There are people who try to save as much fuel as possible by driving economically. They are called "hypermilers" . This group also includes the Swiss driver Felix Egolf , who is the captain of the Swiss Airbus 330/340 , and is one of the most experienced "hypermilers" in Switzerland .
Felix Egolf had a clear assignment from Mitsubishi Switzerland to significantly reduce the standard fuel consumption (4.8 l / 100 km) under normal driving conditions and thus set a new long-distance record, with a target of at least 1,600 km. On July 25, Felix Egolf set off from the Swiss headquarters in a Mitsubishi ASX 1.8 DI-D MIVEC 2WD 6MT front-wheel drive crossover with 86 kW / 117 hp, 380 Nm of torque, CO2 emissions of 127 g / km and a tank full of fuel Mitsubishi in Härkingen for the road.
The route was designed to cover all the conditions one might encounter in daily traffic, starting from Härkingen and continuing through Cham, St Gallen, the Arlberg Pass, Innsbruck , St Johann, Salzburg, Vienna, Linz, Braunau, Munich , Bregenz and back via St Gallen, Zürich , Cham, Härkingen, Basel, Moutiers until it ended in the starting city of Härkingen .
The majority of the route led through highway sections (74%), a smaller part through 1st class roads (23%) and a minimum in city traffic (3%). Felix Egolf managed to overcome an incredible 1,857 km in 25 hours of driving and achieved a consumption of 3.67 l / 100 km, which is 23.5% less than the standard manufacturer's consumption (4.8 l / 100 km). The average speed recorded was 74.1 km/h and the elevation overcame 8,600 masl, with the lowest point being 170 masl in Vienna and the highest 1,800 masl in the Arlberg Pass.
With this excellent result, Felix Egolf managed to easily exceed the target set by the Swiss importer Mitsubishi , while he did not use any special technique to reduce fuel consumption during the drive, he just followed some principles. His advice to other drivers to achieve the lowest possible consumption is: take your time, use the potential of the diesel engine with high torque and timely gear changes based on the indicator on the on-board computer, keep a sufficient distance between you and the vehicle in front of you, take your foot off the gas in the right moment and don't rev the engine to high revs, plan enough time for your journey so that you are not under pressure and use modern technologies such as automatic stop and start of the AS&G engine (already standard in the Mitsubishi ASX ) and last but not least, turn off the engine when you stand still on red.
Source: M Motors CZ s.r.o
