New 2009 VW 1 liter concept car

[MetroMPG]

for the general public to drive

This VW would never be a "mass market" vehicle, so it's moot. (It'll likely never be produced period, so it's even more moot!!)

No, I've never crashed a car or been in one that someone else crashed. I also recognize that if I did crash, the cars I own would fare poorly relative to newer and/or larger vehicles. And that's acceptable to me, based on how and where I drive them. (PS: I also owned a motorcycle... the horror!)

Arguing about safety is like arguing about what colour is better. You don't like it, you don't buy it. Your position of what's acceptable passive protection comes down to a subjective personal call.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

This VW would never be a "mass market" vehicle, so it's moot. (It'll likely never be produced period, so it's even more moot!!)

No, I've never crashed a car or been in one that someone else crashed. I also recognize that if I did crash, the cars I own would fare poorly relative to newer and/or larger vehicles. And that's acceptable to me, based on how and where I drive them. (PS: I also owned a motorcycle... the horror!)

Arguing about safety is like arguing about what colour is better. You don't like it, you don't buy it. Your position of what's acceptable passive protection comes down to a subjective personal call.

You made some points.

When I was only 14 years old I got a brand new 125cc Enduro Motorcycle that I drove up and down in a holler far in the mountains of south east Kentucky- I think we had maybe one state cop for the entire county, so nobody was worried about the police telling me I could not drive- plenty of other young teens did the same thing back then.

Finally I broke my leg on my bike when I was moving 70MPH downhill around a corner and broadsided an old pickup truck- It threw me like Superman for a very like horizontal glide above the dirt road- THEN BAM I hit the road like an airplane flipping over. I loved the power of driving that bike, but I was taught very young about how dangerous motorcycles CAN be. I still like them. But the safety factor forces me to choose otherwise because I for one would like to live a long and healthy life- if possible. That's why I stopped drinking and smoking too.

As I have grown older safety has became more and more important to me in most everything I do. I may have little fear of EMFs, but I am more spooked by the Swine Flu than getting thrown of a big Harley. In this state the DRIVER of a motorcycle need not wear a helmet, only a passenger. Every year we have a bunch of drivers killed here, likely because they had no helmet on.

The main reason I was sold on my sub-compact was that it had side impact airbags, among others. Otherwise I might of got a med-size car.

[bestclimb]

Originally Posted by Doofus McFancypants

For passenger safety - Ejector seats. In case of pending crash - pull the lever and be "Free" of the car.

Careful with over passes and what not.

[MetroMPG]

Found this article that goes into some of the technical details of the car better than the usual blog pieces:

IAA 2009: Volkswagen Presents L1 Concept that Consumes 1.38 l of Diesel per 100 km - ATZ online

[aerohead]

I printed the sideview shot from Bonneville and put my drafting tools against it.
The body height peaks directly over the driver's head,and forebody/aftbody is virtually a 50-50 split with body length.
I put French curves on,and extended the body contours forwards and backwards to ground level.
In "ground-reflection" the car has a fineness ratio of about 2.55:1.
Here at the copy center,I scaled the car to the template.The roofline is a perfect match.
I don't know if civil engineers build roads to different specs in Europe,however,it looks like if the car was operated in N.America it would suffer ground strikes atop driveway ramps.Approach and departure angles are 16-degrees( perfect for approach,very liberal for departure),but break-over of 10-degrees cannot be maintained under the driver seat and would impact the roadway.
Also,the diffuser looks too steep and I suspect that the Cd 0.195 could be trimmed if they altered the rear end.
She's a real sweetheart,wish they'd consider production.Hell,I might consider getting a real job to pay for one!

[aerohead]

Thought I'd mention that the ARVW concept of the 1980s had a fineness ratio of 5:1 ( 2.5:1 in ground reflection ) which was applauded by Hucho,whom reported that this was the ideal.
Hucho kinda jumped Daimler-Benz for their C-111 which could have been longer,faster,and more fuel efficient.It was under the magic 5:1 ratio.

[NeilBlanchard]

This car is now one step closer to production! The new name is XL1:


(click on image for link)

There are/were several typos in the post, but they are saying 0.9L100km which is a little more than 260mpg US -- which a sizable increase from the second version, and back up similar to the first version!

Wowza!

Wait -- I almost missed this! It is now a side-by-side two seater! Holy crap! This picture makes it more obvious:



The seats may be staggered?

[Old Tele man]

...nice aero design, but will it stay that way if it gets produced???

[bestclimb]

If I were going to build a 2 seat car something very similar to that is what I would be aiming for.

[Old Mechanic]

This is the future of transportation. Configurations can vary but the combination of all the right stuff will be the solution to personal transportation.

VW has set their sights high recently with Toyota as their target, and they hit the bulls eye with this car. They better build it. If they do the rest of the worlds automakers will be scrambling to find comparable solutions.

regards
Mech