Shell FuelSave Blogger Challenge 2014: Drive and Save with Shell

No sooner had we returned from our relaxing holiday, than it was back to the grind.

For me, that means getting back behind the wheel of our trusty ol' car, which I affectionately call my office. I am, after all, the chief chauffeur of the household, amongst other things.

I wish I could say that I've always been very diligent about managing my fuel usage and maximising my fuel efficiency, but that wouldn't be true. My husband and I do monitor our fuel usage, though this doesn't go much beyond resetting our trip odometer every time we fill up. We'd take note of the mileage we rack up on each tank and complain about the "lousy fuel" if the numbers fall short of our usual 300+km per tank.

I guess it's timely therefore that we (the husband and I) will be embarking on the Shell FuelSave Blogger Challenge, and challenging ourselves to stretch our dollar and improve our fuel efficiency while using Shell FuelSave Unleaded petrol.

I'm actually quite excited about this as I've always felt that we could do more to make our tank of petrol last longer. We drive an MPV (read: big and heavy car) and I do a lot of what I call "super urban driving". I make plenty of short trips throughout the week to nearby destinations, bringing the kids to school, to classes, on outings and back again. I rarely use the expressway. Instead, there are lots of traffic lights and plenty of stopping. It probably is the least fuel-saving way to use a car but that's the way it is in this household. As such, you can imagine that any improvement at all to our fuel-efficiency would be a big plus.

To help us on this journey, the first thing we did was to arm ourselves with a Shell FuelSave Log Card, which is available at all Shell stations. Before you can improve your fuel efficiency, you first have to be aware of your fuel efficiency level, and that is what this handy little card helps you to keep track of. All you have to do is to remember to log down the number of litres of petrol pumped and your odometer reading every time you fill up. From there you do some simple calculations to find out the distance you travelled on a tank of petrol and your fuel efficiency level.

We were then given some help in the form of a workshop conducted by a Shell FuelSave Scientist with lots of helpful tips on how to improve our fuel efficiency. There are actually a lot of small things that you can do which can add up to have a big impact on your fuel efficiency. Even before driving, making sure that your car is in good condition by having a well-tuned engine and ensuring that your types are inflated at the right pressure will help improve fuel economy. And driving tips like avoiding over revving as well as shutting off the engine to avoid excess idling had me looking at the husband knowingly.

I'm about a week into putting the Shell FuelSave Tips into practice at the moment, and you know what? I've already learnt so much about my driving and my car. I've also turned this into a mini-competition between my husband and I, which I'll tell you more about in my next post, together with some of my own tips (as well as those I learnt from friends!) for stretching your fuel further.

If you're feeling like you spend too much on fuel (like we always do), then you might want to consider taking up this challenge yourself. Grab a Log Card and try out these Shell FuelSave Tips and see if it makes a difference.

Click to enlarge

This is also a great time to try out Shell FuelSave Unleaded petrol as from 19 May to 13 July 2014, Shell is running a promotion where you stand to win the equivalent of your fuel purchase when you spend a minimum of $50 on Shell fuels! Just spot the winning message at the back of your Shell receipt. What's more, Shell Escape members with these winning receipts stand a chance of winning an additional $100 by sharing a photo of their winning moment on Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #WinWith Shell. More details can be found here.

Some of the other bloggers who will be joining us on this Shell FuelSave Challenge are our friends and fellow bloggers from Princess Dana Diaries, In The Wee Hours, Cherieladie and Sengkang Babies. Do check out their blogs to read about their fuel saving experience and tips as well!

CITROËN Grand C4 Picasso Review

* Guest post by my husband, DD!

Last weekend we were very lucky to be lent the ALL-NEW CITROËN GRAND C4 PICASSO to review. (Woohoo!)



We were particularly excited to be test-driving this car as the All-New CITROËN GRAND C4 PICASSO 2014 is an update to the New CITROËN Grand C4 Picasso launched in 2006 which we currently own (and have affectionately named “Pablo”). Apparently, the 2014 release was necessary because the 2006 CITROËN Grand C4 Picasso has been so popular, it’s sold out!

