Volkswagen has managed to coax a record-beating 2 029 km out of one tank of petrol.

The feat is a new South African record, demolishing the previous mark of 1941 km set back in 2011 – also by a Volkswagen,the Golf TDI Bluemotion. The Passat used for the record was the 1.4 TSI DSG model. The achievement appears to illustratethat turbopetrols are making gains on the traditional fuel-sipping diesels.

Somehow the team responsible for the record attempt managed to cram 83litres of Unleadedinto the vehicle's 66-litre fuel tank. The extra 17litres certainly gave them the advantage in the end. The Passatmanaged to return 4.1 L/100 km over the 2000 km trip whichstarted at the Zimbabwe border and ended up just North of Cape Town. In order to achieve the distance on one tank, the drivers maintained an average speed of just 69 kph.

The journey of 2029 km would have taken over 29 hours to complete at that speed.

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