Nissan Lightfoot Quest 2010 records outrageous figures
When Edaran Tan Chong Motor organized the Nissan Lightfoot Quest in 2008, it shocked many to read that figures in the region of 25-30 km/l were easily achieved by the entourage of Sylphys, Latios and Grand Livinas that participated in the contest.
The headline figure of that round was a staggering 56.58 km/l clocked by a Grand Livina 1.8 auto. If tested based on Euro standards, the official figure for this variant is 15.4 km/l and consumption in the real world never even gets close to factory claims, let alone better them. Needless to say, the achieved figures were greeted with some skepticism.
However, the whole point of the Lightfoot Quest exercise was to generate these eye-opening figures in the first place; to serve as an effective tool to promote fuel efficiency as selling point for Nissan vehicles. The marketing potential, and not to mention the opportunity to simultaneously reach out to its existing customers, made it too difficult for ETCM to resist having another go at it, and they did.
After taking its customers up north to Gopeng in 2008, ETCM opted to head south for 2010. Flagging off from Holiday Inn Glenmarie as before, the destination this time was Malacca. In an effort to boost the credibility of the event, members of the media were also invited to take part in the contest and witness that things were organized with fairness and integrity.
A total of 31 cars with two persons each participated in the contest, with members of the media adding a further nine cars to the list. Participating cars were predominantly the Grand Livina, with eight Sylphys and one Latio. The nine media teams were placed in a Sylphy each and competed in a separate category amongst ourselves.
I found myself partnered with Chips, editor of Motor Trader Malaysia website. Chips is a veteran of fuel economy runs in the 1980s, a subject which he once wrote about while he was still Autoworld’s editor some years back. You can dig our archives for the story.
A day before the event, participants were asked to fuel up their cars and drive to the flag-off point at Holiday Inn Glenmarie. Once at the hotel itself, the participants were then advised (but not required) to further top up their tanks, if possible to the brim, before the vehicles were impounded over night in a parc ferme.
Before the parc ferme was enforced, owners were seen jacking up their car at the side where the fuel filler port is located. This is to enable air pockets trapped in the petrol tank to escape easier. An expert I consulted opined that there can be as much as four litres of air in the petrol tank even when you thought it’s filled to the brim. Every drop counts.
When the owners returned to their cars the next day, the bonnet and their fuel filler flap were lined with a tamper-proof seal to prevent surreptitious refueling or ‘adjusting’ of engine components en route. The seals were applied after intensive scrutineering by the organizers during the day before.
The organizers plotted a 147km-long route that took us from the flag-off point at Glenmarie to the Petronas station located just 1km from the Ayer Keroh toll at Malacca. A time limit of three hours were given to each car, and to ensure that everyone had 180 minutes to the dot, the cars were flagged off in sequence precisely one minute apart from each other.
Defering to his vast experience in such events, I was more than happy to let Chips have the wheel for the entire duration. It was hardly a pleasant experience. Although the route was predominantly a highway drive, we had our air-conditioning system switched off for the entire journey, which was driven at a crawling pace.
I was prepared for the air-con off part, so I came in my lightest possible clothing and a spare T-shirt to change at the end of the event. Along our route, Chips pulled out every possible trick from his book – coasting on Neutral in downward slopes (some instances with the engine switched off), side mirrors folded in to minimize air drag, and drafting behind heavy vehicles.
At this point, for safety reasons, I must remind you, the readers, not to attempt these measures in your day-to-day driving. While it’s alright to practice being smooth and gentle with your inputs, cutting engine power on the move removes power steering assistance and the brake vacuum pump.
With the aid of a GPS unit continuously calculating our average speed, Chips was able to time our arrival to the destination within 20 minutes of our due time, driving at the minimum possible speed. During the refueling process as the Petronas station, observed by two members of the National Union of Journalists for transparency, our tank took in 4.926 litres, which translated to 29.8 km/l, earning us a seventh-place finish in the media category.
Consumption in the media category ranged between 24.7 km/l to 39.7 km/l. During breakfast before flag-off, one participant actually expressed his relieve that he did not have to compete against supposedly more experienced and expert journalist drivers.
He actually needn’t have worried, because if the media was mixed into the Sylphy category, none of us would have even threatened the podium spot. Chong Voon Kiat only managed third place in the category despite clocking an already-staggering 84.9 km/l. However, Chong’s figures paled in comparison to that of Kenneth Chiew who clocked a pretty unbelievable 165.8 km/l – a new record. Second-placed in the Sylphy category was Alvin Phua (109.1 km/l)
Below the Sylphy, the Latio and Grand Livina owners were lumped together and split into three categories – 1.6 manual, 1.6 auto, and 1.8 auto. Provisions were also made for a special RM1,000 cash prize each for the Best Latio and Best Grand Livina drivers.
