An ordinary Volkswagen Passat driven by an ordinary British journalist has made an extraordinary trip, driving more than 1,500 miles on a single tank of diesel fuel. That's the equivalent of driving halfway across the United States, and it set a new record.

Gavin Conway of The Sunday Times spent a little more than two days driving from Maidstone, Kent, to the south of France and most of the way back. The final distance is a bit unclear – Conway says in the Times (subscription req.) that he drove 1,527 miles, but VW put the official figure at 1,531 miles. Either way, Guinness says it set a new record for distance traveled by a production car on a single tank of fuel.

Conway drove a standard production model Passat BlueMotion with a 1.6-liter TDI engine good for 105 horsepower. The car has a 77.25-liter (about 20.3 gallons) tank that ran dry just short of Calais, France, on the way home, according to the Sun. Conway spent 33 hours, 53 minutes behind the wheel and averaged 45 mph.

VW and the British press say he got 90 mpg, and since it's Europe we're assuming they're talking Imperial gallons. If so, that's 74.9 mpg U.S.

For what it's worth, Craig Henderson recently drove his homemade Avion 1,478 miles from Washington state to Mexico and burned just 12.4 gallons of diesel for a stunning 119.1 mpg.

Photo: Volkswagen