VW Passat 1527 miles on a tank!

[scottbombedout]

VW Passat sets record by travelling 1,527 miles on one tank - Autoblog UK

Now that is impressive

[crustychief]

Wow! That is impressive indeed.

[pete3799]

good thing they don't sell those here

[Racerbvd]

And sad that we don't have them..

[dewolf]

Makes those hybrid cars look pathetic really.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by dewolf

Makes those hybrid cars look pathetic really.

I have been pointing that out for a while, since my old 81 diesel 45 MPG, and also in the 80s, Honda had the Civic CRX HF - for high fuel efficiency - which earned EPA ratings of 49/54 mpg

Hybrids & even the Smart car are a joke compared to them..

[RWebb]

diesel electric hybrid - that's what ya want

conventional diesels do better on Hwy; hybrids do better in city

[tevake]

We rented a Passat TDI this summer and did about 2,000 Mi all around England, Wales, and Scotland. We went so long between Fill ups that I had to get window washing scrubbing sponge and squeegee. It took a little getting used to the driving qualities of the little two Ltr. turbo. Not much grunt down low RPMs But plenty power on boost. Nice Highway cruiser.
I would think one could make some $$s exporting a all in one tool, scrubbie sponge on one side, squeegee on the other. to England and Europe. Lots of bugs splatter, non of there handy tools available

Cheers Richard

[Aurel]

This bring two thoughts:

1. An hybrid version of this engine (1.6L tdi) may get even higher mpg.

2. Could it be that those are not imported in the US because cars with too high mpg would result is less gas tax revenues?

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by Aurel

This bring two thoughts:

1. An hybrid version of this engine (1.6L tdi) may get even higher mpg.

2. Could it be that those are not imported in the US because cars with too high mpg would result is less gas tax revenues?

And hurt domestic car sales which hurts unions....

[MattKellett]

I'm not sure why the Passat diesel is not available here. They did sell the previous model here and also currently sell the lastest Golf and Jetta Tdi's here.

[unimog406]

Are there any currently produced diesel-electric hybrids? Perhaps an issue is that the engine startup-shutdown is much less smooth in comparison to gas cars.

[RWebb]

good point - all the ones I know of are trucks, buses or bigger

VW does not import this thing b/c of marketing, there is no need to invoke any crazy conspiracy theories

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

I have been pointing that out for a while, since my old 81 diesel 45 MPG, and also in the 80s, Honda had the Civic CRX HF - for high fuel efficiency - which earned EPA ratings of 49/54 mpg

Hybrids & even the Smart car are a joke compared to them..

My buddy had one of those HF Civics. We averaged 57 mpg on a run from here to San Diego, but we sort of aired up the tires, did some drafting on trucks and did not run the AC much.

[jyl]

These guys got 89.9 mpg from their Passat with a 1.6L diesel. 104 HP. Averaged 45 mph over the entire trip, so it was almost all on open road.

The record mpg for hypermilers in a Prius is 110 mpg. The hybrid car hypermilers wouldn't even bother to send a tweet about 89.9 mpg.

Now, that is hypermiling - driving 1500 miles at 45 mph average on carefully selected roads.

Here is reality. If you are driving on the open road, with the car moving at a pretty constant speed, then a small, highly efficient motor and an aero shape is what you need. The VW diesels have that (don't know about the aero), so does the Prius.

If you are in traffic, stop/go, typical urban stuff, then the high-efficiency engine has a problem. Even though it is a fuel- sipper, it keeps running even when the car is stopped or decelerating. That is a waste of fuel. That's where the hybrid aspect really helps.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

It is far more important that we prop up failed domestic automakers (and naturally their union "workers") than it is to throw everything at such experimental technologies.

[Robert Adams]

Gezz, back in the late 70s I had a SAAB 96. I drove it to Maine from Philly with 2 other people, a dog and luggage and got 49 mpg (regular gas) doing mostly 65-70mph. Had free-wheeling on some of the time, but still, been a long time sine I've even come close to 49mpg in anything. Even with my old Dasher Diesel I didn't get 49mpg.

[jyl]

The Chevy Volt is an interesting car. Serial hybrid. The gas motor only needs to be big enough to charge the battery, can run at the optimal rpm/load, and every second it is running, the energy generated will being used. Inefficiency of converting the energy is the challenge, I think.

[scottbombedout]

Originally Posted by jyl

These guys got 89.9 mpg from their Passat with a 1.6L diesel. 104 HP. Averaged 45 mph over the entire trip, so it was almost all on open road.

If you are in traffic, stop/go, typical urban stuff, then the high-efficiency engine has a problem. Even though it is a fuel- sipper, it keeps running even when the car is stopped or decelerating. That is a waste of fuel. That's where the hybrid aspect really helps.

Not all totally open road. Article did say there was some town driving. Granted not a lot.

It has stop/stary technology so engine is not running when stopped. Also it uses no fuel when it is decelerating. It doesnt use any fuel when your foot is off the accelerator and it is coasting in gear.

I think its brilliant

[jyl]

I didn't realize they've added stop-start to Bluemotion. That's pretty cool.

I'd like to see a diesel-hybrid. Maybe even a diesel-serial hybrid.

In real world daily use, the most fuel-efficient cars today deliver something like 45-50 mpg. I think that can be 60-70 mpg. But, the bigger gain would be if more people drove fuel-efficient cars.