What's the catch in Ford Mondeo Econetic driving at 3 liters per 100 kilometers story?

Question

News report (here and here and lots more can be found that two guys drove Ford Mondeo Econetic with 1,6 liters diesel engine and got fuel consumption of about 3 liters per 100 kilometers.

That's incredible - they drove at about 65 kilometers per hour and that's not a traffic jam where hybrid cars show themselves well, so "hybrid" alone doesn't explain how it was possible.

For comparison: I know an owner of a Ford Focus C-Max with 2 liters gazoline engine and they report fuel consumption of about 14 liters per 100 kilometers. I agree that comparing gas versus diesel is not completely fair, but still 3 liters versus 14 liters looks impressive.

This story is widely discussed and some people say the car was "tuned".

I wonder what tuning that might be? How is 100 kilometers on 3 liters of fuel on a 1,6 liters car possible?

Answer 1

its a combination of things:

the 1.6 engine is a common rail diesel turbo with a particulate filter, not sure if that makes a difference in itself.

tyres on eco models tend to be skinnier and of a harder compound meaning they cause less rolling resistance.

Eco models normally also have drag reducing features - such as filled in wheel trims and reduced apertures for the radiator/grilles at the front and streamlined mirrors etc.

removing all extra weight will also help - how full was the tank? half full will reduce the weight significantly.

In my diesel car, 65km/h is just barely idling in fourth gear (fifth causes it to labour a bit) I havent looked at my consumption at that speed but I know at 120km/h I average around 4.2 litres per 100km.