running costs including road user charges were 11 cents per
km
- Both drivers produced outstanding results for fuel consumption and outdid the factory fuel economy figures driving at an average of 74km per hour, taking into account rush hours and road works.
- Hans Tholstrup managed to take the trophy with a result of 4.70 litres/100km
- Brian also produced an exceptional result of 4.99 litres/100km
- Hans and Brian's Co2 emissions were 123.23 and 130.64 grams per km respectively.
- Both tanks were just under half full on arrival at Cambridge
The run
Total distance
Brian Cowan, New Zealand
842.89
Hans Tholstrup, Australia 841.48
Total
Time
Brian Cowan, New Zealand 11.23.58
Hans
Tholstrup, Australia
11.22.17
End
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