240 miles to the Gallon. VW is ready with a new car.

[stephendare]

Wonder why detroit's business sucks?

http://autos.yahoo.com/auto-shows/frankfurt_auto_show_2009/1106/Volkswagen-L1-Concept;_ylc=X3oDMTE2djM5NjIyBF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLXRvZGF5BHNsawN2d19jb25jZXB0

A one-liter car? This moniker describes a car that uses one liter of fuelâ€"about a quarter of a gallonâ€"to propel a car for 100 kilometers, or 62 miles. The one-liter car’s fuel economy translates to almost 240 mpg, and VW has had such a car in its sights for some time now. In 2002, outgoing VW CEO Ferdinand Piëch, now head of the company’s supervisory board, drove a cigar-shaped prototype from VW headquarters in Wolfsburg to a shareholders’ meeting in Hamburg.

Now the idea of the one-liter car has been resurrected. VW’s biggest news at the Frankfurt auto show was the L1 concept, a prototype that "is close to production" and "will be developed," the company says. Three ingredients were needed to make it happen: a supremely efficient powertrain, great aerodynamics, and lightweight engineering.

As to the powertrain, VW has opted for a two-cylinder, 39-hp turbo-diesel engine combined with a 14-hp electric motor. There is a stop/start system and a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. The L1 can reach 100 mph, but fuel economy at that speed drops to a shameful 1.38 liters per 100 kilometers, or 170 mpg.

The front-wheel-drive L1’s aerodynamics are optimized by the two-seat layout with the occupants sitting in a row. The result is a car that is relatively long, quite low, and extremely slim. The monocoque and body is made of carbon fiber, and total weight of the L1 is a mere 838 pounds. We think that the seating configuration will likely be changed as development progresses; two people sitting behind each other is too unusual for prospective buyers.

Even so, the L1 looks refined and close to series production, which couldn’t be said of the 2002 concept. It could be on the market as soon as 2013, Volkswagen sources tell us. The L1 may seem ironic to those who remember that VW is also responsible for Bugatti, which makes the fastest production car in the world, the Bugatti Veyron, and which just unveiled the W-16 Galibier sedan concept. But if you think about the styles of both Piëch and current VW chairman Martin Winterkorn, this contradiction seems logical: These guys both tend to go to extremes. And we submit that the Volkswagen L1 is a more significant step in saving resources than are heavy gasoline-electric hybrids.

[reednavy]

I wouldn't buy that ugly POS, no matter how good it's mileage is.
Another fact is I'm 6'2 and used to trucks.

[braeburn]

Looks pretty spiffy. Still wouldn't be enough to convince me to ever own a car again 

[buckethead]

I was a VW man before it was cool.


Or has it always been cool? I forget.

Actually, I like it, but I'd wager it comes with a hefty price tag, carbon fiber chassis and all.

[NotNow]

It does highlight diesel and the problem with taxing.  The federal tax on diesel should be lowered to equal that of the tax on gasoline.  Turbo-diesel's get much greater gas milage and are an immediate answer to our oil importation problem.

[Ocklawaha]

Nice to see VW going back to their roots. Under powered putt - putts that with a full load of hippies (do they still make those?) it might crest the mountain pass at 11 MPH.

Oh crap! Horror of whores! So you pick up a call girl for a drive around downtown and _______ You want her to sit where? This will never work! Dumb ass Germans.

OCKLAWAHA

[BridgeTroll]

It is a concept car... Detroit has more than a few itself... The Chevy Volt has gotten alot of press.  Im betting the cost of the new VW will not exactly make it the "peoples car"...

[reednavy]

You couldn't drive that thing around here, with all the potholes, loose manhole covering and uneven pavement, it'd come apart.

Like I said, that thing is hidieous.

[NotNow]

We are wasting time and effort looking at show cars from Europe.  Demand that congress legislate tax laws today to encourage upgrades of our refinery infrastructure.  Increase efficiency and reward the most efficient refineries.  Increase diesel production and lower the federal tax on it.  Subsidize the development of turbo-diesel and hybrid turbo-diesel vehicles.  The technology is available right now.  Although the motors themselves are slightly more expensive, the milage from diesel power is nominally 40% better than equivalent gasoline power.  Change tax law and environmental requirements to encourage the design of a standard modern nuclear generation plant and build that plant again and again around the nation until 50% of our domestic electricity is nuclear. 

We don't need space age future cars.  Every car and truck on the road today would be half again as efficient with a turbo-diesel power unit and modern six speed auto, along with minor weight reduction.  Plug in electric cars and our home electricity can be cleanly  and reasonably cheaply provided by a single design, repetitive built nuclear generation plant.  Every American homeowner should be offered tax incentives for solar panel installation and every electric company in the country should be buying power from those homeowners when excess power is generated.

Continue research into renewables such as hydro, solar, wind, and tidal.  With leadership and common sense, we won't be in the energy hole ten years form now.  But it appears that we Will waste time on unproven technologies and CO2 credits. 

[Dog Walker]

While driving in Virginia this past week with the air-conditioning off (cool up there already!)  and on local roads, we got 51.5 mpg in the wife's 2006 Jetta TDI over a couple of hundred miles.  Diesels are the easiest and least expensive way to higher fleet mileages for the automakers.  The Detroit Three are against them because they don't have the small diesel technology that the European and Japanese auto makers do and they would be at a competitive disadvantage if the Federal tariff on diesel was equalized with the gasoline tax.

BTW, we were running B-20, a twenty percent bio-diesel and eighty percent peto-diesel blend.  No soot, no smell with that blend.

[mtraininjax]

Triple A would rather shoot the car on the highway, than to change that back tire!

[NotNow]

DW's Jetta is a perfect example of technology that we should use TODAY.  The MPG of every vehicle on the road could be doubled in three years through the use of turbo-diesel power, efficient transmissions, and light weight construction.  We don't have to drive mouse cars or wait for any scientific breakthrough.  Why isn't GM or Chrysler doing this right now?  If you have ever traveled to Europe and driven a diesel Peugeot or VW, you know what I am talking about.  Jeep owners have been asking for a four cylinder diesel for years with no result.  Why is this?  Why are we taxing diesel at a higher rate?  Why isn't there some semblance of energy policy in our government?  Do we have to wait for oil to rise in price to get any action at all from our lawmakers?   We are giving out money like condoms at a whorehouse, why can't we target tax breaks to modernize our refinery infrastructure? 

The only thing that the government has accomplished lately is to stop coal electrical generation in its tracks  by pushing the CO2 credits farce.

[Lunican]

Highway diesel is taxed at a higher rate than gasoline in an attempt to recoup some of the costs that tractor trailers incur on the roads.

[NotNow]

OK, so change that to a surtax on their ICC licensing and lower the excise tax on diesel.

[Overstreet]

It looks like a motor cycle with a body.