http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/pw/50-litre.htm

Ten compact cars were filled with 50-litres of fuel and driven on a 880-km route until the tanks were run dry. 14 hours later, only the Civic and Corolla were still going. The drivers took the cars home and finished the tanks off the next day.

What a great showing by both Toyota and Honda. Both of those cars can be quite featured and are as roomy as older Camrys / Accords.

 

Two of the drivers involved in that article are regulars over at The Car Lounge. You can read some of their comments in this post here:

http://forums.thecarlounge.net/zerothread?id=2135351

That post also shows the ratings converted to Standard (USA) gallons as well. Here's the top two:

Corolla: 42.8mpg
Civic: 48.0mpg

What's interesting is that initially we (us posters on the car lounge) thought it HAD to be the Civic HX, but from the pictures of the wheels, and the fact they say it's the same engine as the DX/LX/SE, that would indicate it wasn't even the lean-burn engine! I'd be interested to see what they could have managed with an HX!

 

Hi Guys:

___I sure wish I would have had a shot at the Civic and Corolla in that challenge … Better yet, I would have liked to run a loaded up Focus ZX5 with the 2.0E and a stick to play with for a day or two just to even the odds a bit

___AZCivic, given what you know today, the 05 Civic LX in your hands should be worth a bit more then 48 mpg? I know this really wasn’t a competition between drivers but where is the fun if there isn’t some peer pressure to get things really cooking Also, if you could get some more detail as to the fill method(s). The ULEV based HCH has a 13.2 gallon cap tank but can hold > 16 gallons. The 03 Corolla has a 13.2 gallon tank but can hold a touch under 15 when on fumes. The Ford Ranger by contrast has a stated cap of 16 gallons and I could only get 16.6 + in her after actually running her out of fuel and taking her up to the filler neck with my usual top off! This would not bode well for the Ford Focus’ actual fuel cap vs. the Civic or Corolla possibly?

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

AZcivic,

Thanks for posting the thread link. I'd never been to that forum before. The posters seem to be a pleasant lot.

One piece of the story has me a bit confused though. They wrote that the driving was two lane highways with posted limits of 80 - 90 kph, but they mostly drove 100 -110 kph, and averaged 50 - 60 kph. Unless the breaks between drivers were as long as the time on the road, some of the numbers seem in error.

 

Wow, I didn't realize there was such a discrepancy in fuel tank capacity! I know on my 97 with the 45-liter (11.9 gallon) tank, the fuel light comes on once you've used up about 10.8 gallons, and in face you can't even get the car to start up if it's parked on an uphill incline when it's that low. The lowest I've run mine was about 20 miles past the low fuel light and it took 11.25 gallons to top it off. I guess I had always assumed that would mean the Civic must be pretty accurate as far as holding the stated capacity.

I posted over there asking if they topped off any of the cars afterwards. Certainly if the Civic used up 15 gallons to go 1022km, that would have been more like 42mpg. If it was 16 gallons from topped off to bone dry, that's only 39.5mpg. Those are actually much more in line with the rated figures. As for what I could have done.. I dunno, it's tough to say. I've been impressing myself more every day with how much my own FE has improved by implementing as many of the hypermiling techniques as I can. My last tank was 43.1mpg, and that's in the heat of summer with all suburban driving! I think that once we hit the fall's sweet spot of 60-75 degree days, I'll easily do 45mpg commuting and may make an attempt at 50mpg for a long highway trip.

 

Maybe I am just a sissy tree hugger but I fail to see how burning 500L of gas just to see how far you can go really helps anyone. Websites like this one (greenhybrid) with actual user mileage are far more useful. That 500L of gas would have been better used if it were splashed on the hood of an H2 and ignited.*

*I do not endorse arson

 

The idea is to promote fuel efficiency. And it doesn't have to be by buying a hybrid. Driving philosophy is probably the key to fuel efficiency. If spending a dollar (in this case 50L) can save a hundred (in this case maybe 500L), it works out in the long run.

I believe that one of the most important items in fuel efficiency is tire air pressure. I made a statement about that in a forum last weak. Someone (Tbaleno or xcel) dared me to go back to 34 psi and check out the mileage, speculating that maybe my hike up the mileage charts was more driver than air pressure.

At the point of that writing, I had just posted one of my best tanks. The next day, I changed the oil on the car. Out of curiousity, I checked the air pressure. The tires were at 38-39 psi, down from the 44 psi I had pumped them to about two months ago.

Sheesh. I pumped them back up to 44-45 and thought, air pressure AND driver habits.

At least one person observing these mileage grand prix will see the light and change their driving habits and find 10-20 percent better mileage. That is worth the effort.

::stands down from soap box::