link There’s been talk about the VW 1L concept for years. Since VW built the original, fuel economy, safety, price, and release date has been speculated upon and argued about, and I’d finally stopped thinking it was ever going to happen. However, according to VW’s CEO, it should hit the market in 2010. The VW 1L is so named because, in theory, it only consumes one liter of fuel per 100 kilometers traveled. For those of us in the US, this translates into about 235 MPG. Definitely far and above anything on the market currently. The concept, developed in 2002, actually got better fuel economy, scoring a sweet .89L/100km in VW testing. It’s likely to use more fuel in real world use, but with that kind of mileage in testing it’s unlikely that anyone would complain about an “unsatisfactory 200 MPG.” The thing is, that kinda of fuel economy comes at the price of riding in an extremely small two seater, with the two seats being one in front of the other, a la jet plane, rather than a standard side by side. The 1L also looks frighteningly close to the ground, which is part of how it pulls off a drag coefficient of .159, much better than any current production vehicle. While the final design isn’t done, VW will probably power the car with a 1 cyclinder diesel engine of displacement lower the .5 L, meaning the car’s speed will top out at 120 km/h. The other obvious issue is the one I’m sure you’re all wondering about too. How safe is this thing? While I’m not usually one to complain about small cars, the 1L is extremely light and low to the ground. If it were released in the US I could easily see it being run over by any old F150 or Hummer. Nothing is out right now about safety, but as the production date nears, I’m sure VW will be doing lots of testing to reassure the public. 2010 isn’t that far off, in fact, it’s about the same time the Volt is supposed to be hitting the streets, so you’ll likely hear a lot more good and bad about this car in the coming months.
basically a dirt bike engine in a car. of course more efficient and diesel. basically as safe as a motorcycle... won't be as many big ass trucks cruising around when gas hits 5+ bucks a gallon.
Honestly? I'm worried about speed bumps in this thing. I once bottomed out my 2001 Honda Civic on speed bump (way too tall of a bump on a crappy street); how is this thing gonna do? And along that line of thinking, what about steep inclines trying to get into parking lots? It's a nice idea, but I think I'll stick with my Honda for now.
That's just ridiculous.. Probably would cost an arm and a leg for that miniature car too ($25000 ~ $30000) Not to mention how ugly it looks. There's no new technology here. It's just a POS toy car. I'd rather buy a 600cc bike to save gas than ride around in that crap.
WHAT? Available 2010? By the looks of that picture, they already have about 20 made... I can count about 4 that are in the photo... and they all have one DOOR open!
lol, theres only 1... it's in the corner with mirrors on each wall. those other cars are 'behind' the photographer.
Add a $2000 dollar option for a small battery pack/motor driven supercharger, and I'm sold. That thing will be slow as christmas. As far as ground clearance is concerned, it's possible to adjust ride height on the fly these days... but I'm unsure what cost/weight penalties are involved.
With the price of fuel you have to wonder what will be the first super efficient car that will have mass appeal and really sell to the a average guy in the street. Its seems like a lot of these cars look terrible, are over priced or just scare people a bit with what ever technology they are using. I think it would probably take a car manufacturer to take one of its models that already sells well and drop a hybrid/super efficient engine in it before one of these cars really goes mainstream. Thats a massive gamble though!
I would be scared as hell to drive that thing especially in the rain. That car only has one wheel in the back.
I don't think it'll take in the US, but I doubt that's the target market anyway. It makes more sense in more crowded places with higher gas prices that already drive small cars. That does make me think, though, that we need to actively discourage big cars on our roads. The fear of getting run over by a big car makes people shy away from little cars like this one.