Anyway, I predict that CITROËN will launch the Ultimate-Newest CITROËN Grand C4 Picasso only in 2020+ so if you buy the All-New 2014 version, fear not. I’m sure you’ll be driving the newest car around for quite some time.

But getting back to business: for the purpose of this review, our All New 2014 Grand C4 Picasso shall be called... Paul. For those of you who object because you say that Paul and Pablo are essentially the same name, I think you’ll see that “same-same-but-different” pretty much sums up our 2014 v. 2006 Grand C4 Picasso experience.

Introduction

So to begin with, here’s a short introduction to Paul:

Take note that the child featured in the picture above is a non-standard accessory.

Specs

Here's a simplified spec sheet which sets out the key headlines.


Pretty impressive. What really stands out is the Category A COE. Not many MPVs fall into this category. Also, this car is eligible for a S$15,000 CEVS rebate because it fits certain environmentally-friendly criteria and in fact has the lowest carbon emission rating in its class.

Review

Ok, so now on to the actual review. To begin with, let me just say it outright - this is seriously the best MPV in its class.

I'll let some facts do the talking:

• Roomiest MPV in its class
• Best fuel economy in its class
• Best electronic specs in its class
• Excellent visibility, best in its class
• Lowest carbon emissions in its class

Actually I can stop here because that's the review done and dusted.

But since the good folks at CITROËN were so kind to let us have Paul for three days, I think they must be expecting a little more... Heh.

So here goes.

Design

A review of the All New Grand C4 Picasso must begin with a word on its design.
In its press release the following is stated about Paul's design:

On the design-front, CITROËN C4 Picasso’s and Grand C4 Picasso’s strong, expressive designs are visible in the dynamic lines and high-tech headlights with LED 3D rear lights. The 5.7 square meters of glazing with the zenith windscreen and panoramic glass roof creates the CITROËN-signature loft-style interior with a bright, uncluttered ambience.

Ermm, did anyone really understand that? Me neither.

Actually, in my humble opinion, design is very simple.

Design only comes in 4 choices as follows:
(A) it looks great
(B) it is sort of nice
(C) I'm somewhat doubtful
(D) it sucks.

Most people whom I spoke to think that Paul's design was an unequivocal (A). Me too. Just as you cannot describe what an iphone actually looks like using words like "dynamic lines", I'll just let photos do the talking.







The above of course are the professionally taken brochure photos. Looks great, right? After having seen the car, I’m happy to report that it looks as good in person. You... just have to take my word for it.




Nice!

Drive

Now onto the drive.



Paul uses an All-New (hey that phrase again!) engine platform, wholly different from Pablo. Apparently the new engine cost CITROËN /Peugeot 630 million Euros to develop! Just to make sure that it wasn't wasted money, the new engine, amongst other things:

• consumes 22% less fuel than the old engine
• is lighter and has better weight/performance ratios than the old engine 
• is designed with tighter electronic integration with onboard electronics in mind

That's why it was 630 million Euros! And no, my inside sources confirmed that the cost was NOT because the smart and clever designers of the super-duper magic new engine conned their employers into giving them more money. It had something to do about developmental costs, materials research, etc*

(*I can't recall and share the exact details because I basically lost interest when my Dilbert-based theory was invalidated. Sorry!)

Anyway, the practical result of the improved engine platform is that driving Paul around was a nice and enjoyable experience. Steering was super light, even effortless. The car also offers good control and close handling with little body roll around corners. Acceleration was good; Paul is of course not a sports car, but it will do nicely whether in city traffic or cruising on a highway.
I did find auto shifting from 1st to 2nd gear slightly choppy but owners needn't worry – this should smoothen out once the engine figures out the driver's driving pattern. Alternatively you can use the paddle shifts to dictate gear changes to optimise your driving experience.

Refined Interior

What also makes Paul stand out is the fact that everything in the interior has been upgraded from Pablo and especially its electronics. Its interior looks really, really nice! And the middle row is noticeably roomier than Pablo.






Paul features, among other things:

• a 7" touchscreen main control panel
• Factory-fitted bluetooth connectivity
• Factory-fitted USB socket with iPod/iPhone/iPad connectivity

All main settings are controlled via the touch screen interface. Air con, radio/bluetooth, GPS, phone, etc. And it's done in a refined and intuitive manner too.

