A TDI-powered Volkswagen Passat has conquered a drive across all US States, excluding Alaska and Hawaii, in one piece. The Passat covered a distance of 13,071 kilometers with record low fuel consumption and within 16 days. The record drive was witnessed by officials of the Guinness World Record Organization.
The driver team, blogger Wayne Gerdes and engineer Bob Winger, achieved a fuel consumption of only 3.02 litres per 100 kilometres, which means a range of 78 miles per gallon. “We felt we had a good chance of beating the existing record with a series production Passat TDI,” Gerdes said, “but to smash it by averaging 77.99 mpg is really impressive and a testament to the potential of Volkswagen’s TDI vehicles. It shows how much the fuel consumption depends on the driver.” The previous world record was set at 67.9 mpg (3.46 litres per 100km).
The record-breaking Volkswagen Passat, produced at the Volkswagen Chattanooga (Tennessee) plant, offers an official highway fuel economy of 43 miles per gallon (EPA) equipped with the six-speed manual transmission (5.5 litres per 100 km).