Nissan's CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) has continued to prove its economy capabilities in an independent fuel consumption test under taken by the Automobile Association.

A Wingroad station wagon with a driver and passenger averaged 6.4 litres/100 kilometres or 43.99 miles per gallon for a 424 km trip from Manukau around the Coromandel Peninsula and return.

The Wingroad, which has a fuel, injected 1.8 litres four cylinder motor used 91 octane fuel and was filled up at the start and end of the journey at the same fuel pump.

Standard tyre pressures were used and the fuel consuming air conditioning was also in constant use.

No competitive economy rally techniques were employed, such as switching off the air conditioning, running ultra high tyre pressures or coasting down hills in neutral gear.

In fact the drivers took the lazy option with the transmission, selecting Drive at the start of the journey although they did have the option of using the six speed manual mode.

The economy test demonstrated the advantages of the CVT gearbox, which keeps the engine revs as low as possible when the accelerator is being used lightly. At 100 km/h, the engine is ticking over at just 2000 rpm, minimising the use of petrol.

The Wingroad's performance compares more than favourably with the economy of conventional 1.8 litre automatics on the recent Energy wise Rally.

That four day event is run predominantly over more economy friendly main roads with a high proportion of easy cruising.

The Wingroad covered a lap of the Coromandel Peninsula where more than half the route was over a winding, hilly route, where maintaining momentum and using very light throttle openings was not always possible.
From Manukau City the route headed south on the motorway and then across Highway 2 through Maramarua and across the Hauraki Plains to Paeroa and onto Waihi.

Then the route headed north negotiating several twisty climbs around the Coromandel Peninsula, through Whangamata and Tairua to Whitianga.

Then it was across the Kuaotunu and Whangapoua hills to Coromandel before heading south down the coast to Thames over two more major climbs near Mania.

The last section of the route was back across the Hauraki Plains and onto Highway 2 back through Maramarua to Pokeno, over the Bombay Hills and back down the motorway to Manukau.

"Nissan has tested the Wingroad with high octane fuel," said Peter Merrie of Nissan New Zealand.

"But we did the official test with 91 octane because we know that is the fuel many people use to save money at the petrol pumps."

Nissan's own testing has shown the use of 95 octane or higher will reduce fuel consumption by about three percent over 91 octane.