Oil-burner lights up fishing trip

By CAMERON WILLIAMSON

Economy, economy, economy. The catchcry of the modern real estate agent could lend its meter to the modern motorist.

We love our luxuries, we've dabbled with performance and roadholding and compromised for space and comfort. But in these straitened times when most of us are spending more travelling time at the open road speed limit, it's the three ees we love.

Heading south from Auckland recently at the wheel of Citroen's Xsara 2.0 HDi, I got bored waiting for the fuel gauge to start falling. But there was plenty else to keep me interested.

The compact Xsara is powered by a 1997cc eight-valve four-cylinder direct-injection common-rail diesel powerplant - which would be quite a mouthful if it didn't perform with unfussy efficiency.

And so down the the main highway towards Taupo, patiently waiting for the horrendous Auckland traffic to thin enough to stretch its legs, the $35,990 Xsara amused and impressed me with its well assimilated Gallic charm.

The things that impressed were all Citroen traits: the ride, suspension balance and handling, upright driving position and organically shaped dash rekindled memories of earlier models; the modern stuff was a bonus - twin airbags, air con, endlessly adjustable seats, lounge-capable sound with controls within a thumb-flick of the adjustablle steering wheel, good forward and side visibility, excellent storage and well thought-out pockets.

Despite a stop in Hamilton and some French-accented passing manoeuvres through the passing lanes of Karapiro and the Pataruru-Tokoroa straights, the damn gauge wouldn't get any closer to the floor. I was dying to fill 'er up and calculate the mileage, but before I knew it, we were in Kinloch and fish needed catching.

The Xsara had travelled 439km, 150km in town, and indicated it had used little more than half its 54-litre tank On the return journey, though not especially laden with trout, I loaded the Xsara with a couple of beefy Waikato farmers in an attempt to use up more diesel.

We even took the back route through Mangakino and Kihikihi and kept the cricket turned down in case we could hear fuel being used. But it took until Mercer before I had made space for a decent fuel up.

"You sure you want diesel?" asked the pump attendant, expecting a higher-octane appetite for the smart little car. He poured in 43.2 litres at 67.5 cents per litre which cost $29.16. That was the fuel cost of travelling 684km.

To save your calculator, that's 6.3 litres/ 100km - more like the published figure of 6.9 litres / 100km for city driving than the 4.3 litres / 100km "extra urban" figure, but respectable nonetheless.