I desperately tried to press as many buttons on the touchscreen interface as quickly as possible to try to make it hang, and see whether a voice would come up and lecture me about that, but there was no success there. So yes, the interface is steady and reliable – not to mention that it also looks great!

Boot Space

I didn't take too many pictures of the boot but don't worry, it is a class leading 537 litres. That means you can put in ALOT of stuff. The tailgate is also automatic! Press a button to open and press a button to close. This is pretty standard issue for the likes of the BMW 5 and 7 series, but for a mid-range MPV this is cool! The only bad thing about the automatic tailgate is that if you're angry with your boss or kids you gotta slam the passenger doors instead.

Comparison with Pablo


Honestly there is no comparison between Pablo and Paul. Paul is in every way, a total, truly All-New, upgrade to Pablo. From the engine/chassis, to the electronics, to the interior ("CITROËN -signature loft styled", remember?), everything has been upgraded. Just to name a few things:

• Longer wheelbase = roomier interior 
• New engine = better performance and fuel consumption 
• All electronic controls

If, like me, you're also driving a 2006 Grand C4 Picasso, you'll definitely be tempted to upgrade. As a measure of what sort of impression Paul made on the kids, they were so reluctant to return Paul they promised to be good for a week!



Areas For Improvement
Ok, so with that said, one gets the impression that this is the perfect family car. With so many features that are in fact class-leading, it certainly might be.

But no car is absolutely absolutely perfect, and the one thing I thought could be improved upon was the Eco Drive. I understand that it comes as a standard on all models sold in Asiapac. So if you've never driven a vehicle with Eco Drive before, you have to get used to the engine switching off when the car halts. But that aside, I found that the Eco Drive implementation on Paul was not as refined as it could be. Once, while I was travelling very (very) slowly up a twisty carpark ramp, Eco Drive kicked in and switched off the engine. Luckily nothing happened. I wasn't able to find out how to turn Eco Drive off but the representatives at CITROËN have told me that it is possible to turn this setting off as part of the car settings.

Closing Note

Here are more gratuitous pics of Paul.








Basically, if you're looking to buy a mid-range MPV, you should really consider this vehicle. You might find, as I did, that the 2014 CITROËN Grand C4 Picasso blows away all its same-class competitors on all counts. Perhaps, among its competition, only the Volkwagen Touran runs the CITROËN close. The Volks has more power, similar fit and finish but less space and poorer fuel economy. In particular, space-wise, the Touran is much smaller and the third row is for very occasional use, whereas the CITROËN's third row is reasonably comfortable.

Personally, I also wouldn't really consider the Japanese MPVs to be close competition for the CITROËN. First of all, for some reason, the Japanese manufacturers favour using big engines to deliver the same sort of ride - this is sort of okay and I don't want to get into the naturally aspirated vs turbo engine debate but what it means, at a very practical level, is that bigger engines mean higher COE, higher road taxes and poorer fuel economy. Second of all to get to the same level of fit and finish that the CITROËN has - well you're looking at a large-ish jump of $20-30K at least, so whether this is ok with you is your call.

For me, there is no question that among the mid-range MPV class, the 2014 CITROËN Grand C4 Picasso ticks all the right boxes.

* This post and our weekend test-drive were sponsored by Citroën for the purposes of this review.

Total Smackdown! Volkswagen Sharan v Citroen C4 Grand Picasso Review

*Guest post by my husband, DD!

As some of you might know, my wife's office is currently our trusty 3+ year old Citroen C4 Grand Picasso. We bought him in 2012 off the second-hand market just before little Nomi’s 1st birthday, and were really rather pleased with the purchase. Apart from the intermittent problem of Unresponsive-Power-Windows-Surfacing-At-Inconvenient-Moments, our C4 Grand Picasso -- let’s call him Pablo -- has served our family well. And, although we are not in the market for a new car to replace good ol' Pablo (notwithstanding aforesaid Problem), we were very grateful for Volkswagen’s offer to let us have the Sharan for a week.

