Diesel Cars Get Best Mileage. 99.24 MPG Not Bad For A Diesel Vehicle. Something diesel owners have known for many years and I personally have learned since I started driving diesel cars in 1986 is that diesel cars get superb fuel mileage. My first diesel was a 1984 Volvo station wagon. But my diesel experience leaped to a mush higher level with the purchase of the Volkswagen TDI in 1997.
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US $10,600.00
I have been driving the VW TDI diesel powered cars ever since. To give you an example of what it is like to drive the Volkswagen TDI diesel imagine your car gets 42 to 43 MPG in the city. Now take a trip and while driving on the highway your car gets 49 to 50 MPG. Other cars stop for gas at about 350 miles. Your VW TDI diesel routinely travels 550 to 600 miles between fillups and that is if you drive all your miles in the city. When you fill the 14 gallon tank it only takes about 13 gallons because you still have a gallon of reserve left. This has been my driving experience since 1997 when I bought my first Volkswagen TDI.
Smart for Two Diesel picture courtesy Wikimedia Commons
As further proof of the benefit of driving a diesel car take a look at this article by Steve Duda written about the little Smart for Two powered by a fuel sipping CDI diesel engine. The Smart diesel achieved almost 100 MPG to win the MPG Marathon in the United Kingdom.
The MPG Marathon is the UK’s best known and longest running economy driving event. Now in its eleventh year, the MPG Marathon is where drivers team with automakers to squeeze every drop of fuel economy out of their cars, and is also seen as a proving ground where automaker’s mileage claims are either bolstered or seriously questioned. Organized by Fleet World magazine, the Marathon also recognizes those drivers and their cars which record the greatest percentage improvement over the manufacturers’ published fuel consumption ratings.
The event took place earlier this month, with participants putting their economy driving skills to the test around a 370-mile route that included steep hills, twisting country lanes and inclement weather in southern England.
The “Overall Best MPG” winner of the event was a smart fortwo CDI. This particular smart vehicle is a tiny micro car that features one of the world’s smallest turbo-diesel engines – an 800cc, three-cylinder gas sipper. The smart notched a rating of 99.24 MPG over the two day event, the best figure ever recorded. This year makes it three wins in three tries for the smart CDI in the “Overall” event. Their winning mark was more than 15% better than the official combined fuel consumption figure of 85.6 MPG.
In the hybrid class the Infiniti M35h earned top marks. The car returned 36 MPG, which was seven percent better than its official combined figure of 33 MPG. Most of the other hybrids who participated in the competition, both diesel and gasoline powered, fell short of their official combined fuel consumption figures. The Infiniti M35h cruised on electric power for 185 of the 370 mile route. Basically half the route was completed with the 3.5-liter gasoline V6 engine switched off. On one 54 mile stretch of the economy run, the M35h ran for 30 miles on power from the lithium-ion batteries and electric motor. Read the original article by Steve Duda at at EarthTechLin.com.
What is even more interesting is that the diesel powered Smart even outran the hybrids by a margin of almost 3 to one. Just think, if more people drove the new fuel efficient clean diesel cars such as the Volkswagen TDI there would not be the fuel crisis we find ourselves in today. Do something good for your pocketbook and start driving a diesel car today.
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