Posted on 07/04/2008 8:18:52 AM PDT by television is just wrong
VW's 282 MPG Super Fuel Efficient Car The 1-Liter car has been around in prototype form since 2002 and greens everywhere have been drooling at its 282 miles per gallon fuel economy (or 1 liter of gasoline per 100 kilometers, hence the name). VW has finally decided to make more and sell them, and a limited edition (estimated in the thousands) should start selling in 2010.
1-Liter Car Technical Specs The One-Liter car (or 1-Litre, over in Europe) weights only 660 pounds. The body is made from carbon composites and it is shaped to be extremely slippery, giving it a coefficient of drag of only 0.16 ("the average car comes in around 0.30 and the Honda Insight had a Cd of 0.25"). The prototype was powered by a 1-cylinder diesel engine, but the production model should have a 2-cylinder diesel (which means it could be powered by algae-biodiesel!), and maybe even a stop-start anti-idling feature (to cut the engine when the car is stopped).
please do not be offended.
It looks kind of like the “car of the future” from some earlier World’s Fair. Quite cute, sort of like a fighter jet’s pilot compartment out taking a spin on its own.
It also reminds me of one of the covered motor scooters our tourists ride around on here in my town, though, so I’m not sure I’d feel really good about it on the highway. Plus, nobody would see you, and they’d squash you like a bug!
It has a retro look to it.
Thanks for posting. Ping for later
Style is kind of cool, but trying to figure out if it is much more than a Vespa with a body thrown on it.
No offense taken...thanks for the article....I clicked on the link and checked out the photo spread of the car....notice the one taken on the autobahn....looks like a VW van behind the 1-litre car protecting his back...also looks like they’ve got traffic backed up....my impression from this is the little car can’t make sufficient speed to be safe.
Why would anyone want a car that has the top opening such as this prototype. I guess the person who designed it lives in a desert and never has to worry about a down pour of rain.
Imagine trying to keep the interior dry when getting your butt out with an umbrella.
Idiotic design...obviously done by a man...LMAO!
In the late 70’s I got the strange notion to spend some bills on a motor that strapped onto the wheels of a conventional bicycle, basically making it into a moped. It ran on an oil-gas mixture and probably got the equivalent of over 100 mpg, with a max speed of about 12mph. It was fun for the few weeks it lasted before it died, and then the hobby shop wouldn’t take it back as defective.
‘Seems what goes around comes around, again...
To be registered as a scooter. Two of these wouldn’t weigh enough to be classed as a car.
LOL!
Does the red fez hat come standard or part of an options package?
Truckers will be able to retread their rigs tires without even having to pull over.
Otherwise known by the name ‘grease spot’
12 mph is fairly good for these little motors, but true they don’t hold up. A few days and that’s about it. Guy up the road had one on a skateboard and made about two trips to the office and home before it gave out.
That is a awesome picture. Notice the gigantic line of traffic stuck behind this annoyingmobile. Imagine having that in front of you on your way to work!
For someone fresh out of college with limited funds at the time, it turned out to be a major waste of good money. I guess I was affected by the liberal mantra re: the fuel shortages at the time...
Are they smoking CRACK? For that price I can get a Cadillac CTS.
1939 VW 0.925 Liter (925 CC) KdF Wagen. (Note the little "hooked cross" logos.)
God bless the free market and unbridled human ingenuity.
Well, I doubt the designer lives in a desert either. Those of us who do live in the desert, know full well what happens on a windy day when sand is blown about. Those small particles of sand are so sharp, they pit windshields. Just imagine what they would do to your face. Can you say OUCH?
The lack of any guard rail is also scary.
Thats pretty cool. A lot of folks on here seem to be hostile to small efficient cars but i’m a real fan. My next car will probably be a Mini or a Fit. I don’t need to haul big loads often and I have an old pickup truck for that anyway.
This one might be a little small for my taste but 200+ mpg is hard to ignore with todays gas prices.
Looks kind of cool. I see Smart Cars all over Detroit and I think they look kind of silly.
