Politicians challenged and found lead-footed

With the price of petrol very much front-of-mind, federal parliamentarians were recently treated to a 12-step method for cutting fuel consumption by up to 10 per cent -- and then challenged to put their new-found knowledge into practice.

Last week, Victorian couple John and Helen Taylor took their fuel-saving message to the seat of power in Canberra and presented several members of parliament with information which could make the mooted 5 cent/litre cut in excise duty look distinctly Scrooge-like. Indeed, the Taylors sought to demonstrate how every driver can save the equivalent of 15c per litre -- all day, every day.

The couple, setters of no less than 86 world records for speed, distance, duration and endurance -- including 36 for economic motoring -- drove a Peugeot 308 HDi turbodiesel from Melbourne to Canberra for the event. In the course, they rivalled Carsales Network's own miser-driver, Ken Gratton* (more here) and used just 28.7 litres of diesel for the 773km journey. This works out at 3.7L/100km.

The Taylors were invited to Canberra by their local member, the Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Urban Water, Greg Hunt -- who drives a Prius. The MP sealed the HDI's tank before they set off, and was on hand to break the seal again when they arrived in Canberra -- although the parsimonious Peugeot was far from needing a refill, having used less than half a tank of fuel to reach Lake Burley Griffin.

The Taylors recently drove from their base outside Melbourne to Rockhampton in Queensland, on a single tank -- a distance of 2348km -- in a Peugeot 406 HDi at 2.88L/100km. Even more recently, they set a record for driving right round Australia -- a distance of 14,634km -- at an average of 3.49L/100km. This was also in a Pug, in this case, a 307 HDi.

However, the Taylors stressed to politicians that it is not necessary to buy a new car to achieve significant savings. By observing a handful of simple suggestions, all motorists can slash fuel consumption, irrespective of the vehicle they’re driving, they say.

The Taylors tips include:

To help prove the point, John Taylor laid out a 8km 'test track' around Canberra and recorded 3.1L/100km on three consecutive test-runs.

A string of political heavy-hitters lined up to try their hands at frugal motoring in one of two identical Peugeot 308 HDis, co-driven by either John or Helen Taylor. Interestingly, no Labor or Greens members participated in the challenge.

The MPs put the knowledge and experience of the Taylors to good use and all recorded fuel economy figures much lower than the 6.2L/100km that the 308 HDi achieves in a normal city cycle. Indeed, with only one contestant remaining, three lawmakers were tied on 4.1L.

Finally, Federal Member for Barker, Patrick Secker, saved the best for last and was awarded the title of Parliament’s Most Fuel Efficient Driver for achieving the lowest figure of only 3.7L/100km.

On average, the politician's recorded fuel consumption was 4.18L/100km, in Canberra traffic; this represents a 33 per cent saving on the official fuel consumption figure

The Taylors have established a website (click more here) which includes many more fuel-saving suggestions, as well as details of the couple’s remarkable achievements.

Pictures show federal pollies Greg Hunt, Fran Bailey (Liberal), Lynne Allison (Democrats) and the Taylors, with Secker receiving the trophy from Hunt.

(* In a last-minute attempt, Carsales' Steve Kealy matched the pollies' winning mark, but Ken's still our frugal frontrunner.)

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