John and Helen Taylor are on one hell of a road trip.
The couple from Melbourne, Australia hope to set a record for the lowest overall fuel consumption during a drive through all 48 contiguous U.S. states. They're in the midst of the Shell Smarter Driving Tour, a 23-day, 9,600-mile jaunt that must include at least 15 miles in each state. Their vehicle of choice? A Chevy Cruze Eco. They hope to squeeze 2,000 miles from each fill-up of the car's 12.6-gallon tank. That comes to 158.7 mpg and seems implausible, but if anyone can do it, the Taylors can.
See, the Taylors are professional hypermilers. Not only are they a pair of fuel misers who routinely set fuel efficiency records, but they coach would-be hypermilers and lobby governments to include fuel efficiency in driver training programs. These two are serious — they've set 88 world records for low fuel consumption, including the one they're trying to break. They did it back in 2008, filling up a 2008 VW Jetta TDI only 11 times on a 9,419 mile trip.
The Taylors wring every possible mile from a tank using a miser's touch on the throttle and brake and going through the gears as quickly as possible. That works nicely in the Chevrolet Cruze Eco, a car we found remarkably thifty with gas.
"The Chevy Cruze Eco is a mid-range car that most people recognize and most people can afford, hence making a good choice for the average person on the street," the couple wrote in an e-mail sent from a roadside wifi connection somewhere in Texas.
Their total mileage will be a closely held secret until the end of the trip, but the Taylors said they're getting better than 46 mpg after 1,600 miles in their bone-stock, manual transmission Cruze. And that's from a car with an EPA estimate of 28 city, 42 highway.
So far, their experiences in the states mirror what they see in Australia: Too many drivers wasting fuel speeding from stoplight to stoplight. None of that for the Taylors, who tool along just below the speed limit to maximize efficiency.
"To this end we have been driving at 60 mph in a 65 mph zone, whilst all other traffic fly by us at 70 to 75 mph," the couple wrote, estimating that this difference in speed cuts fuel consumption by 23 percent.
And just like in Australia, the Taylors say they'll usually catch up to the leadfoots who roared past them.
UPDATE, August 24, 2011: Shell reports the "2,000 miles per tank" number listed by other media outlets is erroneous. The Taylors were just trying to beat their own record.
Photo: Shell
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