28,500 km on my Maruti Ertiga: 2.5-yr update including fuel efficiency

Eventually, I installed the evcX throttle controller and I hope that it would help in improving the fuel economy by a wee bit.

BHPian procrj recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Odo stands at 28.5K kms at the 2.5-year mark, and the car has been quietly doing its duty. A few short trips over the last few months have kept the odo ticking over and there is nothing much to report. No new niggles, no issues, just smooth sailing. Planning to get 30K service done in the next couple of weeks and maybe some detailing as well.

After driving the car for 2.5 years, I have realized that there are a few flat spots in the rev range and low-end torque is nothing great. Downshift and rev hard has been the only way to get moving, especially if you have 4-5 people on board with luggage. While searching for ways and means to address both of the above issues, I stumbled upon throttle controllers in 2022. Read up a bit and then ignored it as I started thinking about a remap. After discussion with a few folks, decided that a remap on a NA petrol engine might not really deliver a lot of low-end grunt.

Then came Jimny and ultimate9's evcX throttle controller. Read up more on the same, compared and contrasted. After 3 months of dilly-dallying, finally bit the bullet and got an evcX throttle controller for the car. Installation was a 10 min job and the first drive was very satisfying. Over the last week, I played around with various settings available and drove the car around the city and a few short highway stretches. Will continue to experiment over the next few months and will share feedback after I have logged a good mix of city and highway driving with the evcX.

A quick look at stats for the last couple of years made me realize that my average cost per km (fuel only) was 7.61 in 2023 vs 7.81 in 2022. Average F.E in 2023 was 13.40 kmpl (38% city, 40% highway and 22% mixed driving conditions) while avg. F.E in 2022 was 13.33 kmpl. Highway drives average 14 kmpl while city drives average 12 kmpl.

Lower F.E numbers is a result of my driving style and car load (typically 3/4 + luggage during highway drives). I prefer driving early mornings, mostly empty roads, where I end up cruising at 100-110 kmph with short bursts for overtaking. I have tried cruising at 80-90 kmph but I end up missing the growl of the N.A engine. Hoping that evc also helps improve the F.E by a wee bit.

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