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Volkswagen Passat, the Canadian hypermiling champ

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Khatir Soltani
Last May, John and Helen Taylor travelled 2,617 kilometres across the United States on a single tank of diesel with a Volkswagen Passat TDI. Now, they've just finished a cross-Canada trip in which they served as mentors for eight other drivers.

The ''Smarter Driver Event" aimed to answer the question: Could eight average Canadians make the journey from Halifax to Vancouver (6,340 kilometres) on just six tanks of fuel?

To find out, the teams relied on a 2012 Volkswagen Passat equipped with a 170-horsepower 2.5L five-cylinder engine and a six-speed automatic transmission.

As it turned out, the Passat set a new Canadian record by averaging 5.59L/100km and 1,352 kilometres per tank. That means a grand total of just 4.69 tankfuls were used.

Khatir Soltani
Khatir Soltani
Automotive expert
  • Over 6 years experience as a car reviewer
  • Over 50 test drives in the last year
  • Involved in discussions with virtually every auto manufacturer in Canada