VIDEO: Six countries on one tank? Welcome to diesel driving in Europe
For Americans who have never driven in Europe, it might be hard to imagine driving through six countries on a single tank of fuel. In the U.S. it would be hard to drive through six states on a single fillup. British hypermiling enthusiasts John and Helen Taylor set out to see just how far they go in a pair of Jeeps, in this case a Compass and Patriot. The official range of those too models is 473.5 miles. Unlike the U.S. versions, these European Jeeps are equipped with 2.0L diesel engines rated at 36mpg (Compass) and 35mpg (Patriot) combined.
The couple set out from London and headed for the Channel Tunnel. Once they got off the train, they set off through France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland. They ended up in Slubice Poland, 698 miles from their starting point. Each vehicle used about 48L of diesel with the Compass achieving 55.6mpg (U.S.) and the Patriot doing slightly better at 56.2mpg. Pretty impressive numbers for crossovers (come on, these are not SUVs even if they are Jeeps, in name at least). Head over to the Chrysler Blog and check out the video.
[Source: Chrysler Blog]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mattias 1:51PM (3/05/2008)
That's not bad. I have to have a very light foot on the accelerator to get the same mileage from my Peugeot 307 with the 136PS diesel. The pumpe-duese diesels might be louder, but they are a little bit more efficient.
Reply
Carlos Ferreira 2:19PM (3/05/2008)
Are they? Rumor has it that VW dumped the PD because they couldn't make it as frugal and clean as the Common-Rails.
Carlos Ferreira
http://www.greencarvalue.blogspot.com
Reply
Mattias 3:13PM (3/05/2008)
These are still the PD engines. BTW, the common rail diesel is no rumor, it is already sold in the Tiguan and the A4. The A3, Eos, Passat and Golf will follow very soon, Skoda and Seat will follow later. Customers like Chrysler will also follow later.
And I doubt that Chrysler then is still interested in Volkswagen's engines: Chrysler announced to cut the number of suppliers of diesel engines by one. Volkswgaen is likely to be dumped, future versions of the FWD layout cars are likely to be powered either by the B class diesel or VMs 420 series.
Reply
Guenther 7:04AM (3/06/2008)
I was more impressed by the 2 guys in their isuzu getting 50(US)mpg on their trans UK trip. Not bad though....
Reply
Gabe 11:30AM (6/04/2008)
I live in Texas, where you can't drive through six counties in a single tank. I'm not even sure you could pass through six city limits.
Reply