The task at hand was to drive the 122 bhp A3 Sedan to KL and back on just one tank – the end was an interesting twist though…

Photos courtesy of Audi Singapore

 

Mention the two words “economy challenge” and it would instantly send shivers down any enthusiastic driver. But let’s just say for this once, I took up the challenge with an open mind, after getting the shortest straw in the office’s “lucky draw” one fine day after lunch.

Day 1

There I was at the Audi Centre, with the inglorious task of having to endure the next few hours driving at the pace… of… grandpa. I already had the sequence of events running in my mind as I signed my life away (by signing some forms, I hereby confirmed when the inevitable happens, I will instantly be the proud owner of an A3 Sedan); I should know because a decade ago - sponsored by a petrol company and a car distributor - I had attempted the same, travelling almost 1,400 km on a single tank of petrol. While it sounded like a major achievement (indeed it was for myself and the sponsors), the process of getting there was long. And agonizing.

Each car, two similar A3 Sedan 1.4 TFSI, had a pair of drivers, meaning each will get to drive half of the 350-odd kilometres fairly.

After some briefing and data taking, plus (a) filling the boot of SKM 3477 P with luggage bags and (b) the backseat with a cooler box filled with ice-cold bottled coffee (including chewy gummy bears, yum… yum), we were off towards the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

On the first leg, another journalist voluntarily drove SKM 3477 P with me in the passenger seat. It was obvious he was taking this challenge rather seriously; the car was set to ‘Eco’, his foot on the throttle was probably lighter than air, and speed was maintained between 80 - 90 km/h.

Past the Gelang Patah toll, speed was increased to between 90 – 100km/h; sound like an arduous task maintaining this speed and anticipating other traffic around. It does not help when big lorries and smaller motorcycles zoom past on your right. The said journalist even drafted behind lorries in an attempt to use less fuel – but it does not take long before most of the lorries sped away. Which then led to a change of strategy: the air-con blowing at the slowest speed and temperature set at 24 degrees celcius… While maintaining 90km/h.

And it obviously worked, as at our rest/change of driver point, the car’s trip computer read 16.8 km/L. Although still far from Audi’s claimed 20 km/L, considering the other factors (particularly the part of two heavyweight drivers) in this particular challenge, those digits were certainly impressive.

However when it came my turn to drive, things changed. While I attempted to drive in Eco mode for roughly 10 kilometers or so, the straight and open road was too tempting. Next I knew, SKM 3477 P was driven in Dynamic, gears were shifted via the paddle-shifter and the fastest lane was where I stayed until the Sungai Besi toll.

The A3 Sedan definitely showed a different side: the turbocharged 1.4-litre engine was alive with vigour, and the 7-speed S-tronic, when left to run on it’s own, worked together perfectly to ensure high-speed cruises remain seamless. Audi rated 122 bhp and 200 Nm, but based on butt-feel, it has more than that – probably 140-odd bhp and 220-odd worth of torque instead. It shook several tail-gaters off it’s back, while the surprisingly agile chassis allowed high-speed lane changes to be executed without much drama.

Also, the steering was positive and provided enough feedback, so you know where the front two rubbers were headed. Oh, and the anchors did a brilliant job of shedding speed.

SKM 3477 P arrived finally arrived at Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur, not before enduring some peak-hour traffic though. Average fuel consumption at this point: 14.6 km/L. Nubbad…

Day 2

Seeing how close we were to all the actions of Audi’s R8 LMS Cup, we drove over to the Sepang F1 Circuit to get first-hand experience.

The highly competitive Audi R8 LMS Cup ended with André Couto the biggest winner with two podium finishes in Rounds 5 and 6. After the Malaysia race weekend, Alex Yoong leads the overall championship standings with 84 points while Rahel Frey (82 points) and “Franky” Cheng Congfu (79 points) have made significant strides to reduce the gap.

In the amateur competition, Steven Lin notched up a victory in Round 5, ahead of Massimo Vignali, who was making his 2014 debut, and local Malaysian hopeful Ashraff Dewal. In Round 6, Lin secured another victory, making it five wins on the trot to extend his lead at the top of the amateur standings. Dewal had to retire in the first lap on Sunday, giving Lin an easy path to victory. Lin currently leads the amateur championship with 142 points, ahead of Dewal (88 points) and Jacky Yeung (75 points).

It was also announced that Abu Dhabi would be the location for the 2014 season finale. Rounds 11 and 12 will conclude the sprint race series this year at the Yas Marina Circuit on December 12 to 13, alongside the Gulf 12 Hours race. The Abu Dhabi stop replaces the previously planned support races for the German Touring Car Championship (DTM) in South China’s Guangzhou that were scheduled to take place on September 27-28.

Day 3

After the successful end to the weekend’s race, it was time to head back to Singapore. The route home was a slightly different one though; we took the B-road from the Sepang F1 Circuit through the town of Nilai, before rejoining the North-South Highway.

Left in Auto, the A3 Sedan was quite the cracker, filling in gaps and keeping up with traffic on the fastest lane. Roughly about 20-odd kilometers away from the Gelang Patah R & R (our final gathering point) however, the fuel warning light alert came on, followed by a prompt on the screen (photo above). Good job Geoffrey, and thank you – but we could still manage.

In Eco mode we trust, and this pair finally arrived – albeit crawling at about 80 km/h with air-con off and front windows slightly opened – at the last Petronas petrol station in Gelang Patah R & R. Average fuel consumption for this leg: 12.8 km/L. Which also meant we lost to the other car, that was driven in extreme-eco-mode (average 90-100 km/h, drafting behind heavy vehicles, no air-con with front windows barely opened). Also unsurprisingly, their fuel consumption averaged closer to manufacturer’s figures, with almost half a tank of petrol still available.

At the end of this little ‘expedition’, perhaps the give away is how genuinely multi-talented the Audi A3 Sedan 1.4 TFSI is – Auto, Eco or Dynamic, it could get you from Singapore to KL and then back on just one full tank of petrol. Outstandingly, it performed much better than expected on the open road…