IN its effort to support its global “Think Blue” campaign that helps address environmental sustainable solutions, Automobile Central Enterprise, Inc (ACEI), the official importer and distributor of Volkswagen cars in the country, recently organized a friendly fuel-economy run for the motoring media to highlight Volkswagen’s highly efficient and eco-friendly turbocharged diesel (TDI) cars such as the Polo, Jetta and Tiguan.
With nine cars and eighteen participants, the group of scribes embarked on the 150-km drive from Bonifacio Global City to Batangas and back to Manila, with each team made up of one driver and one navigator.
A perfect car for everyone
I was paired up with Ronald de los Reyes, who volunteered to drive the 2.0 Jetta TDI, while I served as the navigator. I’ve known Ronald and his dad, Ron, for many years and they’ve managed to finish either first or second place in every fuel eco-run they’ve entered. So, partnering with him was definitely an advantage. But still, the one big question was: “How fuel-efficient is the Volkswagen 2.0 Jetta TDI?”
We proceeded to the Shell gas station in the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), where we fueled up, along with the nine other participating Volkswagen vehicles before the start. ACEI invited two officials from the Department of Energy to facilitate and record the fuel mileage of each team.
Our first impression about the car was that it offers simplicity in terms of styling and function. Much can also be said of what’s under the hood of the Volkswagen Jetta. A powerful yet extremely civilized 2.0-liter engine mated to a five-speed manual gearbox propels the car with 110 ps of power and 280 Nm of torque.
Smooth is an understatement, when it comes to the Jetta, yet when you need power, you can simply step on the accelerator and you’ll get immediate feedback. For our team, the gearshift indicator of the Jetta in the multi-function display was a big help as it “instructed” the driver to shift gears when needed, resulting in an economical drive.
Our secret to winning
During the entire run, we noticed that there are two key factors needed in order for you to win: your car; and how you drive it. Frequent acceleration, constant braking and changing lanes increase fuel consumption. We figured this out when we headed towards the town city of Batangas. Our game plan was to keep our momentum with the speed of 70 kph at 1,800 rpm. Unfortunately, with unexpected traffic in every corner of the road, we couldn’t do anything but pray and let the Jetta work. Surprisingly, the Jetta proved to be more fuel-efficient than the Polo and Tiguan.
JP Orbeta, president and CEO of ACEI, said, “Volkswagen is the world’s largest producer of diesel engines. Our turbocharged diesel (TDI) engines feature the latest in common rail injection technology, making them responsive and fun to drive, as well as being incredibly efficient.
“We are very excited to share with the motoring media the performance and capability of our cars, such as the VW Polo, VW Jetta, and the VW Tiguan. This will be our very first Eco Fun run and we are positive on how economical our car is,” Orbeta added.
Thanks to our strategy along with careful fuel saving computations, our team was declared the overall winner of the Volkswagen Fuel Eco Run, with a posted total of 29.47 km on one liter of fuel. Meanwhile, the team of Love-Love Tioseco of Stoplight TV and Tessa Salazar of Philippine Daily Inquirer posted a total of 27.39 kim on a liter in the VW Tiguan category, while Angel Rivero of Philippine Star and Geg Aldober of Turbo Zone logged 18.39 km on a liter in the VW Polo.