WesBank Fuel Economy Tour results

It was not long before Renault and Suzuki started facing off as their vehicles were making their way from Johannesburg to Cape Town via Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth, and George. Throughout the competition, the two brands exchanged the top spot on the charts with the Renault coming out on top at the end of the first day while Suzuki dominated on day two, three and four. The battle came down to the final refuel in Cape Town where in the end the Captur, Duster Techroad and Kwid Climber edged team Renault into the victory by only 0.0275L/100 km while averaging 5.0695L/100km during the competition. The competition was judged by averaging the fuel consumption of the three entrants from each brand. The Baleno, Ignis and Swift took a close second position for Suzuki, averaging 5.0970L/100km. In third place was Mahindra which was represented by the KUV 100 and two XUV 300 vehicles while fourth was claimed by Nissan’s, Qashqai, Micra and Navara and fifth place went to Ford with its Fiesta, Kuga and Ranger.

Individually the vehicles also returned with impressive figures with the 1.5-litre diesel turbocharged Renault Captur averaging 4,7319L/100km with motoring journalist Wynter Murdoch and experienced rally navigator Carolyn Swan at the helm. Piloted by motoring journalist Carri-Ann Jane and yoga instructor Roxanne Jones, who were taking part in their first competitive motoring competition, the 1-litre normally aspirated petrol engine Toyota Aygo returned a figure of 4.8328L/100km.

Diete and Eckhard Engelbrecht managed a 4.8526L/100km to take third place in the Nissan Qashqai 1.5-litre diesel turbo. While the smaller cars proved frugal, there was quite the competition in between the bakkies in the turbodiesel double-cabs with engines smaller than 2 500 cc class. Motoring journalist, Colin Mileman and navigator Henry Kohne, managed to take top honours in the Ford Ranger 2-litre when the crossed the finish line averaging only 6.8179L/100km. A close second place went to the Mitsubishi Triton averaging 6.8513L/100km while third place was picked up by the Nissan Navara 6.9692L/100km. The Toyota Hilux 2.4 managed fourth with 6.9782L/100km and the Mahindra PikUp took fifth with 7.7867L/100km.

Keeping an eye on the contestants and making sure they follow the correct routes were Ctrack, a vehicle tracking and mobility solutions company. The system installed by Ctrack accurately measured the average speeds that participants achieved as well as how long they took to complete individual timed sections. In addition to the Ctrack system, the vehicles were fitted with a dashcam facing forward and another focused on the driver and the vehicle’s controls. This would ultimately monitor driving behaviour to penalize drivers passing on solid lines or driving dangerously and unacceptable driver behaviour such as shifting into neutral and freewheeling. Penalties were also given for late arrival at control check at the rate of one litre of fuel for each penalty point.