I love driving, it’s one of the things a man can and should do once he is old and competent enough to. Sure, being chauffeured around may be ideal given the traffic and parking situation oftentimes but there is still nothing else like the sound of the throttle and that initial rush when you hit 60 after rapid heartbeats. Imagine my delight when Mazda invited myself along with my Geeky Nights crew to test out the new SkyActiv engines on their new Mazda 6s and CX5s!
The newly redesigned engines on the vehicles our group tested allows the driver to drive spiritedly while at the same time being very efficient in fuel consumption! I know, I know, those two don’t ever go together! And yet… while I was listening to the presentation pre-race I found myself nodding and getting these little eureka moments whenever I heard “higher compression” and “better fuel burn” I believe it’s a great alternative to hybrid or electric cars in terms of overall maintenance costs and convenience.
On to the race! We embarked on our journey to test out how these new cars would fare out on the busy streets of Metro Manila first, then the much awaited highway drive which was obviously the favourite of all the different teams that joined. Let me remind everyone that there was no hypermiling here, it’ was a straight up driving with the radio and A/C on (okay, maybe just until 20degrees which was even chilly for the occupants in the back) not to mention driving with gusto!
While driving, I was surprised when all of a sudden when approaching one of Metro Manila’s numerous stoplights I thought I had lost hearing for a second because all of a sudden I couldn’t hear the engine or the aircon anymore! Enter the iStop! Apparently the car senses you don’t need the engine for and switches it off! I know, it sounds a little unorthodox but the thinking behind it is that the iStop activates you are no longer using any fuel at all. It’s a smart little system which has all sorts of safety features and intricacies so you don’t even need to mess about with controls or buttons to have it work for you. It’s best used for light to moderate traffic and when the outside temperature isn’t sweltering.
i-eLoop is also a neat feature of the new cars, it’s essentially a power bank like that for your cellphone but this one charges up when you step on the brakes or when vehicle slows down naturally. It then powers all the electronics in the car so your engine is used for it’s original purpose -to burn fuel and output power to your four wheels!
Convoy of red, white and gray! Everyone was really toe to toe in terms of race pace and were really pushing for the most efficient run! The highway part of the route was definitely my favorite as I got to see all the cars in their element.
Weather was perfect, good enough to check oneself with their sidemirror! The cars had this effect on most of the teams, instapogi ika nga.
Our team drove with the aircon set to an extremely comfortable setting, as well as doing what all responsible males do on the highway (overtaking when able) let’s just wait and see if the results for our fuel efficiency come out good or bad!
What a beaut! Stay tuned for more!
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