A 2015 Volkswagen Golf TDI Clean Diesel has set a Guinness World Records title for using the least amount of fuel to travel through the 48 contiguous states.
It took 16 days to travel 8,234 miles throughout the continental United States. The Volkswagen Golf used just $294.98 of Shell diesel fuel, achieving an average of 81.17 miles per gallon over the trip. The journey beat the previous record for a non-hybrid car of 77.99 mpg, as well as the hybrid car record of 74.34 mpg.
The primary driver for the trip was Wayne Gerdes, an automotive journalist, expert hypermiler and founder of CleanMPG.com. Gerdes' co-driver was Bob Winger, an electronics engineer with a background in energy and conservation projects. Gerdes is also responsible for setting the previous Guinness World Records achievement for lowest fuel consumption of a non-hybrid car, which was done in a 2013 Volkswagen Passat TDI.
Follow fuel-saving techniques
The 2015 Volkswagen Golf TDI, equipped with a 6-speed manual transmission, has a government-estimated 45 mpg on the highway, but Gerdes said, "It is possible to get truly impressive mileage results by using just a few simple fuel-saving techniques." Follow the posted speed limit, lock in your gas pedal on hills and don't race to the stoplight to save fuel.
This article originally appeared on Bankrate Cars Blog.