The 1000cc BMW Boxer engine in a diesel form would make an incredible platform for a 70MPG automobile. I hope more good things come from european designers.
The body is made from carbon composites.
I wonder where the carbon comes from?
Awesome. If they were actually affordable, I’d drive one.
Call it a girdle for two.
LOL!! Convenient!
Translation: Something about this car makes it unfit for US roadways, so no-one will actually buy it.
Oh, I see...
Rumors put the price at anywhere between “20,000 to 30,000 Euros (about $31,750 to $47,622).”
For what is functionally a three-wheeled motorbike.
Hmmm, a license plate that says WOBL1. Wobble1? Might want to rethink that plate, guys.
I've said this on other threads and I'll say it here, OPEC has screwed the pooch here. They have allowed the market to gain an economic incentive to switch away from their product and consumers are now taking these new ideas seriously. I mean, how many of you wouldn't consider an electric car that has a 200+ mile range and the ability to accelerate faster than a Porsche? (The Porsche would kick the electric car's butt over the long haul but in short sprints, the new electric cars are faster off the dime.) And it takes only a couple of hours to recharge. The Greenies want you to do it for the planet, deluded fools they are. But once the technologies are fully mature, the economic and geo-political reasons to make the switch will become overwhelming. Just think of the day when we can tell the House of Saud where they can stick their oil wells? Heaven!
AMEN, BROTHER!! LOL
Looks easy to park - also easy to miss when changing lanes in a large vehicle.
But it will be OK for here in the states once Senator John Warner passes a law making the maximum speed limit 45 mph.
I wonder why it doesn’t have it’s lights on.
I stuck a heavy-duty electric motor on my bike made by a company in California. It’s lasted over 4 years, pushes me up to about 16 mph, but I can still peddle as well, so it’s also an exersize stimulator. I can ride to work without getting too sweaty, and then ride home harder because I can shower when I get here.
The battery is getting a little weak though after all those years, and I’m not sure the company is still in business. It cost me about $350 bucks.
I hear that this thing can run on cow farts.
Maybe I could keep one in the back of my truck so I can drive from the parking lot into the office.
The problem is when they get a cheap little motor that might power an electric shaver and expect it to propel their somewhat well-fed selves as if it would work for a regular commute and suddenly they have wasted $200 or so that could have bought a halfway decent ordinary bicycle. That reminds me, I should probably buy a new bicycle and some spare parts like tires before they stop delivering gasoline to our local Chevron station.
Preach it, Mikey!
Some things don’t add up.
100 kilometers on 1 liter would be about 235mpg, not 282. (100km = 62mi, 1gal = 3.8L)
Second, a one liter engine at 660 pounds is motorcycle territory. They get around 50mpg on the highway.
The drag coefficient of a bike is 0.5 to 1.0 depending on style, which is 3 to 6 times more than this car. However, the car’s frontal area looks 2 to 3 times greater than a bike.
There is the mpg of gasoline vs diesel, but I can’t see how this would be such a huge difference. Diesel only contains 17.6% more energy per gallon than gasoline (147,000 BTU vs 125,000 BTU).
So how do they get more than four and a half times the fuel milage of a motorcycle? If true, they must have a rather low power engine, which would limit its acceleration and top speed. Probably no good on the highway.
The mountian also appears to be Zermatt, and therefore
1.) It is in Switzerland (that’s but only a temporary political arrangement, which will be altered by the NSDAP.)
2.) There’s no other peak anywhere near Zermatt on which that road could be located. Maybe Speer can move Mont Blanc next to it.
It's OK to say "Swastika".
From their annual report, 2 years in a row and mentioned in their last online 1/4ly Press Conference:
"Additional Adjacent Markets:
While we are not yet ready to disclose our next adjacency, we have identified, selected and dedicated internal resources to this new opportunity. The following areas demonstrate the kinds of opportunities we are exploring for the company for future growth: more global, more products designed for on-road use, and more products or distribution opportunities outside the powersports industry."
What is this project/product and will it be a paradigm changer? 3 wheels or 4 ?
Not as provocative.
What kind of car is that? There is one in my area that has been sitting for years.
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