This wasn't a real-world test. Here in the Okanagan we have no lightly-traveled secondary highways with level grades and nice, wide shoulders. The huge volume of summer traffic causes traffic jams that often stretch for miles on the major highways - no cruise control here - and days when you can drive without A/C are few and far between. The summer heat also means the air is less dense which has a negative effect on fuel economy.
In the last week we made a couple of trips to Grand Forks from Vernon, about 500kms return. One trip involved night driving in the rain which meant cooler temperatures and only some very intermittent A/C use to keep the windows from fogging. Our average speed was lower, 90 - 100kph where during a clear day it would be more like 110 -120kph depending on the flow of traffic. The road itself is in reasonably good condition but has lots of steep grades and sharp switchbacks which combined with heavy truck traffic can slow progress to a crawl. The Versa (A/T) gave us 16.9kms per liter or 845kms (525 miles) on a 50L (11 gal.imp.) tank. That's 5.9L/100 kms or roughly 48 MPG, which is pretty damned good.
On the next trip conditions were totally different. It was hot for one thing, up to 32C which meant the A/C was on for the whole trip, and our average speed had to be higher just to stay with the flow of traffic. (If you've ever driven that road, you know why you DON'T want to be a roadblock
) That time we got 14.7kms per liter or 735 kms (457 miles) on a 50L (11 gal.imp) tank, or 6.8L/100 kms, about 41 MPG. Still good, but a notable difference.
Given the same conditions as the Challenge I think the Versa would've been close to the top in the rankings , but that NEVER happens here.
