On Tuesday night I had to travel about 200km to Turangi, which is a little way around Lake Taupo (say: toe-paw) in NZ's north island.

I was running a training course so the distance is reimbursable. With its huge boot and comfy ride, the Stilo was earning its keep. I drove down using the cruise control and resisted the temptation to flex the engine's muscles, carefully stuck to the 100km/h speed limit. Average speed was 85km/h and average fuel consumption 8L/100km which is about 35mpg. Not bad (not quite as good as my 2003 156 Selespeed, which would easily get down to 7L/100km and less).

While I was down in Turangi, major roadworks started around the eastern side of the lake. Delegates on the course suggested I drive back towards Taumaranui and through to Whakamaru. So I did.

It had been a long two days and I was in danger of falling asleep even though it was a bright and sunny 5pm. The twisty road through the hills ensured that I didn't! The Stilo was rolling and squirming into corners quite a lot (must get those Eibachs and Bilsteins ordered...) Then the road opened out a bit and I decided to go for it.

Speeds were so high that for a whole hour I averaged 105km/h - the 2.4 is effortless, and sounds so great over 4000rpm in fifth. The handling became a kind of guided missile as the floating and pitching reached epic levels, but it was all very exciting. I haven't had such excitement for a while. The tail wags if you brake in a corner, which I only did because I saw another car up ahead (it was the only one though).

In the photo I'm waiting to drive over a hydro dam.

The surprise? Average fuel consumption for this section of the trip (I had reset it) was 9.8L/100km which is about 27mpg and I think that's amazing. An increase in average speed of 23.5% gave an increase in fuel usage of 23.5%. How is that possible? The aerodynamics must be fantastic (aerodynamic drag increases as a square of the velocity) - and the top speed was nearly double what was reached before.

So in a Stilo Abarth, if you haven't died, killed someone, or lost your license and appeared in court, at least you've got good fuel economy at high speeds. I don't think you can do that with a smaller engine.

Back on the main road at Tokoroa, I resumed my gentle cruise at 100km/h (it felt very slow indeed) and from there to home I passed three drivers pulled over by police - they had probably been doing 120km/h. I was glad to be able to do the right thing having actually 'lived' for an hour.

Yesterday I drove all around the Coromandel in my Uno Turbo and even at speeds well below 100km/h it often felt extremely dangerous. I think I was doing 80 or less most of the time.

-Alex

Crikey Alex, you've rolled it?

Steve148 said:

Crikey Alex, you've rolled it?

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Oh, is the picture upside-down? Must be a southern-northern hemisphere thing.

Steve148 said:

Crikey Alex, you've rolled it?

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He is down under

Corrects itself when you full screen it

Yeh world is unpside down enough with out people turning it to a spin dryer

So when do we get the next chapter.? weekly or monthly ? .good little read..thanks
always good to know the right piece of road to blow the cobwebs away....time and place for everything

mhowse said:

Yeh world is unpside down enough with out people turning it to a spin dryer

So when do we get the next chapter.? weekly or monthly ? .good little read..thanks
always good to know the right piece of road to blow the cobwebs away....time and place for everything

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Driving fast IS socially irresponsible and I do it very rarely, but the main point of my post was that the fuel economy of the Abarth (or other cars with relatively big engines) doesn't suffer all that much if you ever have to drive it hard.

With a small-engined car, driving at close to its top speed seems to make a massive difference to the fuel usage. My Uno Turbo for example seems to drink like a fish once the turbo is boosting. It's been worse since fitting a cone air filter - confusing, as you'd think that would let more air in, but the ECU lets in more fuel too.

-Alex

alexGS said:

Driving fast IS socially irresponsible and I do it very rarely, but the main point of my post was that the fuel economy of the Abarth (or other cars with relatively big engines) doesn't suffer all that much if you ever have to drive it hard.

-Alex

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Hey I will use that one if I get pulled by mr policeman ...Purely Enviromental reasons officer honest thouogh the way my multi wagon wallows there be no chance of that if I did it would not be my head hitting against the brick wall :bang: but the front end of my stilo..yeh know where your coming from with that one ..
Green is the Way these days

Some engines / maps are more fuel efficient at higher power levels. I remember BMW running some ad campaign on one of its engines stating that maximum efficiency is at full throttle and load and power.

If you were a manufacturer producing performance cars then 1) you know fuel consumption is going to be high at any driving condition 2) given that your customers accept this then you are probably going the use different maps for different countries.

Two examples UK & Germany

In the UK our top legal speed is 70 mph. There is no limit on how fast you can change speeds withing the 0 to 70 mph range. People are unlikely to drive at 100mph for long due to the risk of being caught and banded. All summed up we like our cars to nippy and zip along with sporty handling etc. as we can best make use of and enjoy these better.

In Germany on the Autobarhns there are no speed limits (except is certain areas and around towns & cities) so the operational/design criteria are different. Speed (which requires power for effortless cruising at well over 100mph) so obtaining this with maximum fuel efficency is going to be a more likely mapping target to cars with larger engines.

I thought my Stilo Abarth fuel consumption was generally very good for the engine size and performance. However it was a real fuel guzzler when toping a caravan across Europe. Used to get something like 18 mpg so whilst a great and effortless puller it burnt like ther was no tomorrow.