Honda Challenge Cup 2009: "Drive Every Drop" - Part 1

Yesterday, one parking lot in Bonifacio High Street was filled with Honda cars as "Drive Every Drop", the Honda Challenge Cup 2009 kicked off at Pancake House organized by Honda Cars Philippines, Inc.. Twenty-four participants, twelve from the media (print, TV, radio and online media) and twelve members of Honda Club Philippines (www.hondaclub.com.ph) registered before having breakfast and a member from media was teamed up with a member of Honda Club Philippines to make twelve teams under six categories - Honda City 1.3 A/T (where me and my team mate Julius Valdoz joined), Honda City 1.5 A/T, Honda Jazz 1.3 A/T, Honda Civic 1.8 A/T, Honda CR-V 2.0 MT and Honda Accord 3.5 A/T.

Honda cars reach EURO-4 level of the European Emission Standards

The purpose of the Honda Challenge Cup 2009 "Drive Every Drop" event was to showcase the cars of Honda which have all reached EURO-4 level of the European Emission Standards even as Philippine regulations require vehicles to reach at least EURO-2 level. The new cars of Honda are all above-average when it comes to their emission - meaning, they are clean and do not contribute to pollution.

So, after the registration and the breakfast, we, the participants headed to the parking lot to find the car assigned to our team. We were randomly assigned to drive a Honda City 1.3 A/T. We had with us an event manual and a road book. Before leaving the parking lot, representatives from the Automobile Association of the Philippines set our odometer to zero (0) and we drove off to Petron C5 (Diego Silang). The Honda Cup Challenge 2009 "Drive Every Drop" is an eco-run to see which team in each category and over-all is the most fuel-efficient team.

The eco-run is composed of two legs, the first of which was the city driving leg which started at Petron C5 (Diego Silang) and ended at Petron NLEX (Marilao). In the city run, we were tasked to drive a Honda car from the starting point, through the busy streets or the Makati central business district along Ayala Avenue, right to Sen. Gil Puyat Ave. (Buendia) going to EDSA to NLEX. The speed limit provided for city driving was from 30-60 kilometers per hour and we must get to the destination within two (2) hours or we will be penalized an additional half (1/2) liter of gasoline for every 5 minutes in excess.

"Drive Every Drop" Honda Challenge Cup 2009 - City Driving Leg

In the Drive Every Drop eco-run, they used the full-tank-full-tank system so representatives from the Department of Energy's (DOE) Renewable Energy Bureau supervised the filling of each Honda car as they were given a full tank of Petron XCS each, the odometer readings set to zero (0). The airconditioning of each vehicle was turned on and selected settings were fixed and sealed together with the hood and compartment of each vehicle.

I drove our Honda City 1.3 A/T for the city driving leg and got to our destination in one hour and forty-five (1:45) minutes for a distance of 38.8 kilometers (based on the odometer reading) and consumed 2.31 liters of gasoline which for a fuel consumption of 16.8 kilometers per liter under normal city driving conditions. Experiencing doing an eco-run for the first time, I was so excited and was surprised that I was the most fuel efficient driver among twelve participants with the next team having a fuel consumption of 16.47 kilometers per liter for their Honda City 1.5 A/T. I'll be posting the second leg and final results of the Drive Every Drop event or the Honda Challenge Cup 2009 Part 2 in another entry, the second part.