Volkswagen Touareg breaks world record Pan-American journey

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By Brett Davis | July 21st, 2011

A Volkswagen Touareg TDI SUV has just broken the world record for the Pan-American Highway journey down through America. It took a team of three drivers 11 days, 17 hours and 22 minutes to complete the 16,000 mile (26,000km) journey.

The new record was a full three days ahead of previous record, which involved travelling through 14 different countries, from Latin America to Canada and Alaska.

Lead by Rainer Zietlow, the team started the trip on July 2 at the southern end of the highway in Argentina, and drove almost non-stop until they arrived at the finish line set up in Alaska.

During their drive the team alternated in five-hour driving stints, day and night, only stopping for fuel and necessities. Zietlow, manager of German car event agency Challenge4 GmbH, spoke about the journey in a recent report. He said,

“We were able to overcome every weather challenge along the way, and our fueling and transportation stops ran like clockwork. Thanks to our sponsors, we were outfitted with a vehicle that could handle the demanding driving schedule and challenging conditions, and had amazing technical and driver support along the way.”

Driving the world’s longest highway wasn’t just for the sake of breaking the record either, Zietlow annnounced he would also donate 10 euro cents for every kilometre travelled to two villages in the Latin America, in conjunction with Plan International – a charity organisation which focuses on helping out Latin American countries and bringing children out of poverty.

The vehicle in question that made the journey was a Volkswagen Touareg TDI Clean Diesel SUV, which features a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 engine producing 176kW of power and 550Nm of torque. The SUV was chosen due to its long-range fuel capacity and its high durability diesel engine.

JML

3 guys on a diet of greasy roadside burgers and twinkies, farting and sleeping in the car, likely wearing the same outer clothes for 11 days. That vehicle would STINK!
bangel

According to corporal zero/funghi/spent8 its a ticking time bomb .

Good show , very reliable diesels , tough .
morons

That would mean they have to average 90ish km/h.

Ben 10

They were travelling on a highway the entire time so i’d say it’s do-able.

Neil M

I can say with some authority that parts of the ‘highway’ in South America would be death at 90km/h.

Alex

Correct but other parts in the dead of night they would be going a lot faster than 90.

When I drove through the night from Brisbane to Mt Isa (Some 2500km) we where sitting on 150kmh for hours through the dead of night. In a Dual cab 4WD mind you.

I’d say this VW would do the double tonne no problems at times…

morons

But if you take out the stops for fuel and supplys the average would go up a fair bit, if they did hit the double (illegal???) consumtion would be up near 10 or more so they would make 9 or 10 stops. I’m just saying it would be interesting to see the trim and how fast they were going and how many stops, anyone have a link?

Car Fanatic

Bent Gender and dung throw won’t believe it did 26,000 kilometers. Oh well I guess the facts speak for themselves. VW’s are reliable and Bent and Dung are retards.

elboro

God you are boring, you must be the life of the party talking all things VW

Richo

He’s the guy Jeremy Clarkeson is always talking about with the nasally voice:

“mmm my golf does six point one litres per one hundred kilometers because the small supercharger spools the turbo up so that its more responsive because more air is getting into the motor, this means the gearing can be longer meaning less revs, all good for fuel economy. I calculated this saves me 6.587 cents per kilometer of driving and I find that VERY interesting mmmmmmmm”
bangel

Well we have had it for years crummerdores and falcoons which is better , at every damn party , thank god their disappearing , no more donut tales.

http://Frosty Hicks

Still here, as the saying goes, nothing nice to say. Say nothing at all

Old Dog

Still boring. I hate toerags.

KM

Learn how to spell it first, then you make start to like them.

Jazrod

I think they meant toe-rag. As in a rag for a toe – Just expressing their dislike for that particular VW model . . .

I, however, love the Touareg!

BrisVegas

Did somebody say Road Trip!
July

i could easily do that with my Daihatsu.
The recipe is simple: 2 other girls to swap with driving,
a police escort everywhere allowing us to speed at any time,
no mechanic required coz it is a reliable Daihatsu, a second car to fill up petrol “on flight”.
Such useless PR-”records” – what are they good for ?
No ordinary buyer/driver will do or need such nonsense ever in a lifetime.
Car Fanatic

But no mention of a police escort July, so you my friend are full of BS.

And how were they speeding if they used Expressways most of the time.

Most of the countries they passed through have max speed limits ranging from 110-130 kilometers an hour. That’s way above their average speed of 92 km/h.

Well done VW, just ignore the little man with the diahatsu, he’s on welfare and spends his money ( well our money) on Winnie reds, VB and pot.