THE new Volkswagen Passat 1.4 TSI DSG has set a new South African record for a petrol passenger-car, for driving over 2 000 km on a single tank.
The new Passat drove a distance of 2 029 kilometres from the South African and Zimbabwean border gate at Beitbridge to Moorreesburg, which is about 90 km north of Cape Town, in two and half days. The average fuel consumption was 4,1 litres per 100 km and the total amount of fuel used was 83,19 litres.
The average speed was 69 km/h, which shows that Rodney Kinsey from Margate, who masterminded the economy drive, was not nursing the Passat along.
“We are very excited with the performance of the new Passat TSI to set the new South African record of driving over 2 000 km on a single tank. We always believed that the new Passat TSI engine had the capability to better our previous record of 1 941 km that we set with the Golf TDI Bluemotion in 2011,” Kinsey said.
“We filled the tank to the brim with 83,19 litres of fuel, which was 17,19 litres more than the standard capacity of 66 litres. The extra litres of fuel were important in helping us to achieve our record drive.”
Six drivers were used, who each drove for two-hour stints during the journey.
One of the official observers included Rodney’s brother, Pinetown’s well-known and veteran motoring journalist Malcolm Kinsey.
— Reporter.
