Guinness Mileage Record

[Dondoh]

I saw on the Guinness site that the Jetta TDI is the "record holder" for fuel economy.
I also saw here on PC that a civic hybrid did much better in a 50 state trial, but the Guinness site still rates the TDI a record.
Is there some reason that someone here couldn't certify a record to unseat the TDI as "mileage champ" on the Guinness site?
I suspect sponsorships wouldn't be too hard to obtain : Toyota, Michelin LRR tires, a gas company, etc.
Has anyone tried?
Is there some prohibition to "hybrids"?

[TonyPSchaefer]

What's the link?

[Dondoh]

Doh! I posted this in the wrong forum... Can you move it to Fuel Economy?

Cars - Largest Pedal-Powered Vehicle

[TonyPSchaefer]

Thanks for the link. I wasn't sure how the Guiness site worked and couldn't find it. Also I moved the thread.

This seems like a good challenge. Someone really needs to look into this. Shortly after I become independently wealthy and quit my job I'll take this challenge.

[JRitt]

67.9mpg is great mileage. I wonder what speed they drove to get that. What speed would you have to drive the Prius to beat that mileage

[Dondoh]

One of the articles I read was that they stayed within 5 miles of the speed limit.
So the challenge might be to find a lot of low speed limits...

[Indyking]

Originally Posted by JRitt

67.9mpg is great mileage. I wonder what speed they drove to get that. What speed would you have to drive the Prius to beat that mileage

The new Prius is more FE than the Jetta TDI even in the highway, at least at speeds up to 70 MPH, which I tested both 3 times! To beat that record, all you have to do is to drive the new Prius on the same route, under similar weather conditions, at similar average speeds, and through a similar traffic pattern (piece of cake !!!).

[schaefsn]

Here is a link to the Goodyear press release: http://www.goodyear.com/cfmx/web/cor...ry.cfm?a_id=24

It sounds like they hit all 48 states and had to observe all min/max speed limits and traffic laws. I think that this would be a blast. I;ll see if my wife and 1 year old want to go with me

[MSantos]

Originally Posted by Dondoh

...
I also saw here on PC that a civic hybrid did much better in a 50 state trial, but the Guinness site still rates the TDI a record.
...
Is there some prohibition to "hybrids"?

Hi Dondoh;

I don't think there's a prohibition on hybrids.

The record we set back in November 2008 has been submitted but there was a slight issue with the documentation that prevented it from being published earlier. This issue should be resolved soon.

Anyway, the reason why we picked the Civic Hybrid for that course is what it affords as a highway car with 3 people+luggage on board at legal highway speeds. In the hands of good drivers, the car is good for 75-90 MPG at steady speeds of 60-65 MPH. Sadly, at that time no other current hybrid could meet that level of FE performance especially with the cold temps of November.

The Australian couple that set the record with the Jetta TDI did so in the "summer" months and still took almost twice as long to complete the 48 state course as we did.

Still, I was hopeful that the Gen 3 Prius would allow us to achieve that but it appears it will not come close enough. Please remember that in order for the final MPG to be 68.5 MPG or better, the car must be able to do much more than that in the easiest/flatest prairie highways.
Only time will tell if we can repeat the feat with an upcoming Toyota HSD equipped that is more highway friendly at those speeds.

Cheers;

MSantos