Record-Setting Honda Finds Home in U.K. Museum

Honda’s Civic Tourer finds a home in the British Motor Museum after a record-breaking hypermiling drive through all 24 contiguous European Union countries in just 25 days

It received the Guinness World Records title for fuel efficiency after Honda engineers Fergal McGrath and Julian Warren covered the 8,387-mile (13,498-km) trip in June last year with an average fuel consumption of 100.3 mpg (2.35 L/100 km).

The Honda stopped only nine times to refuel, at a cost of £459 ($602), with an average tank lasting 932 miles (1,500 km).

The rules for the record required all 24 EU countries to be visited and the same two drivers had to be in the car for the whole journey. Fergal and Julian shared a minimum of 7.5 hours in the car each day.

The car was presented to British Motor Museum curator Stephen Laing, taking its place in the Collections Centre in a lineup of more than 300 cars.

Laing says the museum in Gaydon, Warwickshire, 90 miles (145 km) northwest of London, is a fitting place for the record-holding Civic Tourer to park for one final time.

“The Civic reflects the modern-day output of Britain’s diverse motor industry, the story of which the museum tells through its collections,” he says.

The Civic joins one other Honda at the museum, a Prelude given as a gift to British Leyland chief Michael Edwardes by Honda when the two companies signed their partnership agreement in 1979.

“It is fantastic that this British-developed and built car will now be on display in the British Motor Museum, and it is a testament to the hard work of the Honda team involved,” McGrath says.