Yesterday's drive took us west from Memphis, passing through Arkansas and making our way into Texas. After a night at The Joule hotel in downtown Dallas, we're back on the road. This time, however, we will not be following major interstate expressways, and will instead be driving on rural highways to get to our final destination in Amarillo.

Yesterday showed some pretty impressive numbers from all vehicle classes. The leading Q7 was able to obtain fuel economy numbers of 30.3 miles per gallon with an average speed of around 59 miles per hour. The NextAutos Q7 didn't do quite as well, only managing to get 28.6 mpg with an average speed of 58 mph. When we asked the winning team what their secret was, they mentioned that driving the Q7 in manual mode and using the wheel-mounted paddle shifters let them keep low revs in each gear. Also, they were fortunate enough to find a semi truck driver who was willing to play along and let the team draft behind them for over 100 miles.

For the rest of the cars, the winning A4 achieved numbers of 43.3 mpg at 58 mph with the number one Q5 observing 37.9 mpg at 60 mph. The little A3 made the trip at an average of 60 mph, averaging 48.4 mpg along the way.

As always, we'll have more updates later. We've got a few tricks up our sleeve which might make today's drive a bit more interesting (and efficient), so we'll be sure to let you all know how everything works out.

GM ChryslerWord broke last night that General Motors and Chrysler have had talks over the last month where they’ve explored a combined “GM-Chrysler.” It’s unclear how far along the talks are, but various news outlets have inside sources that say right now the chances of it actually happening are "50-50."

Whatever is going to be worked out is on hold for the moment, however. The Wall Street Journal has a source that says the current financial crisis has both sides going back to their sidelines and dealing with their own immediate problems. Talks could resume soon. The New York Times first broke the story and reported that a series of meetings have already occurred—some between the two companies’ most senior managers.

Chrysler is owned in large part (80.1 percent) by Cerberus Capital Management. They’ve been in talks with various manufacturers since the 2007 buyout; Nissan / Renault is another potential merger candidate if this GM deal falls through.

As the New York Times points out, a combined GM-Chrysler would potentially help both sides with product development, dealer density and brands. Oh, just image the badge engineering in our future…

The Detroit News has one of our favorite quotes about the situation:

David Healy, an auto analyst at Burnman Investment Research, said auto mergers have a bad track record. "You would think Chrysler would have learned its lesson," Healy said. "They have primarily destroyed shareholder value."

What are your thoughts?

+ GM-Chrysler news roundup (Google News)

As you’ve probably guessed, Tonke Campers are not injection-molded by machines. They're not made in giant factories owned by conglomerates. Instead, Tonke shows how you can marry 'oldtimer' materials and aesthetics with thoroughly modern fittings.

So you say you haven’t heard of Japanese mega star Rollerman? Please allow us to help you remedy that injustice, with a short look at this fascinating video above. Here, the wheeled-wonder takes on some dude riding a motorcycle, in a battle that teaches lessons about carrying speed through the corners. Watch and learn.

+ YouTube: Human bobsled vs. motorcycle

Just in case you missed the first announcement; the Nissan GT-R is very, very fast about rounding the Nürburgring. A new and more comprehensive video has recently surfaced, showing yet again the powerful 7 minute and 29 second lap that Godzilla was able to churn out. The new video comes in response to claims by Porsche that the Nissan is not in fact capable of recording such a lap. Click on the player above, brush up on your Japanese, and judge for yourself.

+ Edmunds Inside Line: Still Not Convinced? Nissan Reveals Second GT-R 'Ring Video

After a lovely dinner at B.B. King's in downtown Memphis and a good rest, we're back on the road with the Audi Mileage Marathon. Today's drive will take us from Memphis to Dallas by way of Little Rock, where we will stop for lunch.

So far, our Q7 has averaged fuel economy numbers of 28.8 miles per gallon. One other car got the same readings, so we're tied for best fuel economy. Our average speed, however, is a bit below the curve. We've averaged 60 miles per hour thus far, though our attempts at drafting behind semis and using the adaptive cruise control have indeed aided our MPGs.

As for the other cars, the leading A4 is averaging 44.8 miles per gallon at 61 mph, the leading Q5 is averaging 38.5 mpg at 59 mph, and the (only) A3 is getting readings of 41.1 mpg at 59 mph. Stay tuned to see how these numbers change throughout the rest of our drive.