And The Stingiest Car Is ...

Cammy Corrigan
by Cammy Corrigan

The Royal Automobile Club (RAC) held its first Future Car Challenge. This was a race from Brighton to London (about 57 miles). The Auto Channel says it was to see who could consume the least during the trip. To keep things fair, the trip consisted of different driving conditions from country roads to traffic jams. Well, the race was done and the results are in. I can now reveal that the winner of the first RAC Future Car Challenge is, (soft) drum roll, please…

The Volkswagen Golf Blue-E-Motion. The plucky little electric car, with 115 bhp, a top speed of 86mph and 0-62mph time of 11.8 seconds won the race. “It’s a testimony to the abilities of the Golf Blue-E-Motion that it won despite the fact I’d never competed in any sort of eco-driving challenge before,” said Jim Holder, driver of the winning car.

Autocar reports that there were other categories for getting greenie points. The BMW 320d EfficientDynamics diesel won “the most efficient combustion engine” award. The Lotus Elise electric won in the “most economical sports electric vehicle” category, and the Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-cell hydrogen car can now officially claim the title ” most efficient fuel cell”.

Professor Stephen Glaister (via the BBC), director of the RAC Foundation, couldn’t help it, and rained a bit on his own parade:

“There is a large price difference between the most fuel-efficient models currently available and the next generation of vehicle already arriving in showrooms…The cars of tomorrow might have low running costs, but that will be irrelevant if people haven’t got the cash to buy them in the first place.”

Very true, Professor.

Cammy Corrigan
Cammy Corrigan

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 4 comments
  • Jcap Jcap on Nov 09, 2010

    There sure where a lot of "winners". ;) http://www.royalautomobileclub.co.uk/Motoring/Future-Car-Challenge-2010 I thought the Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-cell Hydrogen must have been the only Fuel-cell car in the competition, but there where other entrants. Toyota FCHV-ADV Fuel Cell Highlander Hydrogen (Highlander in a Efficiency Challange?) Honda FCX Clarity Hydrogen http://www.scribd.com/doc/41310434/Future-Car-Challenge-2010-Entry-List

  • Robert Schwartz Robert Schwartz on Nov 09, 2010

    Way back in the 1950s Mobil Oil used to sponsor fuel economy challenges. I wonder whatever happened to them (the challenges, not Mobil, it merged with Exxon).

    • K5ING K5ING on Nov 09, 2010

      Didn't it come out that car makers were using "creative mods" to better their chances of winning those Mobil Economy Runs? Stuff like hidden fuel storage in frames complete with fuel lines hidden inside of engine blocks and such? Kind of made the whole competition kind of pointless.

  • Joeaverage Joeaverage on Nov 09, 2010

    So were tehy comparing cars available to the consumer or one-off cars? Fuel cell? Please... How about which Fiat, VW, GM, Ford, Renault, etc are the most stingy?

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