Even before the emissions scandal began, everybody in the industry knew that there was a real problem with official fuel consumption figures.
Smaller cars with downsized engines were especially bad when played with in the real world, and we sometimes got more than twice the manufacturer-claimed l/100km figures.
Of course, fuel consumption test videos are not new; they've been going on since people figured out how to strap a phone to the dash. But we've never seen something so comprehensive that it makes you want to say "wow, now that's a full picture."
It turns out we've been looking in the wrong place, as a Polish website called Auto Centrum (self-explanatory name) has been subjecting popular European hatchbacks, crossovers, and sedans to some number crunching.
Usually, they use GPS data to correctly set the cruise control to 90 and 120 km/h, respectively. So that you know, the actual speed of the car differs slightly from what the dash reads. After traveling for several kilometers down the highway at that speed, they look at the average fuel consumption figure.
Also, the polish website reports on the revs that particular engine is doing and also what the fuel consumption is for the first 3 kilometers of the trip. Because I'm a sucker for comparing apples with apples, the first two videos are of a SEAT Leon SC FR 1.8 TSI with 180 PS and a Skoda Octavia RS TSI with 220 PS.
Logic would dictate that the Octavia, which is much heavier and more powerful would consume copious quantities of fuel. But at 90 km/h, the SEAT is doing 5.1 l/100km and the Skoda 5.3. The drive mode selector that both cars have is to blame here. Yet the real shock is that the 3-door SEAT Leon is more thirsty over the first 3 kilometers, suggesting the 1.8 is less well developed regarding thermal management.
The "pomiar spalanai" (measurement of combustion in Polish) YouTube playlist has over 100 videos, and I haven't looked at that many.
Just to wet your appetite for fuel consumption videos in a language you don't understand, I've added two videos of Lexus models below, the NX 300h and LS 600h, which has a V8. Both of them are hybrids, but how will they do?
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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