Green Car Guide to drive BMW 116d ED in 2012 RAC Future Car Challenge

Green Car Guide is to drive a BMW 116d EfficientDynamics in the 2012 Brighton to London RAC Future Car Challenge taking place on Saturday 3 November 2012.

The event aims to find the most efficient car to cover the 63-mile route from Brighton to London – the reverse direction to the Veteran Car Run, which takes place on the following day.

Last year Green Car Guide also drove a BMW 1 Series in the event – but an all-electric version, the ActiveE, when we achieved 40% better efficiency compared to its official figures, beating other EVs such as the Nissan LEAF, smart fortwo electric drive, and the Tesla Roadster - read the story of our BMW ActiveE drive. 

This year our 116d EfficientDynamics has an official fuel economy figure of 74.3mpg, and emissions of 99g/km CO2, making it BMW’s lowest emission car currently on sale – read our BMW 116d ED review.

The other internal combustion engine vehicles that we’re due to be up against include the more economical Kia Rio 1.1 CDRi EcoDynamics (88.3mpg) and Vauxhall Astra EcoFLEX (76.3mpg), and the equally-efficient Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion (74.3mpg). And will we be able to beat cars in the separate hybrid class such as the Toyota Prius (72.4mpg) and the new Mercedes-Benz E300 Hybrid (65.7mpg)? It should be interesting to see what happens…

This year Paul Clarke, Editor of Green Car Guide, will drive the BMW 116d ED with co-driver Paul Andrews, who won the hybrid class in last year’s RAC Future Car Challenge in a Honda Insight rally car. Green Car Guide has followed the eco-rallying antics of Paul Andrews for the last six years, and when not running Green Car Guide, Paul Clarke works with Paul Andrews as part of the Northwest Automotive Alliance.

The RAC Future Car Challenge culminates in Regent Street, and forms part of the Regent Street Motor Show. Taking place from 10.30am until 4.00pm, the Regent Street Motor Show is the largest free motor show in the UK. Amongst its many attractions will be a display of iconic vehicles celebrating the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries of motoring.

Follow us at this year’s RAC Future Car Challenge on Twitter @GreenCarGuide

Read about last year’s RAC Future Car Challenge

Green-Car-Guide drive of BMW ActiveE in the RAC Future Car Challenge

RAC Future Car Challenge - Full Results

The Top 10 Green Car Questions

RAC Green Grand Prix