Some of us dream of one day being entered into the Guinness World Record books either for a talent or an act that makes us famous or in some cases infamous.  On the famous side, a new record for fuel mileage has been achieved and recorded.  This record took place in Europe last month and may be exactly what you need to change your mind about what car to purchase when the time comes to get a new car at your local dealership.

We all know Honda to build some of the most reliable cars on the market and recently the Civic has been popularized for its run in the Civic R at the Nurburning track in Germany which topped many classic cars and recorded a time of only 7:50.  Even with that said, another Civic made a much different record just last month and found its way into the Guinness Book of World Records.

The Civic Tourer wagon which was driving over a course of 8,387 miles was able to actually achieve the equivalent of 83.5 miles per gallon during the trip.  Powered by a 1.6-liter i-DTEC diesel engine the car was driven by Fergal McGrath and Julian Warren who are members of Honda’s European research and development team.  This pair drove the car across the 24 contiguous countries of the European Union to complete the trek and recorded the awesome fuel mileage stated.

The car they drive was stated to have a fuel economy of 61.9 mpg which is still astounding but what is more amazing is the fact they only had to fill the tank up nine times during the trip.  This equates to an average of 932 miles between fill ups.  The data to prove the validity of the trip and the results was recorded by  logbook, GPS, video and photographs.  By driving an average of 7.5 hours per day over the course of twenty –five days these two gents were able to complete their trek which started on June 1 and finished back at the Honda plant on June 25.

As a comparison the can be made, the previous record was held by a Golf TDI which crossed the 40 contiguous states with a fuel mileage of 81.18 mph over the course of 8,233.5 miles.  The rules for this run stated the same two drivers had to  complete the entire trek and drive in an unmodified car.  This was the best non-hybrid mileage ever recorded and the pair credited good route planning and smooth driving to the total success they achieved.

This gives the new Honda Civic one more feather in its cap as it seems the Civic is covering the entire gambit of automotive needs from power and performance to fuel mileage and ease of driving.  McGrath and Warren can certainly celebrate their success and enjoy being on top for now.  No doubt another automaker will be right on their heels very soon.