Top Car

OUR CARS

January 2016|TOPCAR.CO.ZA 105

WHILE SWEATINGAT

the lights on the way to the

airport – the Clio’s stop/

start system cuts both th e

engine and the air-con –

the ot her day, two old

sayings came to mind: size matters, and, there

ain’t no repl acement for displacement. The

internalcombustion engine beneath my bonnet

has a swept volume of 898c c while the one in

the three-year-old C63 AMG inthe lane

alongside measures 6208c c. Not a fairfight I

know, and yet, we’re both obligated to cruise

along the highway at no more than 120kph with

his fuel pump squirting almost atomised

unleaded into eigh t cyli nders (or should that be

buckets?) and mine into just three (thimbles?).

How quickly he got to 120kph and how much

faster he could stillgo are completel y irrelevant

here on this speed-regulated public road. All

that really matters is how much fuel we use and

how many grammes of carbon dioxide we spew.

Not a fairfight, I know. So size doesn’t matter

LOGBOOKRENAULT CLIO GT-LINE

>Odo reading start/now6 155/11 226km

>Distance covered5 071km

>Fuel consumed354.54ℓ

>Average fuel consumption6.99ℓ/100km

>Service inter val1-year/15 000km

>Service costCovered by3-year/4 5 000km

service plan

>Total fuel costR4 42 1.51

>Running cost87c/km

Matters of size

When less-than-a-litr e is more than six point two. ByWayne Batty

MONTH 4

RENAULT

CLIO

GT-LINE

and I win.

There’s a new C63 on sale no w, with a radically

downsized turbocharged engine measurin g

3982cc and it, much like the downsized turbo in

my Clio, exists only beca use of European Union

regulations aimed at reducing harmfu l levels of

CO2 inthe atmosphere. These new-fangled

turbocharged motors performparticularly well

inthe officialNew European Driving Cycle fuel

consumption tests – a monstrously unrealistic

set of shor t, slow urban and extra-urban driving

simulations.

Our Clio recorded an officialNEDC figure of

just 4.5ℓ/100km. Now properly run-in, I tried

this month to see just how close I could get by

driving as ifEarth itselfwas on the line. With

mind- and throttle response-numbing Eco

mode enga ged I managed 637km on 42.27 litr es

equating to 6.64ℓ/100km. Prettygood

considering that involved a properly real-world

mix of stop-startsuburb , citydriving and

heavily trafficked freeway commuting split over

eigh t days. V8 wanted, but not required.

Lessthirsty

thana V8

Not asfrugal

as claimed

Ups/

downs

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