Upgraded from a Creta petrol to the XUV 700 diesel: Mileage compared

Last but not least, keeping the MSIL flag high as usual, my WagonR 1.2 ZXi+ AGS showed me 26 kmpl over the same 50km stretch.

BHPian anu007 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

I recently upgraded from my Creta 1.6 SX AT Petrol to XUV700 AX7 D AT 7 Seater.

And frankly speaking, I am surprised to find leaps and bounds difference in FE.

Following are the figures in the Creta (without trying the tank full to tankful method, which while checked, always comes around 1.5 - 1.6 kmpl less that the MID), in 3 different conditions I tried, always using manual shifting mode as I feel I get around 10%-15% more efficiency if I put the gear lever in 'M' :

1. 4 Lane highway with minimal traffic, ACC on, cruising at 6th gear at 70kmps, minimal downshift and braking, i.e. with a very sedate driving : The mid topped out at 20.6 kmpl momentarily and settled at around 19.8 kmpl over a 50 km stretch.

2. 2 Lane highway with moderate traffic, moderate downshifting and braking, 4 busy township on the way, AC on, cruise control on wherever I get the chance, mostly at 6th gear at 70kmph (my default speed) or 5th gear at 47-57 kmph, with mildly spirited driving with a few necessary overtaking maneuvers: 14.5 kmpl over a 115 km stretch.

3. City driving, 60% bumper to bumper traffic, 70% in 2nd and 3rd gear (10 - 26 kmph), parking at Malls, sometimes stopping for 2-3 seconds and the rest at 4th gear at around 26-36 kmph : did not measured the exact figure either with MID or TF to TF method. But going by the decrease in average reported by MID in just about 7-8 kms of driving after completing the above mentioned 115 kms home bound stretch, FE at such city condition is an abysmal 4 kmpl approx.

Coming to the XUV700, the first 2 conditions are almost similar but finding is very different as mentioned below:

1. 4 Lane highway with minimal traffic, ACC on, cruising at 6th gear at 73kmps, minimal downshift and braking, i.e. with very sedate driving: The mid momentarily touched at 24 kmpl, but settled at around 23.8 kmpl over a 50 km stretch. Did not measure this stretch by TF to TF.

2. 2 Lane highway with busy traffic, more than usual up and down shifting, braking and occasional spirited overtaking to get out of the queue, 4 busy township on the way, ACC on, cruise control on wherever I get the chance, 80% at 4th to 6th gear 48-75kmph (i.e. condition a little worse than the 2nd reporting in the Creta above) : 17.6 kmpl as per MID over a 115 km stretch. One thing I noticed which was missing in the Creta is that the XUV700's MID is eager to report increase in average whenever a reasonable distance is driven at a stable speed. Mind you, the Creta seemingly reports change in average after every 100m or so, if there is any change, whereas in XUV700 does it after around 1 km. Did not measure this stretch by TF to TF.

3. have not exactly measured for city driving. But it was calculated after a up and down stretch of 128 kms from one city to another (same stretch as no.1 point for XUV700 above), where 110 kms is 4 lane highway with minimal traffic, ACC on, cruising at 6th gear at 73kmps, minimal downshift and braking, i.e. with very sedate driving, rest 18 kms in city having 60% bumper to bumper, rest mostly in 3rd gear: The mid reported 21.8. But this time I was prepared for the TF to TF as I filled the tank to full (till auto cut) while starting the journey. So on return, did the same in the same station with the same hose and the hose got cut at 6.23 litres, showing a whopping 20.54 kmpl real world FE. So, going by mathematics, for that 18 kms stretch of city driving, the FE in city will be around 12.50 kms (even if I optimistically consider the highway stretch gave me 23 kmpl vis-a-vis 24kmpl reported by MID).
Only thing probably remained unaccounted here is that on 2nd filling, the hose might have got auto cut a little early due to expansion in volume of fuel in the tank after the 64 kms of return journey.

However, it is not that in FE aspect I disliked the Creta fully. Hyundai gave a very likeable feature to customers who wants to extract every drop for mileage, by allowing to up-shift in M mode earlier than the AUTO mode does (e.g. 4th to 5th in as early as 38 kmph in M vs 47 kmph in Auto), thereby giving the drivers the freedom to prevent over-revving of the engine during up-shifting. Whereas in the XUV700 (and in my WagonR 1.2 also), shifting is just denied unless we reach the preset speed for up-shift in auto mode (an annoyingly 2000 rpm for 1-1.5 seconds in XUV700, loosing precious fuel, but probably aiding in smooth shifting). Prevention in downshift in M mode is seen to be similar in both cars, which is up to around 20% lower 'allowance' in Creta and 10% in XUV700.

Although it is not a fair comparison between Creta 1.6 P AT and XUV700 2.2 D AT, but going by the difference in Size/weight between the vehicles and size/type/tune of engines, I am still more than happy with my latest stead. What can we ask more from a 2.2 litre TC 185 bhp, 450 nm diesel engine bearing a 1700+ kg SUV, which can probably put some hatchbacks to shame in this front. FE Improvement in modern day engines is really commendable. Kudos to M&M and all other who have tirelessly worked towards it.

Last but not least, keeping the MSIL flag high as usual, my WagonR 1.2 ZXi+ AGS showed me 26 kmpl over the same 50km stretch while drove at 5th gear at around 65 kmph. Did not cross-verified with TF method though.

Screenshot from XUV700, around the time I reached the end of 50 kms 4 lane highway stretch:

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.