This got me thinking, if that is the case, any variant of car, having the least number of features, should ideally be the lightest of all the variants.
BHPian JoseTheScorpion recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
When it comes to fuel efficiency tests, the biggest factor in most cases is weight. The more the weight the more fuel would be needed to haul your vehicle across. This got me thinking, if that is the case, any variant of car, having the least number of features, should ideally be the lightest of all the variants. Therefore, it should definitely help in increasing the fuel efficiency.
So for example, let’s take a particular vehicle – SCORPIO-N. It comes in 6 variants which are shown below
Z2
Z4
Z6
Z8 Select
Z8
Z8 Luxury
Let’s remove the models in the middle and just compare the base and the top model
So here are the features in Z8L which are not in Z2
So, an approximate total of 151 kgs, is a huge load to be carried everywhere all the time. Possibly, if we calculate the weight of the extra materials, used for fitting all this, like, wires, fuse, screws, tape, clips…etc, the weight might even cross 160kgs, which is equivalent to 2 healthy men.
Well, I don’t know about you, but I like to drive alone, in peace and surely without the 2 healthy men around .
Hope this curious mind of mine, has brought up some doubts in yours, if yes, please feel free to share your views.
Here’s what GTO had to say in this matter:
Agreed with the points laid in the first 2 posts, but it would barely make a difference of 0.5 – 1 kmpl (max) to the overall FE. As someone who anyway doesn’t care about FE, please give me all the nice & enjoyable features instead of 0.5 kmpl more.
Meanwhile here’s what BHPian bijims shared with others:
Although the weight does matter in fuel efficiency most of us don’t even consider the same in a buying decision as the results are quite negligible, if one wants a higher variant for the features, one would go for it regardless of the negligible loss in fuel efficiency.
Moreover, in most models, the base variants have a differently tuned engine with lower power and torque as compared to the top-end variants and these also factor in the buying decision sometimes when all these add up, the fuel efficiency of the top-end models can even eclipse the base variants.
For example, in the Brezza, the base variants lost the Smart Hybrid functionality for a while making them less fuel efficient as compared to the top-end, so there are a multitude of factors apart from weight in considering fuel efficiency or a buying decision, but certainly yes, weight does matter for that small 0.5 to 1 km/l increase in efficiency.
Meanwhile here’s BHPian Dr.AD reply in this matter:
It is obvious that more weight will have some effect on Fuel Economy (FE), but the rest of the points are not necessarily true.
This is not all necessarily true. Many of the features you listed are software features (like driving modes, Adrenox Connect, Alexa built-in etc) or hardware features requiring very tiny sensors that would add negligible wights (e.g. Auto-dimming rear view mirror or TPMS).
Further, some of the features that add real weight (like the 4×4 system you mentioned) fundamentally change the behavior of the car and hence the FE is no more an apples to apples comparison.
In short, the base variant and top variant might have different FE for a variety of reasons, and weight might be only a minor factor in it. Keeping aside the special features like 4×4, in most other vehicles, the weights of the top variants and base variants will not be that different to cause a noticeable change in FE.
As already pointed out above, it is also very likely that top variant also has a better tuned engine, maybe even a better tuned gearbox, and as a result, even higher FE than the base variant! And in cases of some expensive and exotic cars, the top variants might even have carbon fiber panels reducing the weight!
Thus, it depends on so many factors and any generalization will not be accurate!
Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
