The VW Jetta TDI has proven to be quite popular in the short time it's been on sale here in the U.S.: it has put sales of the Tiguan in the cooler and the ones that are available are very hard to get. Now the fairest Jetta of them all has set a Guinness World Record by traversing the lower 48 U.S. states while returning 58.82 mpg thanks to John and Helen Taylor.



The Taylors took 20 days to cover the 9,419 miles in a counter clockwise direction, and this wasn't a hypermiling slow-as-you-can-go affair – they stayed within 5 mph of the speed limit. Their car was completely stock as it consumed just 11 tanks of ultra low sulfur diesel and traveled 853 miles per fill up. With that kind of mileage and handling high up on the fun factor, the Jetta TDI makes an excellent case for itself if you like driving and want to lower your fuel consumption.

VW also recently told us that the go-fast Jetta TDIs in the TDI Cup Series are returning an average of 25 mpg and doing their entire 7-race series on just two tanks of gas, which includes qualifying. If that's true, there's got to be another world record in there somewhere...

Source: AutoBlog

Maybe Ford should take a look at Doug Pelmear’s 1987 Ford Mustang before the 2010 Mustang rolls off the assembly line. According to him he has been able to re-engineer his Mustangs engine to produce 400 Horsepower and 500 Torque while improving his gas mileage to an astounding 80 Miles per gallon. He created the car to compete in the $10 million Progressive Automotive X Prize which is a “race” to find an affordable, marketable automobile that gets at least 100 miles per gallon, or its equivalent. You can read the complete article at the jump!

Doug Pelmear has lots of secrets beneath the hood of his black 1987 Ford Mustang on which the only outward hint of individuality is a series of stickers.

But looks can be deceiving. Mr. Pelmear’s 21-year-old pony car has enough technological innovation to quadruple the classic Mustang’s original gas mileage while almost doubling its available horsepower.

That’s 80 miles per gallon and 400 horsepower, folks. And the 48-year-old electronics engineer and master mechanic is not done yet.

The third-generation automotive tinkerer hopes that next year his Mustang - more specifically its engine - will help him win the $10 million Progressive Automotive X Prize: a “race” to find an affordable, marketable automobile that gets at least 100 miles per gallon, or its equivalent.

“I’m an optimist, and I think people need to know there is hope out there,” Mr. Pelmear said. “That’s why I decided to enter the X Prize race. I could have sold this [technology] off, but then people might not have seen it.

“It’s not about the money. Our country really needs this.”

The Progressive Automotive X Prize is sponsored by the X Prize Foundation to focus attention on and improve technology for real-world fuel economy.

Private teams compete in two categories, mainstream and concept, and compete against one another in a staged race that will judge performance, fuel economy, and marketability. There are no official entrants yet, but scores of teams have signed letters of intent to participate in the races, scheduled for 2009.

What radical technology did Mr. Pelmear introduce? His patents are not fully in place, but he said it mostly is a matter of electronics and precision.

“We redesigned a lot of different things on the [engine] block,” the engineer said.

“It’s still a rod-and-piston engine; it just has a lot more electronics on it.”

Mr. Pelmear said that traditional gas engines operate “at a very low efficiency, like 8 to 10 percent, and our engine is like at 38 percent efficiency.”

He said he could greatly increase even that number if his car used traditional gasoline instead of a mix of gas and 85 percent ethanol, which burns hotter but releases fewer hydrocarbons into the atmosphere.

His engine also would be more efficient if he had sacrificed some of its 400 horsepower or 500 foot-pounds of torque, but Mr. Pelmear said his design is intended for “real-world” uses, not the laboratory.

“I’m not the highest-miles-per-gallon vehicle entered in the X Prize, but I think I’m the more consumer friendly, more down to earth, more conventional,” he said.

Mr. Pelmear’s Mustang is entered in the X Prize’s “mainstream” competition against other modified pro-
duction cars. According to the X Prize foundation, he will compete against several dozen other vehicles from around the world.