However, as there was only one participating Latio, the Best Latio prize was scrapped. The sole Latio representative was Mohamad Rusli, who finished sixth in the 1.6 auto category with a consumption figure of 43.2 km/l. Category winner was Loo Hann Juan, who recorded 112.4 km/l. Syariful Mazlan (80.3 km/l) finished second, while Julian Pang (76.0 km/l) took third spot.
In the 1.6 manual category, Roslan Abdul Rashid took the big prize after recording a consumption of 101.2 km/l. Cheong Huey Chieat (65.3 km/l) and Nurismaila (46.5 km/l) took second and third place respectively.
The 1.8-litre category was a closely-fought affair, as the podium finishers were separated only by their second decimal places. Actual competition results were calculated to four decimals. Edging the contest was Razman bin Omar, who clocked 35.08 km/l, marginally ahead of Azmin bin Omar’s 35.07 km/l. Muhammad Kamal Abd Rahman was a little further behind at 34.95 km/l.
When asked to share his techniques with us, Kenneth said, “I have to say I was really lucky that I managed to draft a truck for about 50 kilometres of the journey. Other than that, I also drafted a fellow competitor’s Grand Livina for quite awhile too until I felt that he was going too slow.”
Indeed, purely going slow is not the answer, as Kenneth explained, “I learned the car pretty well from practicing a couple of days before. I noticed that when I lift off to coast (while in ‘D’) the rev tends to go a bit higher. When I put a bit of power, the rev goes down a little. So from that I learned to apply abit of power instead of lifting off totally. I guess knowing the car helps a lot.”
A source close to Kenneth, who has a very firm understanding of cars, noted that the Sylphy’s CVT needs slightly different treatment compared to normal transmissions in order to coax better mileage out of it. A certain minimum speed must be maintained to ensure that the CVT operates at its highest possible ratio. This, in turn, allows the engine to spin at its lowest possible RPM and keep fuel consumption at a minimum. The same source also suggested bare-foot driving to get maximum throttle feel.
Once again, it should be noted that the figures achieved in this contest are only re-producable under very extreme, competitive, and focused driving. We know that most cars were running on over-inflated tyres. Almost everyone were driving with air-conditioning off, and some were almost only tickling the throttle as they went along. You can’t drive like this every day.
In the return trip, I took over at the driver’s seat from Chips and set about driving home in a ‘realistically economical’ style and compare the resultant consumption figure. We had air-conditioning switched on to the minimum level which we both felt comfortable. I maintained light constant throttle as much as possible, and practiced typical motoring journalist compliance to the speed limits. I even had my headlights switched on as per my usual habit when driving on highways.
I refueled, unfortunately not in the presence of a neutral observer and probably not to the standards practiced by the organizer, before returning the car to them and pumped in 6.375 litres after traveling 150.5km. That works out to about 23.9 km/l, which is comfortably achievable and more than realistic.
Results: Nissan Lightfoot Quest 2010
1.6-litre M/T
1. Roslan Abdul Rashid (Grand Livina) – 101.2405 km/l – RM3,000
2. Cheong Huey Chieat (Grand Livina) – 65.3470 km/l – RM2,000
3. Nurismaila (Grand Livina) – 46.5168 km/l – RM1,000
1.6-litre A/T
1. Loo Hann Juan (Grand Livina) – 112.3948 km/l – RM3,000
2. Syariful Mazlan b Mahsan (Grand Livina) – 80.2732 km/l – RM2,000
3. Julian Pang Yau Chin (Grand Livina) – 76.0352 km/l – RM1,000
1.8-litre
1. Razman bin Omar (Grand Livina) – 35.0764 km/l – RM3,000
2. Azmin bin Omar (Grand Livina) – 35.0680 km/l – RM2,000
3. Muhammad Kamal Ab Rahman (Grand Livina) – 34.9512 km/l – RM1,000
Best Grand Livina: Loo Hann Juan (Grand Livina 1.6A) – 112.3948 km/l – RM1,000
Sylphy 2.0-litre
1. Kenneth Chiew Kiat Liang – 165.8014 km/l – RM3,000
2. Phua Man Soo, Alvin – 109.1382 km/l – RM2,000
3. Chong Voon Kiat – 84.9133 km/l – RM1,000
Editor’s Note: The Visit link below links to Chips’ article of the event in MTM.
