The
biggest complaint car owners have about their vehicles is excessive
fuel consumption. Accordingly, this was the number one problem in
the latest JD Power survey on car quality (see December 2000 issue).
This tendency for car owners to crib about how much fuel their vehicles
consume, no matter what they drive, is not because all cars are gas-guzzlers
but due to several other factors. The main culprits are usually the
sales staff at car dealerships. Ever eager to make a sale, they claim
unrealistic figures for the models they want you to buy. It's tougher
for them to sell a car telling the truth. Daewoo took this to an extreme
when it launched the Cielo in 1995, claiming 12kpl in the city when
the car could return only just about 8kpl! The lesson here is always
treat the fuel consumption figure given by a company with a degree
of skepticism and you won't be disappointed.
If you are feeling the pinch of successive fuel price hikes, you need
to select a car that won't burn a hole in your pocket every time you
tank up. But which is that car? And what fuel consumption figure does
it really give? There is no reliable or independent source that provides
accurate fuel consumption figures, the kind the average motorist actually
gets. It is for this reason that we shortlisted India's 12 most fuel-efficient
cars and tested them to provide the answers to those who view fuel
efficiency as their number one priority. Most of the small cars made
it to the Top Twelve. Also included in the finals was the Accent D,
the only mid-size car we found that sipped fuel as frugally as some
of its smaller and lighter competitors. The only way to make a comparison
between cars is to drive them back-to-back under identical conditions.
That's because fuel consumption can fluctuate wildly because it is
highly sensitive to a host of factors like driving style, traffic
and road conditions, the average speed for the journey, and overall
maintenance of the vehicle (see 'Factors affecting
fuel consumption').
The figures we have arrived at are based on a specially developed
methodology designed to keep all the variables constant (see 'How
we did it'). All 12 cars were driven in pretty tough conditions,
without a conscious attempt to 'light-foot' the throttle. The idea
was to draw out data that is as realistic as possible and we believe
the fuel consumption figures we've achieved are a good reflection
of real-world conditions. These results may vary from our road test
data provided in past issues for the reason that, owing to varying
conditions at the time of the test, it is impossible to arrive at
one figure that holds true for all conditions. In fact, it is this
very ambiguous nature of fuel consumption that makes it such a debatable
and often heated issue, especially between owners and car companies.
 The
service staff at workshops often drive customers' cars to 'prove'
that it delivers the mileage the company claims. But it's a different
story in the hands or under the right foot of the car-owner because
of a difference in driving styles. Fuel economy contests, a popular
way for car companies to promote how fuel-efficient their cars are,
should all be taken with a pinch of salt. The recently concluded 'MileEdge
Rally' for Wagon Rs had the winner return 43.1kpl, that's 320 per
cent better than our overall figure!
All the petrol vehicles we tested came with multi-point fuel injection
except the Fiat Uno, which sticks to a single-point system. Fuel injection,
essential to meet the new emission norms, also improves fuel efficiency
as it meters fuel in the right quantities to optimise combustion as
much as possible. Also, most fuel injection systems have a cut-off
on the overrun or when you lift your foot off the accelerator pedal,
a good fuel-saving feature. The test results also showed that the
3-cylinder engines (M800, Alto LX, and Matiz) were superior to the
bigger, 4-cylinder units. What also emerges clearly is the superiority
of diesel over petrol. The twin advantage of superior fuel efficiency
and lower price continues to give diesel an unassailable advantage,
only if running costs are everything. |
January 2001 