New Guinness mileage Record TDI/Goodyear

fgbrault

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Connecticut
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2009 Jetta Sedan
The Taylors using the same 2009 TDI as they used to previously to set the Guinness record for circumnavigating the contiguous USA set a new record of 67.9 mpg, beating the 58.8 mpg they set last year. They used the new Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max tire and droe the same route as last year.

This is quite impressive. Has anyone tried this new tire?

The reviews at the TireRack seem mixed.

http://www.tirerack.com/survey/Surv...&tireModel=Assurance+Fuel+Max&tirePageLocQty=

Here is a link to the TDI article.

http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/08-18-2009/0005079576&EDATE=
 
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DoctorDawg

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I would love to believe that the right tire could improve my fuel economy by 9 MPG.

But I don't.

Sounds like the Taylors had a tail-wind this time.
 

CMB430

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HQ of "get nothing done"
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I would like to know if this is the same car used last time...and how many miles are on it. Plus, if I am not mistaken is true that you usally get better mileage driving west to east?

I do not think they even carried a spare bottle of water in the car, and the must never have taken the engine above 2200 RPMs. But, I would rather hear about this in a TDI than a Honda or Toyota.
 

DoctorDawg

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fgbrault said:
The reviews at the TireRack seem mixed.
It has always seemed to me like customer reviews at TireRack are always mixed. You ask ten guys what they think about a tire, you'll get twelve widely different opinions.

One fairly common theme in the reviews does seem to be that the sidewalls are kinda soft and wiggly, leading to degraded performance in turns. That dog won't hunt.
 

chimmike

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Sarasota, FL
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buying a tire that claims it'll improve fuel economy is a crock to me.

a tire that gives good mileage will be a hard compound, firm tire that won't have give in it. A tire like that will be rough riding, slippery in rain conditions due to hard compound, and will have good cornering characteristics.

Run a tire that you like, and run 35psi all around and you'll be fine.

I had a set of Yokohama Avid H4's in the past and they were excellent. Super quiet, excellent in the rain, rode nice and had a really long tread life.
 

fgbrault

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CMB430 said:
I would like to know if this is the same car used last time...and how many miles are on it. Plus, if I am not mistaken is true that you usally get better mileage driving west to east?

I do not think they even carried a spare bottle of water in the car, and the must never have taken the engine above 2200 RPMs. But, I would rather hear about this in a TDI than a Honda or Toyota.
My understanding frm the article is that it was the same car.
 

frugality

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Spring Lake, Michigan
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none, 2016 GTI
fgbrault said:
The Taylors using the same 2009 TDI as they used to previously to set the Guinness record for circumnavigating the contiguous USA set a new record of 67.9 mpg, beating the 58.8 mpg they set last year.
...and they pi$$ed off even more people by driving like a granny. :)

With regards to the wind, it shouldn't matter if it was a circumnavigation (a loop.) One-way coast to coast, there would probably be a noticeable difference whether it was E to W or W to E.
 
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raybo

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St. Petersburg, FL
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My only experience running underrated tires was when I put 89H Dunlops on our old '88 300E. The manual called for 91V (later reduced to 91H for the identical '89 and later years probably due to limited sources for 91V 15 inch tires).
It was a mush machine. When I replaced the 89H with Bridgestone 91H, it handled like a different car. I'll never run under-spec tires again.

Ray
 

Turbine Suburban

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Makes me wonder if they were chained to a truck for that record.

FWIW, in airplanes, you get headwinds about 70% of the time.
 

fcatwo

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Location
Washington
TDI
2009 JSW DSG
I've read that there are limits to how hard tires can be before they decrease rather than increase mileage. The theory is that an overly hard tire will be constantly impacting road imperfections and jumping over them while the soft-sidewall tire will absorb the impacts with less energy loss. It sounds like Goodyear has bought into the soft-sidewall approach for their maximum-mileage tires.
 
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