Ford Focus Diesel 1250km Distance Drive On A Single Tank Of Diesel
In recent years we have had invitations to do fuel mileage test drives by various car brands. They have used these tests to get the best possible fuel consumption readings and use this as selling tools for showroom activity. However many of these fuel test events have been over open long stretches of tolled highways and state roads with easy time slots. We have seen some amazing figures being produced. It must be noted that some of these figures do not reflect real world driving conditions and also, in the quest to win, we like most other participants have driven beyond real world driving conditions. Therefore many of these figures have been disputed by car buyers/owners and even competing brands.
Even with hybrid cars, the figures that we achieve in a fuel mileage test will not be obtained by the average hybrid car owner in daily city commute….even when driven under strict saving methods. Then there are the fuel companies. They also conduct their own fuel efficiency tests using private car owners and the media and get super wonderful consumption figures which they use actively in their print advertising to convince consumers that they have the best petrol and diesel.
So why am I telling you all the above? Well recently, Sime Darby Auto Connexion, the guardians of the Ford brand in Malaysia invited us together with a few other respected publications to go on a fuel consumption drive with the Ford Focus Diesel TDCI. Already selling for a year, the Focus diesel uses a 2-liter diesel engine mated to a 6-speed semi-automatic gearbox. At launch it received good response from the media as they knew what possibilities could be had from a powerful diesel engine sitting in the Focus’s well sorted chassis. However with low quality diesel still being sold in Malaysia at all stations (EURO2M), not many car buyers were convinced of its fuel saving claims.
We were going on a 3 day drive from KL to Ipoh to Taiping to Alor Star to Penang and back to KL. The objective was to cover at least 900 kilometers on a full tank of EURO2M diesel. My co-driver (legendary motoring journalist Chips Yap) and I were looking at going much further.
The Focus diesel fuel tank capacity is 53 liters and so after a fill up of EURO2M diesel to the brim we were on our way. It is not easy to drive long distance without your car air conditioner switched on but we were going for the distance and like the other media driven Focus diesel cars, took in the Malaysian heat and humidity with the a/c off. When the rain came, our windows started to fog up inside and the a/c was activated with relief to the mind but not the additional fuel being used. Our average speed was between 75-85km/h, engine revolution never exceeding 2000rpms and averaging 1500rpms and where possible we drove in manual gear to get the best at each gear change (6-speed semi-auto gearbox). Our route was a fair mix of highway and state roads. But we were driving during the long ‘Labour Day’ weekend and the highway was jammed with ‘balik kampung’ drivers who reduced our ability to be at a constant pace.
By the final evening on our return to KL we had gone past 900 kilometers even before reaching the Ipoh toll plaza and we had a reserve reading of 300 odd kilometers. We continued our pace beyond KL and managed 1,100 kilometers by our given time deadline of 6pm. I had to attend a wedding and so with the other cars still circling the many open highways on the outskirts of Klang Valley looking at the highest possible distance covered, we still had reserves of some 250 kilometers to drive. My co-driver Chips Yap refused to give in and wanted to go at it alone and so he did for another 3 hours covering a total distance of 1,250 kilometers by 9.30pm when he returned the car exhausted and dehydrated. There was still some 84 kilometers of driving left before an empty tank. We were in 2nd place and this alone was a great achievement and we were happy with our result and achievement. 1st place was 1432 kilometers and they only returned at 11.30pm……two hours later than us whilst driving in cooler climate and with much less traffic to deal with.
It was a good indication of what the Focus diesel can do. In real world driving conditions I do believe that the Focus diesel will return an easy 780-850 kilometers (as we spoke to 4 separate Focus diesel owners who joined us on this journey and they shared with us that they drive their cars hard and fast and they get these figures on average). This is class leading fuel efficiency and puts the purchase of hybrid cars on a possible 2nd thought after 3 days with this class leading diesel powered Ford Focus.
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Daniel Sherman Fernandez www.dsf.my is a service to the public and other website owners. www.dsf.my is not responsible for, and expressly disclaims all liability for, damages of any kind arising out of use, reference to, or reliance on any information contained within the site www.dsf.my. While the information contained within the site is periodically updated, no guarantee is given that the information provided in this website is correct, complete, and up-to-date. www.dsf.my is not responsible for the accuracy or content of information contained inside.
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