308 Pug gets 2.84 l/100 - on petrol!

Standard production Peugeot 1.2 turbopetrol lapped Almeria for 32 hours before its 51.4 litres tank ran dry.

Standard production Peugeot 1.2 turbopetrol lapped Almeria for 32 hours before its 51.4 litres tank ran dry.

Published Mar 19, 2014

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Paris, France - Peugeot's newly-crowned European Car of the Year has just set a new record for fuel consumption and distance driven on a single tank of petrol.

To be specific, a Peugeot 308 hatch with the newly-launched 96kW PureTech 1.2-litre e-THP 130 turbopetrol and six-speed manual gearbox returned an extraordinary 2.8397 litres per 100km.

A team of (very patient) featherfooted drivers trundled the standard production 308 around the Almeria circuit in Spain practically nonstop (other than driver changes) for more than 32 mind-numbing hours, before its sealed 51.4-litre fuel tank ran dry after 1810.029km, under the watchful eye of officials from the Union Technique de l'Automobile, Motocycle et Cycle.

SUPERHUMAN CONCENTRATION

That's an average speed of 51.4km/h, for almost a day and a half, at the smallest possible throttle opening all the time; the sustained concentration required must have been almost superhuman.

But it got them an officially-recognised record for the lowest fuel consumption by a standard-production petrol-driven five-seater hatch and the furthest distance on a tank of fuel.

To put their achievement in perspective, the same model recorded 4.63 litres per 100km in the much-maligned combined cycle.

NUTS AND BOLTS

The new engine is a compact three-cylinder design running very high pressure (200 bar!) direct fuel-injection, and a tiny new-generation turbocharger spinning at up to 240 000rpm - in a car that Peugeot claims is the smallest and lightest in its segment.

The new 308 is also available with an 88kW BlueHDi 1.6-litre turbodiesel, rated at 3.12 litres per 100km diesel engine with 120bhp and a Combined Drive Cycle fuel economy.

The Peugeot 308 is available - in Europe - with a choice of five petrol (60 to 115kWp) and five diesel engines (68 to 110kW). The 308 is expected to reach SA within the next year.

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