"Fact: everyone hates refueling. That’s why racecar drivers refer to it as “the pits.” [Editor’s note: citation needed.] Matt Welch, owner and general manager of Auburn Volkswagen near Seattle, couldn’t agree more.
Operating under the indisputable logic that two Passats are better than one, Matt invited his buddy Chris Meier to drive up from his dealership, Herzog-Meier in Beaverton, OR, to make the trip with him. With their new Passat TDI SEL Premiums topped off with clean diesel fuel, they hit the road and drove 484 miles before stopping in the Northern California town of Yreka—not to fuel up, but to sleep for the night. On the second day, they drove another 315 miles to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Even at 800 miles into the trip, neither car’s fuel light had come on. In fact, Matt drove north out of San Francisco and spent 90 minutes stuck in stop-and-go rush hour traffic before he decided to fuel up. When he did, he had driven 829 miles—and he still had two and a half gallons left in the tank. The Passat TDI boasts 43 mpg on the highway, but Matt was able to get an incredible 55 mpg on his trip. He estimates that, had he avoided the rush hour snarl, he could’ve made it 950 to 1,000 miles on a single tank." [Continue reading...]
