In February 2015, Volkswagen Philippines took eighteen (18) media members to Magalang in Pampanga for the 3rd leg of ECO FUN RUN, a fuel economy test for the Turbocharged Direct Injection (TDI) engine technology. The event was in cooperation with Pilipinas Shell Petroleum.

Heading northward via EDSA and NLEX to Abe’s Farm at the foot of Mt. Arayat, the convoy of three  Tiguan SUVs, three Touran MPVs and three Polo sedans driven by the media travelled some 146 kilometers.  At the end of the trip, each car’s fuel consumption was computed and compared to determine the best drivers of the exercise.

Previous legs of the Eco Fun Run were held in October and November 2014 taking the participants to the scenic Cintai by Corito’s Garden in Lipa City.  In each leg, the cars were driven by different sets of media members to avoid familiarity of the vehicles as well as to obtain results from varying driving styles.

There were 3 competing teams in each category (Polo, Touran and Tiguan).  The pair of Wee Gamboa and Raul Promeda of Motoring Today / Auto Focus won the Polo category posting 26.54 kilometers per liter with their manual shift Polo sedan powered by 1.6 liter TDI engine and Shell V-Power Nitro + diesel.  The duo of Steven Yu and Jerel Fajardo of Malaya / C! Magazine took the lead in the Touran category registering 22.85 kilometers per liter from their 2.0-liter TDI Touran with DSG transmission.  Brent Co and Martin Aguilar of autoindustriya.com bested the other Tiguan drivers recording 17.86 kilometers per liter from the automatic 2.0-liter TDI Tiguan.

The event and results were observed and verified by Mark Ponce of Clean Air Asia, a non-government organization committed to promote better air quality management.

Similar to the results posted during the first and second legs of Eco Fun Run, Volkswagen Philippines has proven once more that fuel efficiency is a key development priority of every Volkswagen model. Whether it’s the TDI for diesel or the TSI for gasoline, they all represent Volkswagen Philippines’ continued commitment to building vehicles that exceed both customer and government demands for ever-higher fuel economy and performance.

Volkswagen Eco Fun Run will culminate this summer in a “Battle of Champions” where the three winners of the third leg will go head to head with the first and second leg champs.