Before this crisis, no one really gave much thought as to how much fuel they’d used up on a road trip, especially in diesel vehicles, knowing they were a good balance of power and economy. Now that fuel prices had gone up, we’re all watching our fuel efficiency figures.

I was invited to check out the Overland Kings’ OK Campout at Crystal Beach in Zambales some weeks back and that weekend, I had the Mazda BT-50 4x4 Pangolin Edition pickup. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to see how a diesel vehicle would fare on a long drive.

The Mazda BT-50 4x4 Pangolin Edition is powered by a turbocharged 3.0 liter DOHC diesel engine which puts out 187-Hp at 3600rpm with 450-Nm of torque between 1,600 to 2,600 rpm and this is mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission.

The BT-50 has a comfortable and spacious interior and I especially like the dark theme, and the black headliner which significantly reduces glare.

The destination was Crystal Beach in Zambales, and I’d be coming from Cainta, Rizal. I started by topping off the BT-50’s 76 liter tank and set the trip meter to zero. I left my house as the sun was starting to rise. It was 6:30 on a Sunday morning and hitting the road while most of the population were still in bed meant I shared the road with less people.

Waze estimating the drive would take four hours. The BT-50 felt easily manageable for your typical mid-sized pick up truck. Steering is light, making getting through narrow streets easy and the 3.0L turbo diesel’s torquey low end delivered; exactly what I needed without needing to give a lot of right pedal.

Once I made it to NLEX, the drive became more relaxed for me and the BT-50. The six-speed automatic transmission kept the rpms low and the cabin was pretty quiet at highway speeds. Despite not carrying any load in the rear and with me as a lone occupant, the ride wasn’t harsh. Seats were comfortable and stayed so even on the long drive, on mostly uneven stretches of cement.

I entered SCTEX and made my way through SBMA out to Olongapo, making my way up and down the rolling hill roads. It was onward to provincial bypass thoroughfares which treated me to more winding roads with changes in elevation. The BT-50 breezed through this with quiet confidence. Its suspension absorbed enough of the roads imperfections without being mushy. At the same time it also wasn’t too firm. Big tires and elevated ground clearance meant I didn’t have to worry much about approaches to bridges or unexpected dips after.

When I finally arrived at Crystal Beach, tarmac turned to sand, and while 4x4 was not necessary on the hard packed surfaces, making my way to the beach itself required me to put it in four-wheel drive high (4H). The BT-50 felt right at home.

I made the 173.7 kilometer drive from Cainta to Zambales in three hours and thirty minutes, and according to the trip computer, I had averaged 14.5 kilometers per liter, consuming an estimated 11.9 liters of diesel.

I made it to Crystal Beach just in time for breakfast. While at the beach, I wanted to see how the BT-50’s 4x4 system would fare in the soft beach sand.

We purposely bogged it deep sand, then engaged four-wheel drive low. At the same time, we engaged its Electronic Rear Differential Lock. This made getting out of that fix elementary. This was all done in a stock spec vehicle with road tires and street tire pressure. It got itself effortlessly in and out of the loose stuff without needing any recovery gear.

As afternoon came, it was time to head home. My return trip took a little longer as I had made a few stops along the way. Heading back to SBMA, where there were substantially more vehicles on the road by his time and a traffic jam formed about a kilometer before the first gate of Subic. Coming out of Subic and SCTEX which had me a good speed, NLEX had considerable vehicular volume and had slowed flow of traffic to a little below 80 kilometers per hour for most of the stretch to the last toll plaza. Once through there, it was clear sailing though QC and back to Rizal, reversing my morning route home.

I pulled into our driveway at 7:30 pm. I had driven a total of 376.5 kilometers and averaged 13.6 kilometers per liter fuel consumption. Overall, I had consumed 27.6 liters of diesel on the whole trip. I drove, not making any effort to be economical, so these figures are real world.

While the drive from Cainta to Zambales and back, is not far by most standards, it’s far enough to qualify as a “getaway”. The BT-50 got the job done, and without any fuss. Smooth on the highway and confident off tarmac, it was comfortable. And judging by my fuel efficiency figures, I could have easily gone over a thousand kilometers on a full tank in the BT-50.