The Driver participates in Volkswagen’s cross-country journey with five of their TDI vehicles

Eight provinces, five vehicles and six tanks of diesel is the premise for Volkswagen’s TDI Clean Diesel Tour. It was a plan that took several months to create and organize with the goal of an Amazing Race style adventure that would show off Volkswagen’s range of TDI models. An impressive feat to say the least! 

In a time where fuel economy is always a concern, Volkswagen wanted to show off their diesel options as alternatives to regular gas guzzlers, hybrids and all-electric cars. For those that are unaware, TDI means Turbocharged Direct Injection. This is a process used by Volkswagen where turbochargers compress air used for combustion thus allowing the engine to generate more power after each quick fire of the cylinders.

There’s has been plenty of debate in favour of diesel engines, but for some reason or another, Canadians have not taken to them like their neighbours across the pond in Europe. In contrast, diesel engines comprise 50 percent of sales, while they account for 2 percent of the Canadian market. Volkswagen have always been leaders in the diesel market with 28 percent of their sales coming from TDI models and they are welcoming any manufacturer challenges to provide more press and attention to diesels. Recently, Chevrolet has jumped onto the diesel game with their Chevrolet Cruze Clean Turbo Diesel and Volkswagen couldn’t be happier.

Setting the stage for the VW TDI Clean Diesel Tour

Many people have dreams of travelling across the country.  There’s no better way to see our beautiful country then experiencing the different cultures, people and climate then a continuous journey across it. The best part about it is you really just need to use one road – the Trans-Canada Highway. For Volkswagen, it provides a platform to showcase their TDIs and diesel claims in a real-life adventure.

Travelling across the country is a big time commitment with a lot of planning. Just the thought of planning such a trip might intimidate the best trip organizers and have them shy away from such an undertaking. Hence, Volkswagen split the coast-to-coast adventure up into five legs with the attempt to have five teams along for each stretch. The Driver was invited along for Leg 4 where the travel route would be from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Medicine Hat, Alberta. Each team would get to test out all five TDI vehicles on hand across three provinces including the Beetle, Jetta, Passat, Golf Wagon and the Touareg. The Golf was excluded from this adventure, as Volkswagen was showing off all of their 2014 models and the 2015 Golf is expected to be released next year – there are no 2014’s in Canada.

The Driver’s David Taylor and I were sent on this journey through the Prairies and we had our eyes set on bettering the rest of the teams in any challenge that came our way and in fuel-efficient driving. What the rest of the teams didn’t know was that David and I are experts in efficient driving after being participants in AJAC’s Eco Run over the past few years. No matter what the vehicle, we’ve adopted driving techniques that can help reduce fuel consumption that lead to fuel savings. We were instructed by Thomas Tetzlaff, Public Relations Manager at Volkswagen Canada, that this wasn’t an exercise in hypermiling, so we relied on a gentle acceleration, maintaining a steady speed and avoided higher speeds that the other teams succumbed to.

Four of the cars on this trip share the same powertrain, the 2.0-litre, four-cylinder engine that puts out 140 horsepower and a more impressive 236 lb.-ft. of torque. The higher torque to horsepower on a diesel vehicle is commonplace, as a diesel engine compresses just air (not a fuel/air mixture as in gas engines) at a high temperature, so when fuel is directly injected it ignites automatically without a spark. With this system, the diesel engine needs to do more compression than a gas engine to get the fuel to ignite, hence the higher torque numbers.

The other engine on this journey belongs to the lone SUV, the Touareg. It uses a 3.0-litre, six-cylinder engine that puts out 240 horsepower and a mind-blowing 406 lb.-ft. of torque. 

Day One: Winnipeg, MB to Regina, SK

Day one began with the Golf Wagon. It would take us from Winnipeg to Brandon and we were determined to reach some good numbers right off the bat. This led to us being last upon arrival for all of our challenges and meals, but we still managed to win one of the challenges through our wisdom and guile. It could be otherwise worded as taking advantages of mistakes from the other teams. 