By the way:

• You may already have read some reviews of the Volkswagen Sharan here or here or here. 
• You can also read the technical specifications of the Sharan at Volkswagen’s website (and can I just say at this time, these are mighty impressive specs! 8.5 secs 0-100kph, amongst other things). 

So this review will offer something different – a review of the Sharan (let’s call her Sandy) compared with Pablo.

The Cars

Here are the cars, side by side.

Both are happy cars.

Sandy the Sharan looks a little smaller here but that is because of my cunning photography. Actually, side by side, Sandy is quite a bit longer and a fair bit wider than Pablo. As you will see in the next pic, there is a bit more space in the middle rows for the kids in Sandy than in Pablo:

For comparison, here are the kids in their usual positions in Pablo

Here they are in Sandy. Plenty of room for the person in the middle, even when hemmed in by two car seats.

Note the sliding doors, which creates space.

Comfortable amount of leg room too, even when the seats are not fully pushed back. Enough for Naomi to mess around anyway.

One of the best features of Sandy is its OPENING SUNROOF! The kids of course loved this feature.

Standing tall.

I received, but did not grant, Noey’s many many many requests to allow him to poke his head out of the sunroof while the car is in motion. But if you can’t actually do that (to feel like a tank commander in make believe land) then what good is an opening sunroof? This got me thinking – is an opening sunroof better than a regular one? The answer is, probably yes. Here are the reasons:

Advantages of Opening Sunroof:

• Good ventilation while car is moving.
• Allows hot air to escape faster if parked under the sun for a while.

Disadvantages of Opening Sunroof:

• If you’re unlucky birds might poop right into your cabin.
• It creates unnecessary feelings of longing for poking one’s head out while car is in motion.

Soooooo… it’s very clear that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages…. Right?

By the way, for those of you who are interested in measuring things: Sandy the Sharan’s sunroof measures approx 115cm X 70cm, while Pablo Picasso’s sunroof measures 85cm X 80 cm. That said, both sunroofs are huge, and both let in large amounts of light into the cabin.

Next feature of the Sharan is… Automatic Everything

Seriously, the Sharan has Automatic Everything. Automatic keyless entry, automatic sliding doors, automatic boot, automatic volume regulation (music volume is moderated to engine ambient sound so that the volume is always just right – impressive!), automatic parking, automatic child lock, automatic side/curve lighting, and automatic almost anything else you can think of. The car even automatically parks itself with Park Assist if you really need it to.

Automatic everything except one thing… Sandy does not come equipped with an automatic fuel door. On Pablo, a button is pressed to open the fuel compartment. I was trying to look for the same thing on Sandy but to no avail. Not one of the 56 buttons and 6 control dials could open the fuel door. I had to SMS my friend (a happy owner of a Sharan as well) to ask whether one had to use a screwdriver to pry open the fuel compartment! After some dismissive words from my friend I was educated on the oh-so-simple push-release mechanism.

Button heaven for Automatic Operation of Everything Conceivable.

Nice sleek Driver-side door panel

Dashboard. Notice the steering wheel conveniently has buttons too.

Start and stop the car with, yes, the push of a button.

There's even a button to automatically close the rear door. No need for slamming here.

The Drive

Speaking of my good friend who also owns a Sharan (erm, let’s call him… Jeep), when Mummybean told me that we would be getting Sandy on loan for a week, I asked him for some tips on handling the Sharan. You know, whether it had any particular handling characteristics, eg. whether there was body roll when turning corners.

Jeep (excellent lawyer he is, by the way) excitedly told me that he was very ^{(to the power of 100)} happy with the Sharan and that it was a great upgrade from the Touran. As for turning corners, his immortal words were “I take corners at 80kmh, no problem!”. My other colleagues who were there and overheard these words couldn’t believe it – either Jeep (excellent lawyer) was bluffing or worse, a crazy driver. Both were unthinkable. Anyway if anyone sees a chestnut brown Sharan take the Telok Kurau exit at 80kmh, that’s my friend Jeep. Say hi to him for me.

