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Road Trip
Foolproof fuel-efficiency
We brought our heavy foot to embarrass the Honda Civic 1.8S. We failed...miserably
Words by Vernon B. Sarne
The trouble with life IN a busy metropolis is that you feel like you're always racing in Formula One. Ease off the throttle for just a second and even the back-markers will appear in your rear-view mirrors. You feel, in other words, like the whole world is passing you by. And if you're an average office employee whose to-do list looks like the instruction manual of a nuclear plant, a long holiday break out of town is next to impossible.
And so you look for an alternative. One that allows you to retreat and then get back to the thick of the action in absolutely no time at all—like a flawless seven-second pit stop.
Fortunately for the Top Gear staff, the alternative looked for us. Honda e-mailed me one afternoon, while we were charging hard on another F1-paced day in the office, and asked: "Would your team like to drive the 1.8-liter Civic and spend a night out of town?" We admit that while we're not ones to pass up a chance to drive the sporty eighth-generation Honda Civic, the clincher for us was the phrase ‘out of town'. We love cars, yes, but we love our lungs and nerves even more, which—around the time of Honda's e-mail—were already in desperate need of some fresh air and tranquil surroundings.
And what a coincidence, the TG team was set to compete in the first round of this year's Honda Media Challenge in Carmona that weekend. So now our itinerary would look something like this: Drive to the Carmona circuit, cheer on our teammates, catch up with our colleagues, then retire our exhausted, overweight frames in Tagaytay.
"Sure, send the Civic then" is how I recall my simple reply to Honda's invitation was.
"Done," Honda gladly confirmed. "But could you also take note of the Civic's fuel consumption in your story?"
Why not? I suspected Honda was having some difficulty convincing the public that the Civic—despite having 1.8- and 2.0-liter engines—was truly fuel-efficient. And that's understandable. In the not-so-distant past, compact cars mostly had 1.6-liter powerplants. Even when the 1.8- and the 2.0-liters started being introduced on top-of-the-line variants, the carmakers still retained their 1.6-liter models for budget-conscious buyers. But now the trend is pointing toward bigger-displacement engines, naturally worrying Filipino car buyers at a time when a liter of fuel can already buy you a full meal.
The first to do this was Ford when it introduced the 1.8-liter Focus sedan last year, followed by an even more powerful 2.0-liter Focus hatchback. But after seeing the market's relatively lukewarm reception of its prized compact, Ford sort of backpedaled and soon offered a 1.6-liter version of the Focus.
And now comes Honda with the all-new Civic, which—while truly drop-dead gorgeous—has raised some concerns regarding the economy of its 1.8- and 2.0-liter engines. Hence, Honda's campaign to offer the Civic to the press for fuel-efficiency evaluation.
And that was exactly how we found ourselves in a blue silver Civic 1.8S one Saturday morning at Total's fuel station on Ortigas, gassing up before heading for Carmona. I have to confess that my intent had been to constantly floor the pedal to debunk Honda's claims that the 1.8-liter, 138-horsepower Civic could yield the same mileage as a 1.5-liter compact sedan. I'm the type who can't resist the temptation to expose falsehood or misrepresentation if the opportunity falls upon my lap. For good measure, I brought along two full-size passengers, senior art director Jaykee and staff writer Dinzo. When I say full-size, I mean exactly that.
I had grown so tired of doing countless fuel-economy exercises running at 60kph and turning the aircon off. I would have none of that sissy driving this time. It would have to be a pedal-to-the-metal affair to make this worth my while. All the fuel-saving tips I had previously learned were dutifully forgotten; I was bent on doing exactly the opposite. They said we shouldn't go past the 2,000rpm mark? I swore I'd rev the engine until it screamed all the way to its redline.
When we left the gas station, I was confident we would succeed in managing just six kilometers to a liter.
What? Us? Newbies?
After literally racing the Civic along South Luzon Expressway all the way to Carmona via the Southwoods exit, we gave the Civic time to catch its breath. Jaykee, Dinzo and I—all of whom could pass for sumo wrestlers of various sizes—dropped by the race circuit to root for the Top Gear team during the season-opener of the 2006 Honda Media Challenge.
Making up the TG team are semi-veteran Ferman Lao (our technical editor starting this issue) and newbies Drew Asuncion (associate editor), Joel Paz (art director) and Carmela Ortiz (editorial assistant). Because three of our drivers are first-time Honda Media Challenge participants, the organizers have put us in the Novice category. There are two categories this year, the other being the Expert, which includes perennial title contenders Manila Bulletin and Philippine Star. The bantam Jazz is still used in this year's competition, just like last year.
When it was all over, we topped the Novice class by 10 seconds. In fact, the TG team time of three minutes and 12.16 seconds was good enough for fourth place in the Expert division, narrowly missing the third spot by a mere half second. Ferman registered a blistering time of 1:02.12, an impressive fourth among the veterans. Meanwhile, Joel was the best novice driver with a time of 1:04.53, closely followed by Carmela with 1:05.51. Carmela even beat a lot of veteran male drivers. As for Drew, he was five seconds off Carmela's time. Five seconds. We're enrolling him in a driving school before the next round.
Wasting more fuel
After watching our team take the top podium spot in the Novice class of the Honda Media Chal-lenge, we drove to Tagaytay via Santa Rosa to check out the gimik scene there and then finally spend the night at a local roadside inn. We hadn't been to Tagaytay in a while and we were pleasantly surprised to find rows upon rows of bustling bars and restaurants. The breezy city—some 60 kilometers from Makati—is now a popular destination point among Metro Manila residents who want to get away from it all but don't have the time to travel to, say, Baguio.
Even with a dizzying hunger, we resisted the temptation to settle for an average restaurant. And so we decided to survey the vicinity first. Dinzo took the wheel and stepped on it like he was racing for a one-pound burger patty. There goes some more fuel, I thought. Good.
We stopped only after unani-mously agreeing on the restaurant, which, in this case, was The Grill.
It is owned and operated by Anto-nio's, the fine-dining restaurant equally notorious for its exclusivity as it is for its excellent food. The Grill's sinigang na salmon sa miso and barbecue spare ribs are the kind of treats that can make city people rue their never-ending trips to McDonald's. It's amazing, too, how a mere one-hour trip outside of Metro Manila can make life so much better.
In the morning, we continued our fuel-wasting activity by moto-ring back to Manila with the ur-gency of a Formula One driver.
We only made a stopover at Paseo de Santa Rosa for breakfast. Check out the sporting-goods stores in this complex, particularly those of Adidas and Nike, where they regularly sell discounted items straight from the warehouses. I was able to purchase a hip pair of sneakers for just P1,200.
We resumed our juvenile racing on our way to Total's station at Filinvest, Alabang. Truth be told,
I couldn't wait to refill our fuel tank and prove Honda and a couple of colleagues (who claimed to have achieved almost 12 kilometers to a liter in the Civic) wrong. Our trip meter said we had driven a modest 150 kilometers. The fuel pump, meanwhile, stopped injecting fuel at the 15.72-liter mark. That meant we averaged 9.54 kilometers to a liter. Dang! Impressive, isn't it? We overloaded the car (see my passengers); we drove like maniacs; we even used the air-conditioning at full blast. Imagine the result if we had behaved like normal, adult motorists.
If you're a driver who suffers from a heavy foot, the Civic is the car for you. It seems there is nothing you can do to make it guzzle fuel.
Post your opinion in our Top Gear Forum!
Top Gear Philippines - November 2006
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