The Golf Wagon managed a combined fuel economy of 6.1L/100 km, which surprisingly ended up being the best of all of the teams, but we knew we could do better. The afternoon trek from Brandon to Regina saw us blow away the competition by scoring 5.4L/100 km in the Jetta and 5.5L/100 km in the Passat. No one touched these numbers including the Volkswagen representatives who know these cars inside and out. 

As impressive as the fuel economy numbers are the drive was smooth and relaxing. There’s something about driving the flat grounds of the Prairies that’s so peaceful while you drive through plenty of farmland, greenery and livestock, followed by plenty of farmland, greenery and livestock, and repeat. It’s nice to have the right vehicles to complement that peaceful ride and the Jetta and Passat provided that for our journey. The air was refreshing and clean and so were the cars we rode – a perfect pairing. 

Day Two: Regina, SK to Medicine Hat, AB 

As day two began, I wanted to change our approach for two reasons. First off, I didn’t like the fact that one team was bragging about being the first to depart and arrive, while achieving impressive fuel economy numbers. That got my competitive juices flowing. In didn’t take much convincing to the other David, based on my second point that it would be informative to see how well these TDIs perform under a typical every-day driving style. 

We set out on the Touareg from Regina to Swift Current passing through Moose Jaw. But before we could get started, we were sent on another challenge at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s Heritage Centre which surrounds their Academy. After an initial tour through the museum, we were treated and I say the word treated loosely, to drill training by one of their sergeants. Thanks to the excellent marching and listening ability of Mr. Taylor (I know, shocking); we once again excelled at this challenge. 

After being yelled at and disciplined we were back on the Trans-Canada Highway driving a little above the speed limit as one would normally do. The Touareg is fitted with an eight-speed automatic transmission differing from the six-speeds in all of the other participants. It was the most luxurious ride out of the five with soft leather throughout the cockpit and comfortable black leather seats. They even enhanced the entertainment console by making it larger and fitted with more options. Safe to say our numbers spiked from the previous day as we achieved an aggressive 8.6L/100 km, well above the rating that Volkswagen promotes. 

We continued this driving style with our final car, the Beetle and scored a 6.7L/100 km. However, the number was inflated due to some photo opportunities along the ride from Swift Current, Saskatchewan to Medicine Hat, Alberta. On this final drive, the sky was dark and stormy and we even found a picturesque salt harvest coming from Chaplin Lake, which came out of nowhere. 

The Beetle caused some trouble in finding a comfortable seating position, but how could you complain – it’s a Beetle. It’s not for everyone, but it does have enough character and pep to be enjoyed by a certain few who likes its size and charm.

In Summary

There are many varying road trips, but a cross-country trip with the family would be best suited with the Golf Wagon or the Touareg. The choice of better fuel economy versus luxury and speed would be the decision and that’s up to individual preference. As for the Jetta, Passat and Beetle – they all showcased how impressive their TDI engines could be. Based on the numbers so far, it looks like six tanks of diesel might have been a reach for Volkswagen considering the driving habits of some of these automotive journalists, but it can definitely be achieved. So far the Passat (4.29 tanks) and the Touareg (4.90 tanks) have used the least amount of tanks of diesel with one leg to go. 

Volkswagen planned a great journey to show off how much savings diesel engines can provide. There’s a lot of hype about hybrids and it’s about time some love is shown to those diesels. Diesels have always exhibited savings in mileage by bettering fuel economy numbers in gas-powered vehicles by an average of 25-30 percent and the TDI Clean Diesel Tour made that reality. Their past negatives of being smelly have stayed in the past and this new TDI proves they should at least be given a chance. There must be a reason to why they are so successful in Europe and perhaps it takes events like this to show off their true worth and value.

If you were holding your breath whether the two David’s won their leg – you can rest assured that we were victorious with an average of 6.46L/100 km! Was there ever a doubt?