Source: Mustang Evolution

The PRV-9 induction system is a bolt-on replacement for stock intake manifolds. By inducting air through a venturi throat, the doo-hickey burns a high-velocity homogeneous fuel-air blend more efficiently than standard induction; eliminating throttling losses and improving fuel vaporizing, precluding cylinder wall stratification. PRV Performance tested its intake on a JDM D15B SOHC-equipped Honda Civic, driving it at a steady 65 mph on a hilly 203-mile test run. The Civic achieved a reported 52 mpg, up from 41.7 on an unmodified Civic, with similar reductions in pollutant emissions. The EPA has tested an earlier prototype at 48 mpg, and will test this newer system later this year. PRV Performance claims that the technology is hybrid-compatible.

Source: The Truth About Cars

Later this year (see the timeline below), we will finally begin to see an influx of new model diesels in the United States. While diesels make up 50% of the market share of vehicles in Europe, they’re still trying to shrug off the stigma of being dirty, noisy beasts here in the US. So what changed? Follow the jump for a good read on the future of diesel and what it means to us consumers!

What are “clean” diesels?

In 2006, the EPA required the introduction of Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD), which removed a major polluting component of diesel fuel. Since sulfur would damage advanced emissions control systems, ULSD paved the way for better emissions control technology.

As early as August, we will start to see a new era of diesels that employ new technology to meet the strictest emissions standards in the world—BIN5/LEV II—which are enforced by 5 US states: California, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, and Vermont. BIN5/LEV II standards severely cap nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions (0.05 g/mile), one of the two tailpipe pollutants that have given diesels a bad rap (that and particulate matter).

Newer filters in these emissions systems trap particulate matter, while each model uses it’s own method to process NOx. Several models, including those from BMW, Mercedes, and Audi, will require the maintenance of a six- to eight-gallon tank of urea. The ammonia-rich solution (for example: Mercedes BlueTEC) is injected into exhaust to neutralize smog-forming nitrogen oxides. Since the urea tanks only require replenishing every 12,000 miles or so, inconvenience seems minimal, and some models, like Honda and VW diesels, meet emissions requirements without them.

While you might expect most of these diesels to get exceptional mileage, some of them do surprisingly poor. For example, the Mercedes and Audi models only get around 18/25 MPG (making this a good reason to continue to avoid SUVs). I know that the new emissions technology is supposed to negatively affect mileage, but 25 MPG is unimpressive, considering that VW’s Jetta BlueTDI got a road tested 60 MPG.

While the high price of diesel fuel is eating into some of the economic advantage of buying a new diesel vehicle, the difference is offset by mileage gains of 25 to 40% over comparable gas models. You might not see too much difference in sticker prices, either. Some models could cost $1,500 to $3,500 more for this new emissions control technology, but VW says it’s Jetta SportWagens could cost $2,000 less. Also be on the lookout for Federal tax credits that could be as large as $3,400 per vehicle.

Here are some cars coming out that will take advantage of diesel:

VW - 2009 Jetta BlueTDI sedans and SportWagens
Mercedes - Mercedes-Benz ML320 Bluetec, other GL-, ML- and R-Class sport crossover utilities (and someday: Vision GLK BlueTec diesel hybrid).
BMW - 335d sedan and X5 35d sport wagon
Audi - Q7 3.0 TDI utility wagon
Honda/Acura - Acura TSX sedan, other models could follow
Jeep - Jeep Grand Cherokee
Nissan - Maxima sedan
Subaru - Legacy sedan or Outback wagon

Source: Gas2Org

Wait. There must be some mistake. How can an autobahn-inspired performance machine beat one of the most fuel-efficient cars ever made? Read up after the jump!

It looks like that is exactly what happened on a 545-mile London-Geneva run, when a diesel-powered BMW 5-series posted better MPG stats than a petrol-based Toyota Prius hybrid. The BMW 520d with a 2.0-liter diesel engine and regenerative braking posted an impressive 41.9 mpg - about 0.9 mpg better than a full hybrid Prius. The difference may not seem huge. But given that the Prius weighs about 500 lb less, BMW's fuel economy lead was significant enough to raise new questions about which drivetrain technologies are more environmentally viable and should become the future mainstream of sustainable transport.

The 5-series' triumph over Prius can be attributed to "a series of energy-saving features BMW calls EfficientDynamics: battery recharge when braking, good aerodynamics, low rolling resistance, a continuous fuel consumption gauge on the dashboard, and a six-speed manual transmission that is rated as improving fuel economy by about 10%."

Source: GoodCleanTech