Auckland to Christchurch on one tank
Auckland to Christchurch on a tank of gas, averaging almost 80kmh in a Commodore with the air con on? I did it, which means ANYONE can!
They said it couldn't be done, and I must say that I had doubts most of the way down both islands, as part of Holden's "One Tank Challenge". But a small wager was set, and I decided I'd give it a go.
The idea was to drive one of Holden's SIDI-engined V6s from Auckland to Christchurch on a single tank of gas, without dawdling and with the air-conditioning on. Not difficult in modern diesel, perhaps, or a supermini-sized car. But in a big Commodore V6 petrol sedan? You have to be kidding!
Well we did it and although there were a few worrying moments, it was largely without incident.
After the slowcoach trickle of traffic through Wellington to the ferry and then repeating similar driving conditions on the other side of the Cook Straight, I noted that our projected range on the computer had dropped to exactly 100km!
Thus it was two worried, gulping, dry-throated SV6 pilots who drove out of Picton with, according to our computer, sufficient gas for a third of the journey ahead of us!
Not to worry, once we'd cruise-controlled ourselves down as far as Cape Campbell, the more representative fuel use had our range recalculated to 380km. This meant that all things being equal and with no more roadworks or stoppages, we should squeak into Blackwell's Holden, close to the Christchurch city centre, with a little left in the tank.
But manage it we did, having averaged 77.71kmh and using gas at the rate of 7.91 litres per 100km.
Suffice to say, any careful driver should be able to get from our largest city to our best one on a tank of gas in one of these Holdens. Who knows, they may have a bet on it like me. I'm now one chocolate fish better off, and that means a lot to me.
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Agreed #1 Mike. Although most cars tanks are 50 - 60litres these days. The Holden does have a larger than normal tank based on the details given (76 litres minimum). Last time I did that run and averaged a similar speed across the distance I was speeding a lot of the time. I guess that makes the results slightly more impressive. But who cares. I'm no greenie. MPG is inversely proportionate to the amount of fun you're having.
@Mike #1
Still 7.91 litres per 100km is pretty good fuel economy for a car that size.
7.9 litres per 100km... That's not bad going for a normally aspirated car of that size burning petrol. I typically average 8.5 litres per 100km in an R32 Golf... 630km from about 54 litres of 98 octane. Granted, the gearing is not geared to be fuel efficient and it's not direct injected. My average speed would be much higher than 78km/h though... (I'm not in NZ).....
I agree with Mike #1. I have an old early 90s familia that runs rough and (what I consider) thirsty and would nearly match that fuel consumption. Genuine non-science here.
To what purpose do we owe this pointless waste of resources?
As i see, there is no reason, other than Holden paying you to sing their praises. Might pay to raise your asking price a little. One chocolate fish is hardly a dent in their pocket.
actually its 73 litres. Interesting technology though. My SUV would use about 150l for the same trip.
So, from your stats above, it used 76.8 litres of petrol, and assuming $1.80 per litre, that's a total of about $140 of petrol, plus the cost of the ferry, of course...I'm thinking flying is probably cheaper...I'm wondering how much it would be on the Naked Bus...
Did it ten years ago in a manky Corolla 1.5 rental car that was showing signs of no maintenance or tuning ever. Used about 32 litres of petrol. Normal SH1 driving.
Commodore has a 73 litre tank. Barina 45, Astra 52, Cruze 60 (about 700-800km range at their claimed combined cycle economy). Suzuki Alto at 35 litres has the smallest tank. Now let's see Dave repeat the trip in an Alto. ;-) Or in the Commodore with the family and all their holiday luggage on board. :-)
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The only reason you made it is because this car has a fuel tank almost twice the size of most cars. Most modern cars have a fuel tank just over 40ltrs. The Holden must have an 80ltr tank in it. Seems like a pointless exercise to me.