GM Engineer Gets 900 Miles From Single Tank With Chevy Cruze Diesel: Video
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Diesel drivers tend to receive better real-world fuel economy numbers than what is officially estimated by the EPA. For instance, it’s not uncommon for a Volkswagen Jetta TDI driver to claim 50 miles per gallon on the highway, when the official EPA rating is 42. The same was the case for GM engineer Tessa Baughman when she drove a 2014 Chevrolet Cruze Turbo Diesel from Southeast Michigan to her home town of Arkansas, getting a 900-mile range on one tank. That’s an incredible 200 miles over the 700-mile estimate provided by Chevy.
How did she do it? Just by driving five mph under the speed limit. Watch the video just below:
Update: it seems that the video is no longer available due to being marked as private.
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5mph under the speed limit? So she was being an ass hole…
The speed limit is actual maximum speed you can drive. It is not a speed that you must drive. If you look to your left there are one or more lanes for passing. When I see some one going 5 under the limit I don’t think of the A word. That’s the guy 3 feet behind me at 75 MPH.
Although that may be true, that guy go 75mph is just like every other person on the highway. Go with the flow of traffic.
So long as the person going five under isn’t in the passing lane, I’m okay with it.
Except in some states, you can legally pass on the left or the right if the road has 3 or more lanes. They don’t teach you that in Driving School (even in a legal state) because they feel is wrong to pass on the right.
If she’s in the right lane, then fine.
It seems like everyday now, I have to switch from the left lane to the center lane to pass a Prius. That is being an ahole.
A–hole yes…but only on a 2-lane highway, or the one who is driving 5 mph less in the passing lane…or the one who drives mph less on a 2-lane highway, and then 25 mph more when passing lanes appear :-).
GM needs to stick to the real world numbers and driving. Give me the MPG at 10 MPH over and we can talk.
I am glad this car is offered as it will either do well and make everyone happy or it will shut up those who kept begging for this car and show them why it was not done before.
This car is as much a question mark to GM as us.
Too bad all those how cry for Diesel will not be buying one or this would be a run away hit. These people too often are like the guy who tells you to call him when you are selling your car and he will buy it. Seldom do they come through.
I just hope they meet their numbers as GM has set reasonable standard to expect for sales. At least if it tanks the car will still do well overseas.
Chevy is turning out very good cars lately; won’t beat me with my current 487.5 mpg on my Volt though. I’m considering this one as second driver though. Well equipped also.
Ha, ok so lets say she was going 55 in 60 ect ect… What the heck is wong with that… In Indiana most semi trucks are required to go a specific speed under cars, this would be going with the flo of traffic, ha anyway… Real world numbers should be spoken for as well…
Legend has it that when she finally had to go to the gas station, she forgot how to fill a car and had to ask for help…
Hell at 900 miles I would have to stop one or twice for a squirt anyways.
In addition to the 900 mile/tank run, she did say that on the way back, she drove with traffic and got 800 miles on one tank. Using the advertised 700 miles/tank @ 46 mpg to determine tank size (15.2 gal), the 900 mile “5 under” run works our to 59 mpg, and the 800 mile “with traffic” run works out to 52.5 mpg. Impressive.
Good for her. My concern is this: Will this same powertrain be offered in the redesigned 2015 model that you all have been showing spy photos of?
Just for comparison, I get around 38-39mpg with my 1.4T auto Cruze going 70-72mph on the interstate, but one time I locked in the cruise at 55 on a rural highway, I got 46mpg – speed does kill mileage.
this is no bullshit, my 2006 CTS has the 3.6L (not the new 3.6L with direct injection).
it had a CTS-V exhaust, Volant cold air intake, x-pipe, throttle body work, etc.. nothing significant done to the engine. I had it lowered on Eibach spring (1.2″ drop) and was running Continental DW tires (‘ultra high performance’ summer tires) on stock 18″ aluminum rims. it had the 5spd auto. power was up to 275hp from the stock 255hp.
Driving 225miles to the cottage, on rural highways (speed 80km/h) doing 90-95km/h and not really passing too many people, I could easily hit 36-37mpg avg over the whole trip. That is both what the DIC (drive information center) said on the dash, and what I’d calculate when I topped the tank off at the pumps. Hell driving around the city I’d still get 20-25mpg.
The car was phenomenal on gas considering it’s weight of 3700lbs and 275hp.
Manoli, Ha true that…
Five under on level ground , no wind I get 48.5 in my Sonic Turbo Manual.
Actually my 48.5 was at 62 MPH in a 65 zone…even MORE impressive.
GM gave me more for my money than advertised.
To get almost 12 over my Sonic`s 48.5 and not have to shift ???
Sign me up !
Well gone, GM! Now you have beaten VW’s claim in the Diesel range. Add eAssist and the EPA city MPG will be unbeatable!
@ Scott
I am going to buy one.
Not bad, but no where near as impressive as the couple who drove 1626 miles on one tank of fuel in a 2012 Passat TDI.
Not to say that isn’t impressive, because it is. But the TDI has a 3-gal larger tank capacity. So it still knocks the Cruze, but is just slightly less impressive lol
I just told my wife about this and she doesn’t believe it. Thinks the gas tank is huge or something. 900 miles is about 1500 km here in Canada. I’m betting this car is huge here. The VW diesels make up around 50% of their sales up here.
I’m in Canada too, (Waterloo, On). Diesel here is 1 cent cheaper than regular 87 octane. Not a bad deal at all.
What was her average speed. 5 under here in Michigan is 70, In Ohio it could be 60 in some areas? Will this 5 under work on gas engines? My Pickup at 50 MPH will drop out of Over drive when on hills. I usually try to average 60 at a min.
It’s pretty well known rule of thumb that for every 5mph you drive above 55mph you are loosing 7-10% efficiency.
I thought most cars OD kicked in at 70km/hr (45mph) but in any case, you would likely be better to maintain OD. Your truck drops out of OD on hills because it needs to downshift, just like any car will typically downshift when ascending an incline.
To put it simply, the faster you go, the more the air in front of you is working against you.
There are many factors to consider when going for optimal speed; number of gears, drive ratio, fuel saving tech (DFCO, for one), etc.
What it comes down to mostly is common sense.
Mozeby and Andrew, I’m also in Canada (Alberta). I cannot wait to see fuel economy number that car will have up here. For comparison, the Cruze Eco with manual is rated 61 MPG highway here, for those Americans reading this. My worry is that they will soak us even more on price up here and kill the potential sales. Note that for a long time, certain models or trim levels are priced extra-high. If they do it right, that car will go forever here on the relatively empty prairie highways. 🙂
Well they can’t go too crazy on price, my guess it’ll be about the same as a Jetta TDI.
The problem with fuel economy estimates, and one reason why EPA numbers are different than other estimates, is that they are using different gallons. EPA might rate the VW Jetta diesel at 42 mpg, while VW Jetta owners will say 50 mpg. Both are correct, but one is very misleading.
The difference is from the fact that many vehicle manufacturers will use Imperial gallons in their rating, while EPA is using US gallons: 42 mpg in US gallons = 50 mpg in imperial gallons. 50 mpg is not lying, nor is it false advertising…but it is very misleading as who the hell uses imperial gallons in North America? :-).
video doesn’t work
Indeed it doesn’t. Looks like someone at Chevy/GM marked it as private all of a sudden.