Two Honda cars triumphed in the annual MPG Marathon, with the Civic diesel taking the overall prize.
Driven by BBC Transport correspondent Paul Clifton and his daughter Francoise, the 1.6-litre i-DTEC version of the hatchback achieved 87.53mpg over its 331-mile route.
The Civic also won the largest improvement award, as that figure was 8.5 per cent above its quoted return of 80.7mpg.
With Paul and Francoise taking shifts behind the wheel, the team had to plot the most economic route across Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Shropshire, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire – with the start and finishing point at the Marriot Forest of Arden hotel near Coventry.
Different way-points needed to be checked off as part of the challenge and time penalties would be incurred for every minute over the daily time limit the teams went.
After winning the MPG marathon, Paul Clifton said: “Amazing result for the Civic diesel, and for me personally; I’ve won two years on the trot, and taken at least a class win seven years out of nine.
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“It was a difficult and hugely entertaining event to do and Frankie was an absolutely outstanding co-driver. There’s no secret trick to this; the aim is to travel in the highest gear at the most economical speed, using energy as efficiently as possible.”
Francoise added: “We probably could have achieved an even higher result, as the route was incredibly challenging; we went right up into the Peak District on day one, costing 20mpg on the average to that point, and were never able to recover from it.
“By going cross country and avoiding motorways, our route was by far the shortest of all the competitors, chosen because the car performed at its best on that type of journey.”
The second Honda winner was a 2002 Insight, which won the Heritage category by achieving 84.8mpg over a 360-mile route.