My experience is that the Sharan’s drive is impeccable. It feels very planted and solid but yet ultra responsive. That said, I didn’t try any corners at 80kmh (or higher) and I will have to connect you to my good friend Jeep if you want an opinion on that. For the corners that I did take, handling was impeccable and precise and it is not necessary to make steering micro-adjustments while turning corners which is a common problem on many cars including Pablo.

And Sandy has lots of power too. 0-100kmh in 8.5 seconds, max torque of 280Nm at 1700rpm, with an engine churning out power of 200 finely tuned horses.

So the Sharan is really no slouch. In fact, if one floors the pedals from a stationary position, power is transmitted so aggressively that the wheels spin before traction is obtained and the car spears forward leaving the other mortal cars behind.

And yet, Sandy’s drive is remarkably quiet compared to Pablo. The cabin is well insulated from engine buzz and external ambient sound and one does not have to compete with them to speak or be heard. In Pablo it is a slightly different story because engine noise is noticeable though not loud, and all in all Sandy delivers a more refined driving experience.

As for fuel consumption, for the time I had Sandy, her 2.0l engine delivered similar numbers to 1.6l Pablo at around 7-8km per litre. My friend Jeep however reports lower fuel efficiency on his Sharan (around 5-6 km/l) and the difference could be that I did have several relatively long cruising journeys with Sandy, otherwise normal city traffic would have been far less fuel efficient.

The cons

So, having said all that, does Sandy the Sharan trump Pablo Picasso in every respect? The answer is no, and I’ll just give 2 examples.

First, on the comfort front, Sandy lacks armrests for the driver and front passenger seats.

No armrest for driver’s left arm/front passenger’s right arm. Said arms will be in limbo (ahem couldn’t resist)

This might not seem like much but armrests are actually quite useful and comfortable. It would have been better if Sandy had them.

Also, Pablo’s front seats are also a bit more comfortable than Sandy’s, being contoured better to the shape of the human body than Sandy’s.

Second, and this was the ONLY thing that actually annoyed me about driving Sandy, is that Sandy has over-excited parking proximity sensors. They start beeping nervously from 10 feet away and increase in volume and pitch, reaching maximum calamity mode even if you have a safety distance of 10-12 inches between the side mirrors and next pillar.

And don’t even try parking within 6 inches of the side mirrors because the sensors will screech and scream and threaten immediate bomb detonation unless you BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP MOVE AWAY MOVE AWAY MOVE AWAY. Needless to say I found it not so enjoyable to park Sandy in narrow-ish lots.

Pictures!

Before I conclude, here are some more pictures of Sandy:

Ample boot space, with the last row of seats folded down.  

Absolutely Noey's favourite thing to do: slide the automatic doors close. And open. And close. And open...

Can we keep this car, please?

Our favourite Sharan!

Conclusion

Apart from the two minor issues above, Sandy is in all respects a more refined car than Pablo. To put it in perspective though, she does cost a cool 80 grand more than Pablo, so one would expect that measure of quality. Whether the 80 grand is worth it, however, is very much a subjective thing and each person’s mileage may vary.

I’ve heard from some sources that one of the reasons why the take up rate for the Sharan is slower than other similar cars is the pricing, and I am inclined to agree. However, you do get what you pay for and the Sharan in the MPV market really is second to none so there is a good reason for the price it commands. As for me, although Sandy is beyond my budget (warning: shameless plug coming!), I can certainly dream of owning one…. and if Volkswagen can give me a nice discount I’ll say thank you in advance! Hah. But seriously, thanks Volkswagen for letting us have the use of the Sharan.

If there are any queries on the Sharan I’ll be happy to do a Q&A/FAQs for fans of this blog, just leave a comment and I’ll add to this post to answer any questions you might have.

*Thanks to Volkswagen for the use of the Volkswagen Sharan TSI 2.0 for a week for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain strictly our own. 

Fun at the Volkswagen Family Weekend

We were invited by the folks from Rise & Shine to the Volkswagen Family Weekend at the Volkswagen showroom last Saturday.

 

My kids were out the door as soon as they heard that there were going to be tricycle rides, art projects and ice cream! And they were not disappointed. As we entered the showroom, they immediately honed in on the tricycles and before I knew it, Noey was off, whizzing his way around the roadways that had been laid out on the ground. I loved the cute "STOP" and "SLOW" signs, but you can be sure none of the kids paid any heed! 

