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S. Muralidhar

I AM planning to buy a car in the Rs 6-7.5 lakh range. I took both the Ford Fusion and the new Honda City for test drives and am now thoroughly confused? I liked the Ford Fusion more than the City. Will it be a better choice?

The Fusion has more power compared to the City. The drive experience was also better and I felt more comfortable in the Fusion. Ford's dealer tells me that the Fusion will be able to offer a mileage of 12 kmpl in city driving conditions and 14 kmpl on the highway. Any number less than that will be a minus for me.

Arvind Garg

The new Honda City is extremely focused on fuel efficiency, practicality and premium quality finish both inside and outside. Unlike the earlier version of the Honda City, the new one has not been built to offer peppy performance. The new City will beat the Fusion on build and material quality, especially in the interiors. On the practicality and driveability parameters, the cars will be on a par.

The new City's engine has been tuned and loaded with technology to be able to offer fuel efficiency that is much higher than its rivals in this segment. So, a mileage of 11-13 kmpl in city driving conditions should be realistic and possible. On the highway that figure could go all the way up to 16 kmpl. The other advantages with the City are also the massive boot and better rear seat comfort.

Though it will fail to appeal to the entry-level sedan buyer, the Fusion will be able to offer more features than the similar priced, lower trim variant of the new City.

Yet, the only time that we would recommend you to overlook the new City and consider the Fusion in that price range would be if you are particular about a spacious two-box for its inherent advantage of a compact. In the long run, the Fusion will be able to offer a mileage of 10 kmpl in city and about 13 kmpl on the highway.

I want to purchase a new two-wheeler and confused on the bike to choose. From amongst the Bajaj Pulsar 150 DTS-i, Bajaj Discover, TVS Victor GLX 125 and the Hero Honda Super Splendor, which will be the better choice? I am interested in a bike that offers a good combination on parameters such as fuel consumption, maintenance costs, driving comfort in both city and on highways, performance and resale value. Also let me know the pros and cons of each of the above vehicles.

M. Venkatesh

We hope a number of your questions would have been answered in the accompanying article (Autofocus) that compares the 125c bikes currently available in the market. The Bajaj Pulsar is in a different segment and so may not be exactly comparable to the others in the list and the pricing for this bike would also be higher. So, unless you are keen on buying a performance-focused bike that is currently the best seller in the 150cc segment, the Pulsar may be given the go by.

From among the other three 125cc bikes, the Bajaj Discover has come out on top, along with the Yamaha Fazer, in our rankings list. So, the choice is fairly obvious.

We will recommend the TVS Victor GLX 125 only if personal tastes and a slightly exaggerated upright position in the Discover make it your second choice. Currently available data regarding resale values for these bikes may not be as yet reliable, as they are still new in the market.

You may want to include the Yamaha Fazer to the list, if relatively lower fuel efficiency and the prospect of a lower resale value are not too worrisome for you.

I have a 13-month old Maruti 800 that has done 4000 km. What are the factors that affect the fuel efficiency of the car? How do factors such as payload, tyre pressure, speed, use of air-conditioner, closed or open windows and type of fuel (plain unleaded or extra premium, for example) affect the car's mileage? What are the conditions under which the Maruti 800 will give the best mileage?

Rupam Sur

You have already listed quite a few of the most obvious and a few of the subtle factors that affect the fuel efficiency of most cars. The only aspects missing that also go on to pull down fuel efficiency include relative weight of the car, size of the engine and power steering, which tends to be parasitical on the engine.

Of the factors that you have listed, the drag on the engine from the use of an air-conditioner, the payload or number of passengers and the speed of travel are the more apparent reasons why fuel efficiency is affected. The higher the payload and the higher the usage of the air-conditioner, the lower the mileage. Fuel efficiency also takes a hit both at very low and very high speeds.

Of course, the other factor that combines with speed is the gear at which the car is driven most in. Longer distances in lower gears will bring down the mileage. The best fuel efficiency can be obtained from the car if long distances can be covered while in the overdrive gear (4th or 5th) and speed can be constantly maintained between 40 and 70 kmpl depending on the vehicle. This is the simple reason why we tend to get more mileage on the highway.

The subtler factors from your list include tyre pressure which, if low, can marginally affect fuel economy. Lower or higher tyre pressure does additional damage in the form of uneven tyre wear.

The other factors that subtly affect mileage are open windows, which tend to increase wind resistance thereby posing an additional burden on the engine's performance, and the type of fuel used. Premium quality fuel such as IOC's Extra Premium, BPCL's Speed and HPCL's Power are regular BS III quality unleaded petrol. These are mixed with additives which help boost performance and simultaneously clean the engine. They will also help improve fuel efficiency marginally.

The best mileage can be obtained if a combination of all these parameters is considered, leaving out, of course, the ones you may not be able to compromise on.

(Queries may be sent to: q&a@thehindu.co.in or by post to Q&A, Business Line, 859/860, Kasturi Buildings, Anna Salai, Chennai - 600 002.)

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