Volkswagen Passat TDI Record: VW Gets 78 MPG During 14-Day Trip [Video]

The Volkswagen Passat TDI Clean Diesel has set a new fuel economy record.

The Guinness Book of World Records reports that the Volkswagen Passat set the record for lowest fuel consumption during an 8,000 mile trip around the United States. The Volkswagen traveled 8,122 miles over 14 days and averaged 77.99 miles per gallon during the trip.

Auto Week reports that the car was driven by Wayne Gerdes and Bob Winger. The two drivers only had to purchase 104.94 gallons of ultra-low-sulfur diesel for the trip.

The Volkswagen Passat TDI gets pretty great gas mileage but Gerdes said that he also used a few hypermiling techniques. Gerdes, who is the founder of CleanMPG.com, said that driving the speed limit, using steady acceleration from stoplights, and allowing momentum to carry the car over hills can increase gas mileage in any car.

The Volswagen Passat TDI broke the record by 10 MPG.

Gerdes said: “We felt we had a good chance of beating the existing record with the Passat TDI but to smash it by averaging 77.99 mpg is really impressive and a testament to the potential of Volkswagen’s TDI Clean Diesel vehicles. Obviously, we employ some specialized techniques to achieve such figures, but there’s no reason why owners of TDI vehicles shouldn’t be able to achieve great mileage with a few simple pointers.”

Here’s a video of the record setting trip.

Are you impressedwith the Volkswagen Passat TDI’s new record? How’s the mileage on your car?