VW Think Blue Eco TDI diesel shows promising fuel efficiency
Posted By RichC on November 19, 2013
It is about time Volkswagen diesel vehicles demonstrate what is in store for their new TDIs. (European story)
Frugal hatchback travels 995 miles from Nantes to Copenhagen without refuelling
On a 995-mile test run supervised by German inspection company DEKRA, the Golf TDI BlueMotion has returned an incredible 97mpg. The feat was achieved on a special Think Blue Eco Ride designed to push the car’s fuel parsimony to the limit. And our frugal hatchback performed admirably, with the 110PS TDI engine driven from Nantes to Copenhagen on a single 50-litre tank of fuel. Simon Thomas, Head of Marketing of the Volkswagen Group and the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand: “This is a really impressive result. The trip shows that the interaction between fuel-saving BlueMotion efficiency technology and a well thought-out proactive driving approach allows economy figures that are hard to match.”
The trip took 20 hours and 45 minutes, starting in Nantes in the west of France, the European Green Capital 2013, via Paris, Antwerp, Bremen and Hamburg, before ending in the Danish capital Copenhagen – next year’s European Green Capital. The Think Blue Eco Ride shows that the standard consumption figure based on the official New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) – already extremely low at 3.2 litres per 100 kilometres (88.3 mpg) and 85g of CO2 per km – can even be beaten.
The standard 50-litre tank was filled in Nantes, where it was sealed by a DEKRA inspector. At the end of the trip, 46.92 litres of diesel were put into the same tank under the supervision of the same inspector. The Golf TDI BlueMotion is one of the technical highlights of the Golf family. Like all the other Golf models, it has a standard start-stop system and regenerative braking mode. In addition, the perfected aerodynamics, the low weight of the vehicle, the modified six-speed manual gearbox and especially the tyres, which have been optimised for low rolling resistance, contribute to the high efficiency of the Golf TDI BlueMotion. Think Blue is our holistic environmental sustainability strategy.
Comments