We love the Nissan Almera here at the WapCar office though it is a shame that the previous generation’s faults cast a shadow that hangs behind what is one of the most comfortable B-segment sedan models in the market.

It is also quite an efficient car as seen in our reviews but Nissan wanted to prove it in the real world too. So over the weekend, it invited 20 Almera owners and 10 media teams to take part in the 2024 Nissan Almera Lightfoot Challenge.

The challenge was to see which team could record the best average fuel economy on a 203 km route that began at the Edaran Tan Chong Motor’s (ETCM) Nissan 3S Flagship Store in Petaling Jaya and ended in Ipoh, Perak. Everyone was also given a time limit to reach the destination within 2 hours and 45 minutes so one shouldn’t resort to being extremely slow and steady.

While the Almera owners arrived in various variants that were in stock and original form, the media was presented with a mid-spec Almera VLP with the optional Tomei body kit. There were a couple of units fitted with the Black (Kuro) Edition Package that came with the Tomei GT Wing but aside from that, everything was fair game.

Every single Almera had their fuel filled to the brim by the organisers and had the tyre pressure adjusted to the recommended manufacturer’s figures. The fuel filler caps were also sealed shut but there were extra anti-tampering measures once we got into our respective Almeras.

The air-conditioning controls were sealed behind a white box with every single participating cars had the A/C set to 19 degrees with a fan speed of 3. While this was a kind measure from the organisers just in case the weather during our journey got too hot, our journey was mostly cloudy and fairly cool.

With our bodies freezing, we left PJ at around 9.45 am. One of the rules stipulates that we can’t switch drivers so my WapCar BM colleague, Faisal took the wheel as the designated driver. Seeing how we performed in the end, it was a great decision and frankly, I do not call myself a light-footed driver.

So, how did we manage to achieve an average of 27.15 km/L or 3.68 L/100 km? Well, you need a Faisal to be the designated…

All jokes aside, achieving good fuel economy is about balancing the throttle and patience. Traffic was not too heavy going up north so most of the participants arrived well below the 2-hour 45-minute mark. Our team arrived at the BHPetrol station in Taman Botani, Ipoh around 12 pm.

The team with the overall best fuel consumption belonged to an Almera owner who averaged around 28.61 km/L. When asked how he managed to achieve a remarkable result, his tip was to maintain the revs around 2,000 rpm.

Before we started our journey, both Faisal and I looked up tips to prepare ourselves for the challenge. Here are some of the famous hypermiling advice that we DO NOT recommend when taking part in fuel efficiency challenges:

• Taking out the spare tyre to reduce weight
• Closing the side mirrors to improve aerodynamics
• Shifting to neutral (N) gear when coasting downhill
• Drafting behind a large vehicle like a bus or a truck

All these “tips” are dangerous and we have encountered a couple of owners who did the last action of tailing behind a trailer. The view up ahead is entirely blocked by the truck and getting too close can result in a major accident.

That said, from our experience (or at least Faisal’s standpoint behind the wheel), here are 8 recommendations on how you can gain that extra savings in fuel:

1. Ensure the windows are fully closed – because open windows will disrupt air from flowing smoothly over and around the vehicle
    
2. Set the AC temperature at its most energy-efficient – We couldn’t adjust this during our challenge but an optimum level would be 25 degrees regardless of fan speed
    
3. Turning off the engine while stationary as long as the cabin isn’t too warm – Vehicles with stop-start can help with this but as a general rule of thumb, if more than 5 minutes of idling
    
4. Observe the throttle behaviour in correlation with the rpm and get accustomed to driving at low rpm in the highest possible gear (for manual transmission cars)
    
5. Be gentle with the throttle and braking, and avoid sudden hard stops/accelerations
    
6. Try to maintain your rpm levels below 2,000 or 2,500 rpm (the sweet fuel-saving spot for a majority of vehicles)
    
7. Avoid switching to Sport mode or unnecessary overtakes
    
8. Only overtake on flat/downhill stretches, too much sudden braking or deceleration can severely affect the fuel consumption

By following these 8 tips, we managed to return a fuel efficiency average reading that is even lower than Nissan’s claimed figure (18.4 km/L or 5.4 L/100 km). Granted, we were moving well within the highway speed limit of 110 km/h and mostly stayed on the left lane of the highway.

That said, why not give these 8 tips a try with your ride? Who knows if you can be as efficient as our team? With targeted subsidies for RON 95 petrol rumoured to be on the horizon, these tips might even save you from constantly stopping at fuel pumps.