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Volkswagen Golf TDI Sets Guinness World Record of 81.17 mpg US

Proving once and for all that diesel engines aren't that bad and that they really do save money, a 2015 Golf TDI has set a new fuel consumption record for traveling all 48 states in the US.
Volkswagen Golf TDI Sets Guinness World Record of 81.17 mpg US 5 photos
Photo: Volkswagen
Volkswagen Golf TDI Sets Guinness World Record of 81.17 mpg USVolkswagen Golf TDI Sets Guinness World Record of 81.17 mpg USVolkswagen Golf TDI Sets Guinness World Record of 81.17 mpg USVolkswagen Golf TDI Sets Guinness World Record of 81.17 mpg US
Flip the pages of the Guinness World Record book and you will find a diesel Golf under "lowest fuel consumption - 48 U.S. contiguous States for a non-hybrid car." We can't imagine that it was very easy to travel for 16 straight days inside a little hatchback, but the results speak for themselves: 81.17 mpg US, equivalent to 2.89 liters per 100 km or 97.48 mpg UK.

The mpg figure is 3-better than the old record and 6-better than the best hybrid numbers. The men responsible for this achievement are automotive journalist Wayne Gerdes and electronics engineer Bob Winger.

Ironically, Volkswagen's success comes just a few days after Honda set another record in Europe using a Civic Tourer powered by a 1.6-liter DTEC diesel engine. Two men covered a distance of 13,498 km (8,387 miles) across all 24 EU contiguous countries during an extensive 25-day trip. Their result, 2.82 liters / 100 km (100.31 mpg UK or 83.4 mpg US), is fractionally better than the Golf TDI.

Still, it's impressive how the Golf managed to cover 8,233.5 miles (13,250 km) around the United States and only needed $294.98 worth of Shell ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel. That's like having your cake and eating it.

“Volkswagen’s TDI Clean Diesel engines are just amazing,” said Wayne Gerdes. “I don’t think people realize the potential mileage you can get from them. In our experience, it is possible to get truly impressive mileage results by using just a few simple fuel-saving techniques.”
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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