A little takeaway from the recent long ride. We usually measure the fuel efficiency of the Scorpio on long runs by full tank to full tank. I drive maintaining 105 to 115 constantly, though involving a little bit of snappy starts sometimes and the car always returns a fuel efficiency of 15.4 kilometres to the litre every single time, give or take 0.1 kmpl.
On the most recent drive however, I wanted to drive in lesser engine and wind noise so I maintained at 90 to 100 throughout the drive from Hosur to Nagercoil. Very minimal downshifting all along. My driving style was - throttle off - engine brake - obstacle clears most of the time - accelerate back slowly. Refuelled once and I noticed that the fuel seemed to get sipped a bit slower than usual. We munched 428 kilometres using 24.51 litres of diesel which comes out to 17.46 kilometres to the litre. For your information, car was driven by me, dad beside, mum in middle row and literally every possible cubic centimetre of remaining space choked with luggage. People sometimes claim much higher values by driving at 50, driving in a convoy reducing drag etc. but this was a pleasant surprise nonetheless.
It was a simple change in style, a subtle change but the results were astonishing. I believe the calculations were right too because the fuel gauge dropped very noticeably slower than usual. The results of reduced air drag at 90 to 100 as opposed to higher speeds also became evident.
Please do pen in your thoughts on this and share events where you also got FE figures that put a smile on your face and made you go, "You're a good buddy, car"