Renault’s impressive returns at MPG Marathon 2010

While Renault continues to blaze a trail towards electric motoring, it nevertheless continues to improve and refine its current range of both cars and vans when it comes to lowering their environmental impact. Judging by the performance of its models at the 2010 ALD Automotive/Total ECO 10 MPG Marathon, organised by Fleet World magazine, the engineering efforts, especially in terms of reducing fuel consumption and cutting fuel bills, have paid off.

Piloted by journalist and self-proclaimed eco-warrior, Richard Aucock, and Leigh Stiff, a Mégane Renaultsport 250, proved that hot hatches can be as deft with fuel-sipping  as they are coping with everything that is thrown at them on a daily basis. Over the two-day, 400-mile route, across a variety of road, route and traffic conditions, Renault’s flagship performance model posted the second best overall improvement in fuel economy out of a field of 26 cars. Returning an impressive 47.42 mpg, the Mégane achieved an remarkable 41.13% improvement, or, in everyday driving terms, 13.82 mpg, greater than its official 33.6 mpg figure on the combined cycle.

Commenting on their eco-driving prowess, Richard said, “It proves that you don't just need eco-special cars to go green. Even performance car fans can enjoy economy improvements of more than 40 percent, simply by driving with more consideration to mpg. What's more, with fun handling hot hatches such as the Mégane, they'll be having a whole lot of fun doing it.”

At the other end of the vehicle spectrum, a front-wheel drive New Master MM33 dCi 100, already the best vehicle in its class for fuel economy, posted another impressive performance with 44.69 mpg, a 31.44% improvement, 10.69 mpg better than its published 34 mpg, this time in the capable hands of Peter Cracknell and Dave Randle.

Aside from Renault’s own entries, another model from the French marque’s stable continued the solid performance at the event with another impressive return over the arduous route. Flying in the face of the traditional stereotype when it comes to lead-footed van driving, a 2.0 SL29 dCi 115 Trafic van, in the hands of Steve Hayworth and Steve Johnson from AA DriveTech, romped to victory as Best % Improvement in the LCV category with an astonishing 53.55% improvement in combined fuel economy. Compared to its published figure of 38.2 mpg, Renault’s high-selling panel van achieved an amazing 58.66 mpg. The judges were blown away by the performance of the Trafic, stating that it, “…sets a new benchmark by which other vans’ productivity can be measured.”