The Sunday Times (the real, English, one that is) motoring correspondent took a bog standard VW Passat BlueMotion 1.6 TDI for a drive to see how far he could get on a tank of fuel.

We all know that if we get 600km out of a tank, we are doing pretty well. That wasn't enough for Gavin Conway: he is now the holder of the official Guinness Book of World Records for squeezing 2,463 km out of the 77.25 litres that the tank held from brim to bottom.

That's 31.88 km/litre.

The car, out of the showroom, has a lower ride height than non-BlueMotion models - that reduces drag. It has an aerodynamic body kit (no hostile sleeping policemen, then), the engine has Stop-Start technology, charges the battery only when it needs it, the gears are taller (slow away from the lights, then, so discipline is needed not to boot it to try to make up places!) and low-rolling-resistance tyres.

VW say that the drivers notices nothing different about the car when he's driving and that servicing and maintenance are just the same as for a conventional car. But, so long as the driver doesn't try to make it perform like the racing diesels that share some of the engine tech, it should return both much higher fuel economy and a longer life car due to less stresses in use.