They're back -- Jetta "Mileage Champs"

[bwilson4web]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/au...ef=automobiles

. . .
Days earlier, Mr. Taylor and his wife, Helen, had completed a 48-state drive averaging 67.9 miles a gallon: 9,505 miles in 19 days, filling up only 13 times and spending a total of $371.03 for diesel fuel. That beat the Guinness record of 58.8 miles a gallon they set a year ago on nearly the same route in an almost identical 2009 Jetta TDI.
. . .
Goodyear, a sponsor of the Taylors’ drive, says the new tire reduces rolling resistance by 27 percent compared with the conventional Assurance tire it replaces, which translates to a 4 percent improvement in highway fuel economy.
. . .

<sigh>Silly season, again.

. . .
He turned around in Yonkers, shutting off the engine at a traffic light that was red for nearly a minute. Soon the Jetta was headed back to Manhattan and the mileage indicator showed the three dashes again.

“It’s a 45 zone,” he said. “This is what we did 14 hours a day for 19 days. It’s not rocket science.”

Bob Wilson

[efusco]

67.9 is better than Wayne et al's 68.5mpg in the HCH hybrid last year? OK, if they say so...

Either way, I'd like to see Wayne take on the same challenge in the Gen III Prius, with the improved hwy efficiency and the amount of hwy driving required for that trip I think they'd blow it away...oh, and don't forget those fancy high mileage tires.

[qbee42]

It's a typo. The title is really Jetta "Mileage Chumps".

Tom

[bwilson4web]

14 hrs * 19 days = 266 hours ...

9,505 / 266 hrs ~= 35.7 mph (block-to-block)

50/60 = 50 minutes driving / 60 minute clock ~= 83.3% driving cycle

35.7/.833 ~= 42.9 mph average driving speed

Compared to my earlier benchmark:


Looks like it would come in at about 70 MPG ... pretty much a wash. But it would need to be run in warmer temperatures. But Prius, Honda Insight, or Honda Civic Hybrid ... they'd all do it easily enough.

How did our friend over at PriusOwner's do on his great Odyssey?

Bob Wilson