This way for tricycle rides!

There were a variety of trikes of different designs and my kids made it a point to try out every design they could get into. Naomi can't peddle a trike yet so I was glad that the trikes that were provided all came with parent steering handles so that I could help push and steer her around. Actually, I think it wasn't me but Naomi who was most pleased about that! It was near impossible to get her away to do anything else.

No riding and dialling, little missy!

I eventually managed to interest them in the food art activity. Conducted by NutriVille, there were three activity stations for the kids to get involved in. And because it was the Mother's Day weekend, the projects the kids worked on were Mother's Day cards/gifts, which I thought was a nice touch. There was vegetable printing, which was my favourite because I thought the colourful prints looked so pretty.

"Look, Noey! A leaf cut out of a radish!"

Pressing on the print

Tah-dah! The completed card. I just adore the roses made from celery prints!

The kids' favourite was painting with coffee which was diluted to different shades of brown. This was a pretty clever idea really, and with some skill at shading, I would imagine you could create some great pics. Though both of mine were just pleased to cover the whole picture in brown. At least with all that coffee, it smelt great!

I tried explaining how to use different shades of the coffee, hence the darker ears. But after that he just carried on his merry way to paint the whole bear with one colour. Hah!

Hard at work! Check out the focus!

Really.Concentrating.

The last activity was modelling with homemade salt dough. The created pieces could then be baked in the oven to harden. Again another nice and simple idea, but it there were quite a few kids at this table jostling for dough, so we didn't stay long.

Making a squishy playdough snowman

In any case, it was time for the highlight of our visit -- the highlight of Noey's visit anyway: Our Volkswagen Sharan Test Drive!

If you don't already know, Noey absolutely loves cars. He is able to identify a good many different makes and models and is always checking them out on the road. So you can imagine how much his eyes lit up when I told him we'll be taking a drive around in a gorgeous new car! 

The "Yippee-We-Are-Going-On-A-Joy-Ride" Dance in front of the shiny new Volkswagen Sharan.

The good folks at Volkswagen thoughtfully installed two car seats in the car for the two kids, and they were as pleased as punch. I drive an MPV on a daily basis but I was impressed by how roomy it was in that middle row. They easily fitted in two car seats side by side and the kids didn't look squashed together. There was still plenty of room for a third! The feeling of spaciousness carries in to cabin, which can seat 7 persons comfortably. I also like that instead of bench seating, all the seats were individually co. I've found from experience that this allows you more options when you need to reconfigure seating to carry more stuff!

When I entered the car, I what struck me was how nice it was. The sleek-looking sculpted headboard, and the generally luxurious feel of the materials were a treat. The build quality was also top class. There was also a panoramic sun roof that was a real hit with the kids. They are no stranger to the huge sun roof as we have one in our current car, but this one, ah, the front portion opens up! Noey was so impressed.

I'm no car expert, but I do drive a fair distance everyday, so feel I'm qualified to say that the car handles beautifully. It had great pick-up, and I really liked how the weighted steering wheel was extremely light to handle when stationary but stiffened gradually as the car picked up speed. It felt like a big car but I had no problems parking it. Retailing at over $190K at current prices, it is rather pricey, but driving it, I can see why it costs so much.

 "This is a nice car," said Naomi approvingly. I thought so too.

We like this car Mummy!

The kids were so excited about the ride they kept asking for another car to drive. "They let you ride in it, Papa," Noey told DD impatiently. Alas, they had to content themselves pretending to drive the cars in the showroom, which they did to much giggles and amusement.

The cabriolet was a hot favourite.

The Volkswagen's powerful TSI engine.

We settled down for some food that had been thoughtfully provided for the occasion, and with DD watching the kids for a bit, I snuck off to enjoy the Mum Pampering Corner that had been set up by OTO. Some peace and quiet while my shoulders where being kneaded was pure enjoyment and a much needed break for me.

With so much going on, it was really hard to get the kids to leave! Who knew you could have so much fun in a car showroom huh! 

Cheesebox!

* This post was sponsored by Rise and Shine, in conjunction with Volkswagen.