Drivers are the key to making the most from new generations of the most economical car, says Oscar Bonet, head of engine development at SEAT.
In an interview with news agency Headlineauto, Bonet said teaching motorists key fuel economising driving skills such as: “Convincing drivers that their turbocharged car will accelerate in top gear from just 1,500rpm," will help them save fuel.
He believes it is one challenge that the motoring press can help car manufacturers meet otherwise the real benefit of the millions of euros the industry is investing to reach CO2 targets will be wasted.
Fiat’s eco:Drive, the software that analyses driving style and helps drivers improve their performance, is one approach while Renault’s announcement yesterday that it is teaming up with Belgian firm Key Driving Competences (KDC) to expand ecodriving training courses also fits this particular bill. Since 2005 KDC has delivered more than 50,000 hours of training for more than 10,000 professional and private drivers to help them get the best from their cars.
To prove the point, the press launch of the Leon and Altea Ecomotive models included a 75km economy challenge around SEAT’s technical centre at Martorell, near Barcelona.
The target was to try to get as close as possible to the official combined consumption of 4.5 litres/100km (62.7mpg). Of the 14 cars that took part, one was disqualified for taking more than the allotted 90 minutes, one beat the target, registering 4.48 litres/100km and three were within 10 per cent of the target.
The winning pair were UK freelancer Tom Webster and Auto Trader’s Andy Goodwin, beating off a posse of other UK journalists as well as a smattering of Belgians and Swedes. “We even managed to overtake others on the way round,” said Webster, making the point that driving frugally does not mean driving slowly. The pair’s average speed was 52.1kph (32.1mph) over a route of mostly single carriageway roads going through several towns and villages.
So how did SEAT achieve the 10g/km reduction in CO2 emissions, from 119g/km to 99g/km? It wasn’t easy, said Bonet. “It’s tough and it’s going to get tougher as we move towards the targets of meeting Euro VI emission legislation.”
Technological developments over the last few years have made the latest reductions feasible. “Reducing friction within the engine and reducing overall weight of the engine are still our biggest challenges,” said Bonet.
“But if drivers don’t know how to drive economically the real benefits of what we do are lost.”
He calculates that the Leon Ecomotive with its 55-litre fuel tank has a potential range of 1,450km. With the average motorist driving 15,000km a year, that means filling the tank only 11 times a year at about €50 a time, assuming diesel is €1 a litre.
To get from 119g/km to 99g/km, SEAT is using a 1.6 litre turbodiesel engine boasting 105PS, the same as the outgoing 1.9-litre TDI. The smaller engine and revised gearing give savings of 9g/km; adding stop-start to the equation provides a further saving of 8g/km while aerodynamic tweaks which include front wheel deflectors, a small front spoiler, a closed front grille and low friction tyres provide the final 3g/km.
One of the key aims of the programme was to make sure that SEAT delivered 'less emissions with more emotion’. “We didn’t want to lose the emotion that drivers associate with us,” said Bonet.
Would start-stop and other elements of the Ecomotive programme make it onto any of the high-performance Cupra models? “No. That would be a contradiction. What we want to do with Ecomotive models is give people with only one car in their garage the chance to be both economical and still enjoy driving.”
The Altea and Leon Ecomotive also mark the debut of what SEAT is calling Energy Recovery Technology. This uses the energy generated under braking and when lifting off the throttle to charge the battery and decrease demands on the engine.
UK deliveries of the two additional Ecomotive models are scheduled to begin in March with prices starting at around £16,500 for both the Leon and Altea versions while the Altea XL Ecomotive will be about £17,000.
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