bagwell

Passat BlueMotion Sets Guinness Record for Production Passenger Car Distance on a Single Tank: 1,531 Miles @ 75 MPG US

A Volkswagen Passat BlueMotion driven by journalist Gavin Conway writing for The Sunday Times has set a new Guinness World Record for the distance travelled by a production passenger car on a single tank of fuel.

The Passat BlueMotion travelled a distance of 1,531 miles (2,464 km), the equivalent of driving from London to Malaga, without needing to refuel or travelling from Los Angeles to New York with a single stop for fuel.

Powered by a Volkswagen 1.6-liter common rail TDI engine developing 105 PS (104 hp, 77 kW), the Passat BlueMotion used for the record attempt was a standard production model. In common with the Polo and Golf BlueMotion models, the Passat is fitted with aerodynamic modifications to the bodywork, a lower ride height, Stop-Start, programmed battery charging, longer gearing and low rolling resistance tires. The result is a vehicle that is completely conventional to drive, service and maintain yet among the most efficient vehicles on the road today.

The record-breaking was monitored throughout by independent representatives on behalf of the Guinness World Records organization. The amount of fuel used was accurately measured at 77.25 liters (20.4 gallons US) resulting in an overall fuel consumption of 75 mpg US (3.1 L/100km).


http://www.favstocks.com/passat-blue...pg-us/0325846/


my take -- 20.4 gallons is a huge tank -- I can never get even 10 gallons into my Prius when I fill-up and get 600 miles on each tank; I don't run it out of gas, so there may be 2-3 gallons left....even so, the 75mpg is huge.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Congrats to VW on this. Quite the feat

TRDFantasy

Bit of a misleading record. Sure it sounds awfully impressive when you have a weak 104 HP diesel engine combined with a huge gas tank. In real-world driving, I bet the 0-60 of that Passat is in the 12-13 second range.

If you give a Prius a 20.4 gallon gas tank and the other modifications this car had, I'm sure it could do just as well, if not better.

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

Great points!

Big Andy

You must have missed this bit:

The "modifications" a standard Passat Bluemotion has are already on the Prius as well - e.g low rolling resistance tyres, aerodynamic bodywork etc, so you are pretty much comparing like for like. As previous tests have shown a Prius can't compete with a modern diesel when you are looking at long journeys over many miles at steady speeds on highways. Obviously, if the test included long spells of stop start traffic in towns the advantage would swing the Prius' way.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

We can play the "IF" game all day long. What if the Prius had a 20.4 gallon tank? What if the Passat was a hybrid diesel? What if what if what if????

Sometimes you just have to run what you've brought.. 75 mpg is nothing to sneeze at!

Vladi

Ahhhh hypermiling!! Traveling in those conditions is only for PR. This is far away from realworld numbers, just like any hypermiling attempt.

Big Andy

I read the original article in The Sunday Times and they weren't hypermiling - if they were they'd be very disappointed to only get 75mpg.

LexFather

So its cool when diesel cars hypermile but if a hybrid driver hypermiles its stupid and disgusting.

Ahhhhh, the double standard....

TRDFantasy

What about longer gearing? The Prius has a CVT so you get optimal gearing in all situations, not longer-than-normal gearing which improves fuel economy yet worsens acceleration, which is what this Passat got.

I can show you links where people have gotten well over 100 mpg on extended trips with the Prius, blowing away the fuel economy of this Passat BlueMotion.

Is over 100 mpg impressive? Is 75 mpg impressive? Yes these are impressive, but they are not that realistic or relevant in the real world.

You don't hear about Toyota trying to set a Guinness record by hypermiling in a Prius because they're not that desperate for attention.

According to this article, they were hypermiling. How else would you explain the average fuel economy being much higher than the official figures?

http://www.favstocks.com/passat-blue...iling/0325840/

bagwell

I just noticed it appears the car had more than 1 person in it...

Gavin Conway, for The Sunday Times, drove the Passat BlueMotion during the three-day record-breaking trip, accompanied by a navigator and video crew. Two AA patrolmen followed the entire attempt in their van to witness the journey independently for the Guinness World Records organization, which accredited the record.



I didn't read anything about actual HYPERMILING in the article tho.

TRDFantasy

First off, it was mostly highway travel at a constant speed, so they purposely avoided a lot of city roads.

Second, as I have already stated, how else do you explain that the average economy was much higher than what the car is rated for under European standards?

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

There are lots of cars that can achieve 100mpg if you hypermile it so it's a mute point. The point is that the car made an achievement and we should be lucky to even mention 75 mpg. The article never mentioned anything about hypermiling so I can't see why this feat couldn't be relevant.


Had Toyota been in the headline, the angels would sing and the Middle East would finally be at peace. No where did the article mention that VW was behind all this. It was driven by a journalist from the Sunday Times and verified by independent representatives. Please don't assume VW was 'desparate for attention".

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

You don't have to drive like a granny to get great gas mileage. I can drive my car with a light foot (not hypermiling) and get 6-7mpg highway better the EPA rating, and that's with a V8.

When you're going for records, especially range, you're going to drive highway, not city. It's the easiest to record because you're just driving straight to the destination. City driving involves much more variables that we may not be able to control such as traffic.

bagwell

QUOTE
The route mainly followed French autoroutes, but included some town driving, resulting in an average speed of just over 45 mph (72.42 km/h).

isn't 45mph a little slow for highway driving??????


and for the record I get 60+ mpg in my Prius which is way over the 50mpg EPA rating and I do not drive like a granny or like an ***....speed limit is 45mph on most of my 56 mile RT commute to/from work and I set cruise at 53mph...when I see a light is turning red, I immediately start slowing down instead of having to slam on my brakes like an idiot.