The objective of this challenge is to:

• promote the importance of fuel efficient driving amidst unstable fuel prices
• help reduce harmful emissions released into the atmosphere by burning less fuel
• validate Honda’s fuel-efficient and earth-friendly engine technology.

The Concept of this friendly competition is simple. Participants have to  Gas-up (Full tank) and Drive under normal, day-to-day driving style. It means that the air-conditioning unit must be turned on.

The competition has 2 parts, the City Driving and the Highway Driving. Winners will be determined by the average Kilometer reading divided by the gas used through the entire challenge.

The participants of this Honda Challenge Cup were composed of fleet account representatives and “us” (select members of the blog community).

When I arrived at the Assembly area in TGI Friday’s, Bonifacio High Street, I didn’t see any blogger from the people who were waiting there. When I was eating my breakfast (c/o TGIF), I saw this man (see picture below) entered the room and recognized him in that very moment.

It was Abe “Yuga” Olandres of yugatech.com. Me and Abe were paired for the challenge! Yeah!

Let’s Rock and Roll!

Participants were divided in 6 categories: (Basically all Honda line-up were put into the test)

1. City 1.3 AT
2. City 1.5 AT
3. Jazz 1.3 AT
4. Civic 1.8 AT
5. CR-V 2.0 MT
6. Accord 3.5 AT

We were assigned to drive the CR-V 2.0 Manual with a road book at hand. Abe took the driver’s seat while I became the navigator for the entire run. YES! For the entire run! I still don’t have my license, Sorry Abe!

Yuga: The Driver

City Driving Leg: In this part of the challenge, We started at Petron C5, Deigo Silang and ended at Petron NLEX, Marilao.

Highway Driving Leg: We started at Petron NLEX, Marilao and ended at Petron NLEX, Balagtas.

There was a lot of gas-ing up and waiting in between but after the Highway driving leg we returned to Global City for the Awarding and announcement of winners. At this point we had a good idea about who the winners would be since we were checking the filling-up of fuels of the other challengers.

Awarding

This is my favorite part of the event. Why? Because there were food and prizes!

We won in our category beating the other CR-V by a liter. We managed to get an average of 13.03 Kilometers/Liter (Not bad for an SUV with 2.0 engine, Just ask Abe about his driving strategy on how we achieved that performance). Surprisingly, we also came in 3rd overall, beating the compact sedan in City and Honda Jazz. The big winner was the Honda Civic with 18.51 Ki/L fuel consumption. Whoa!

We received 5K worth of Petron Fuel cards and 5K worth of Gift Certificates. I gave my fuel cards to Abe since I don’t have a car and he gave me his GCs. But wait there’s more! There was a raffle for all the participants! Abe got a cool Honda jacket and I got an iPod shuffle.

Here are the results: (click the image for larger view)

Conclusion:

Being fuel efficient is a combination of certain factors:

1. The Driver – Fuel Efficient drivers are skilled drivers. You cannot just step on the gas and expect to be fuel efficient. You can learn it over time.

2. The Car – Pick a car that is fuel efficient. The compact sedans are good for city driving because of smaller engines while the SUV’s or cars with bigger engines in my opinion are better for highway driving. (You can refer to the result above for comparison)

3. Road Habits – Frequent over taking can burn gas more rather than staying on one lane.

4. … You can add your techniques and ideas on how to Drive Every Drop! Let me know in the comments.

On a side note: I really like the “POGI” look of the new Honda City. I’d really like to own one! I want to give thanks to Sheryl of Honda Cars Philippines for inviting me to be a part of this great event!

Honda Challenge Cup was a fun experience! Thanks!  You can check Abe’s post regarding the event here.

Post from: Randy Marasigan dot com

Honda Challenge Cup: “Drive Every Drop”