MINI D: A small car that rises to big occasions

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The aims of the Follow the MINI venture were several, and we'll cover them in several ways in the next few days.

First and foremost, however, it was a hardcore fuel-efficiency test for the car shortly set to usurp the smart fortwo's No1 spot on the Green Vehicle Guide's fuel efficiency table. It will do that with an official combined cycle fuel consumption figure of 3.9L/100km and a CO2 emission figure of 104g/km.

So how does the D stack up as an endurance runner? On the fuel efficiency front, very well indeed. Here are some numbers in detail...

All up, setting off from Sydney on the afternoon of the 24th and arriving in Perth early evening on the 30th, we travelled 4819 kilometres on 250.1 litres of fuel at a total cost of $311.45.

Now for some data smoothing in the name of accuracy. To calculate fuel consumption and the true spend per kilometre, it's necessary to top and tail the trip.

It was just 96 km into our journey that we stopped in Albion Park, a little south of Wollongong, and put 32 litres into its 40 litre tank.

On the face of it, that works out at about 3 kilometres per litre, or about 33L/100km -- a figure the MINI people would understandably not be pleased to have us factor in while they're trying to sell their product under the banner of Australia's Most Fuel Efficient Car.

The reality: we didn't set off from Sydney with a full tank. Muttley drove the car up from Melbourne the day before we left Sydney. After staying in Mittagong overnight, he came and collected me, we dropped in to see a mate of mine in Cremorne, on the way in to the AuNITED event from which we officially embarked on the trip. With less than half a tank on board.

They'd be sure, however, to find ample compensation in a similar inaccuracy at the other end. Arriving in Perth, we put just 16.82 litres in at the end of a 794km run. On paper, that works out at about 47 kilometres per litre, or just over 2L/100km. Except, of course, that with the tank running uncomfortably low, we just chucked $20 worth in to get us through the last few kays. We could have done it, incidentally, with much less than half that.

What counts, then, is the big bit in the middle (see table; details in green): the 3929km from Albion Park to Norseman. We achieved that on 200.5 litres, costing $251.83. That's an average of 19.6 km/litre, or 5.1L/100km.  At an average price per litre of 125.6 cents, that works out at around 15 cents a kay on fuel.

That's a remarkable result when we factor in a payload of somewhere between 200 and 250kg and the speeds we were running. The Monday run through East Gippsland saw regular spurts well in excess of the fuel economy optimum speed of 80-90km/h.

Tuesday was the Great Ocean Road -- a run much more fabulous for stretching a car's handling envelope than a litre of fuel.

Predictably, fuel consumption takes an exponential hike when the D is taken too far out of its comfort zone. Notice how consumption rises to 5.4L/100km on the run from Nelson to Clare. That's because it takes in the Wednesday run between Robe and Murray Bridge, which included high-velocity stability testing and instantaneous fuel economy readings on speeds from 80-160km/h.

But even at speed it's no dipso. There's a few track types around the nation who'd love to see 7.8L/100km at 160 km/h (a theoretical figure, of course, arrived at using a patented equation taking into account a complex mix of accelerator pedal resistance, injector behaviours, hair lustre, paint finish, wind speed and direction, fuel quality, rolling resistance and load weight distribution).

And before I venture too far from that 160km/h, it's worth mentioning, too, that our complex algorithm reveals this to be, theoretically, a very stable, well planted little car at those kind of speeds.

Its comfort zone, however, is that of an urban runabout, not a highway tourer. But that's for another story. This car's raison d'etre is fuel economy, and that 3.9L/100km figure is real-world stuff. Muttley managed it -- and better -- at a steady 80-90km/h on the way up from Melbourne.

It was always going to be tougher once he picked up 100kg of me (a figure that includes my not inconsiderable luggage, I'd hasten to point out). It was under those conditions that the Friday run from Eucla to Kalgoorlie proved instructive. After the stresses of Black Thursday, we stuck rigidly to speed limits -- that is, 110 km/h virtually all the way. Never faster, except to overtake (and there was almost none of that), and slowing down to 80 and 60 through towns.

With us and all our stuff, long, steady runs of 110 km/h yielded a consistent 4.4 to 4.5L/100km. That's phenomenal. In my books, it's the Big One. The figure that proves the D is genuinely capable of big-car work without sacrificing its little-car virtues. Or some of its little-car shortcomings, but that's for another story.

Factor in the relative stability of diesel prices at the moment and it's bound to be a pleasure not just to drive but to own.

Date - Fill location -Fill details - $$$
24/5 Albion Park 32.77l @120.9/L = 39.62
25/5 Traralgon 38.36l @ 120.9/L = 46.38
26/5 Nelson 33.02 @ 121.9/L = 40.25
27/5 Clare  33.54l @ 117.9/L = 39.54
28/5 Ceduna 34.51l @122.9/L = 42.41
29/5 Eucla  25.43 @ 154.0/L =39.16
29/5 Norseman 35.64l @ 123.7/L = 44.09
30/5 Perth  16.82l @ 118.9/L = 20.00

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