As the fuel prices
continue to rise, the fuel consumption of a car is becoming a more important
part of the operating cost of a car. On an early morning drive to work, during a
general rush hour, I tried to see what fuel consumption could be achieved by
driving as economically as possible.
This includes
accelerating modestly, not driving at speeds above 120km/h (75mp/h), trying to
anticipate stops by letting the car roll instead of braking and using cruise
control as much as possible. The onboard computer was set to 0 before departing,
although the largest part of the trip was made on the
highway (including several kilometers of traffic jam), the value
in the pictures also displays the parts driving in the city center at the
beginning and end of the trip.
Possible some drivers are able to still lower this
consumption, when the traffic congestion (lots of stopping and accelerating
again) is taken out of the equation, it is probable that it will further reduce
consumption. On the other hand, the onboard computer usually displays a lower
consumption then really took place, but still I hope that these pictures will
give you an impression of the fuel consumption of these cars.
Mercedes Benz C220 CDI (170hp / MY2012 / 6-speed manual gearbox / diesel)
BMW 530d xDrive (258hp / MY2011 / 8-speed automatic gearbox/ diesel)
BMW 530d xDrive: the screen shows the fuel consumption during the last hour. On the left a small increase due to city driving can be seen. The extreme increase on the right was due to a traffic jam causing stop and go traffic.
Over a longer period (last time since resetting the onboard computer), the fuel consumption was 8,4l / 100km. Important, this was calculated over a longer trip as the one presented above, hence the difference.
Representing the "Eco-pro" mode, this screen shows the increase in range after having engaged the "Eco-pro" mode.
