Honda is set for the ultimate fuel economy test with an 8,500 mile drive across all 24 connected EU countries, with an aim of setting a new Guinness World Record for fuel economy.

On 1st June 2015, a Honda Civic Tourer with a 1.6 i-DTEC engine will set off from Belgium and return 25 days later with 8,459 miles on the clock and hopefully a world record..

Under the Guinness World Record rules, the same two drivers must be in the car for the entire journey, so it's useful that the drivers, Fergal McGrath and Julian Warren, have been colleagues for 18 years at Honda’s European manufacturing facility in Swindon, UK.

McGrath commented: “We are very much looking forward to the record attempt, and while we’re excited we’re both a little nervous about the scale of the task that awaits us. A huge amount of planning has gone into taking on this challenge and we look forward to what we hope will be a successful result when we return to Brussels on June 25th. But we’ve got more than 170 hours behind the wheel to contend with first!”

It will be interesting to see how the Honda performs over the challenge, and more importantly how it's fuel economy compares to the official consumption figures.  However, it must be remembered this is anything but "real world", as this challenge will involve almost all motorway driving, and the reality for most drivers is a large element of city/slower driving.