NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Last June, my article about the Volkswagen (VLKAY) -made Audi A8 with 868 miles of range caused quite a stir, as it showed how diesel cars could be superior to electric cars -- like those Tesla (TSLA) makes -- for road trips. Challenged to prove diesel's range, I hit the road not with the A8's 21.7 gallon fuel tank, but in the A3 -- with a fuel tank of only 13.2 gallons.
I must have set some sort of record by driving the 2015 Audi A3 diesel 834 miles on one 13.2 gallon tank, achieving a bit better than 63 miles per gallon. This road trip took me from Albuquerque to San Diego, plus a few detours -- across basically one-third of the U.S.
Audi's all-new 2015 A3 is one of 2014's most raging car-sales successes, with sales up an astonishing 1,600% year to date in the U.S., compared to 2013.
Audi invited 16 journalists to pair up into eight of these cars to shoot for a fuel-economy record drive. Audi engineers sealed the fuel tanks and monitored us along the drive to prevent cheating.
I was one of them.
The Audi A3 diesel is rated by the EPA at 31 MPG city, 43 MPG highway. But unlike some other cars, Volkswagen and Audi diesel cars often outperform their EPA ratings. The question is by how much.
The lesson from this one-tank, 834-mile, 63 MPG journey is this: other fuel economy achievers had better watch out. I'm thinking about cars such as the Toyota (TM) Prius and the pure-electric Tesla.
The Toyota Prius can achieve approximately 50 MPG, and the Tesla can go almost 300 miles on a single charge if driven carefully. However, as a road trip car, the Audi A3 diesel is superior to these cars for a few reasons:
Compared to the Prius, the Audi A3 diesel not only can achieve better MPG in real-world highway driving, but it's a much more luxurious car. The Prius a fine car for what it is, but the seating position is mediocre and the overall interior sophistication is a bit dated. Handling and overall high-speed performance don't compare with the Audi A3.
Compared to the Tesla, it's a whole different ballgame. The Tesla doesn't consume gasoline. From a road-trip perspective, you first have to find a charger and hope that it's available and reliable. Then you have to wait. I typically keep my road trip stops to anywhere from five minutes to 15 minutes. That's not really doable in a Tesla.
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