Diesel Auto SA's Most Frugal Car

For two days, 21 vehicle manufacturers fielding 53 crews covered 1105km of the Mpumalanga Lowveld for the 36th edition of the event.

A number of petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles were entered into classes determined by engine capacity ranging from 1100 to 3000cc.

The leaderboard

Each vehicle had a crew of two required to stick to specific speeds and arrive at checkpoints at particular times to discourage “unrealistic speeds”, the sponsor said.

After two days and 1105km, Stuart Greig and Wynand Gerber steered a Ford Fiesta 1.6 auto to the top of the overall leader board with a fuel consumption of 4.48524 litres/100km. Which is fine in straight numbers, but the correct way to accurately measure fuel-efficiency is to take the weight of the car and measure that against the fuel consumed over a certain route and distance.

That data was not available when this article was published.

The Fiesta was also the top performer in the diesel category.

In the overall petrol category, Jeannette Kok Kritzinger and Riette Wannenburg were tops in a Peugeot 107. The fuel consumption recorded was 5.063 litres/100km.

Defending category winners Robbie Coetzee and Craig Trott took to the route once more in a Toyota Aygo and claimed third position in the petrol category with 5.121 litres/100km.

Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Stefanie Botha teamed up in a Lexus GS450h and recorded 7.924 litres/100km to finish 21st overall in the petrol classification and first in their class.

For a good cause

Not just die-hard gearheads where in action, though, as a number of radio and TV personalities strapped in alongside beauty queens for the task.

The 2012 economy run also did its part for the environment through a tie-up with the Leopard Conservation Project with which it hopes to create a rehabilitation centre for injured and rescued leopards.

Fred Barrangé and Chris Pearce from the Leopard Conservation Project contested the event in a Citroën DS3 e_HDi 90 and recorded the second-best fuel consumption of 5.503 litres/100km in the deiselcategory.

For every litre of fuel used by this team, a cash donation will be made towards the centre, which Total has pledged to double.

*Please note the data in this item was supplied by the organisers and has been taken at face value.