New 2009 VW 1 liter concept car

[tjts1]

Originally Posted by MadisonMPG

Also, why can't VW just make a "car size" version of this? That would stop the "lets see the crash test" statements. Plus it should still weigh less than most cars. And it's meant for the highway.

Can you imagine trying to drive this thing with some over cafinated and under sexed soccer mom in her Expedition XL riding your rear bumper. God help you.

I see the point of what they're trying to accomplish here. It IS the most efficient configuration for a small 2 seater. The problem is a production car has to compete with all the other real cars out there meeting the same safety standards and satisfying the expectations of a car owner. It doesn't work on 4 wheels. Its a huge downgrade from a real car in most people's eyes and therefore will never see the light of day.

This configuration makes sense on 2 wheels and its been around for a while. Remember the ecomobile?









Peraves Monotracer Ecomobile – "Cabin-bike" (Peraves + Monotracer + Ecomobile + BMW + Cabin-bike)

This thing already gets 57mpg with a 1.2 liter 130hp BMW 2 cyl motorcycle engine. Stick a diesel engine in one of these and lets see what happens. Some motorcycle nut might actually buy one.

[dcb]

The "Nuts" are the ones handing out driving licenses to anyone with a pulse, then putting them in armored vehicles on the road with everyone else.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by MadisonMPG

Diesel's weight is outweighed by it's torque and quality.

Don't know enough to comment on that, but it's beside the point. What we were discussing was replacing an existing IC engine with batteries. Now if you have a car with two IC engine options that give the same power & performance, the diesel will almost certainly weigh as much, probably more, than the equivalent gasoline one, no?

So if Tesla can replace the Lotus gasoline engine with a battery pack that gives X range, etc, then it seems reasonable to suppose that VW could replace the diesel in their 1L car with batteries giving similar range, no?

[Big Dave]

The revised 1L looks more like a coffin and less like a sex toy.

VW needs to go all-in for their real market for these things and go single seat with cargo space for 6-8 bags of groceries. You ain't gonna get Momma in that back seat. Not even at gunpoint.

This car is strictly for the guy who has a long road commute. They might sell 25,000 units a year if they can keep the price under $18,000 US. Its a "halo car" like the Z06 Corvette. Get the rubes in the dealership to look then sell them a Jetta that they can use.

[Frank Lee]

Everybody went ga ga for Loremo; this is similar in almost every way but narrower and now it's a coffin/death trap.

[MadisonMPG]

Originally Posted by dcb

The "Nuts" are the ones handing out driving licenses to anyone with a pulse, then putting them in armored vehicles on the road with everyone else.

haha SOOO right. This girl in my ACT class drives some Mercedes and she damn near got in a wreck this morning. (had her license for 3 days)

Originally Posted by tjts1

Can you imagine trying to drive this thing with some over cafinated and under sexed soccer mom in her Expedition XL riding your rear bumper. God help you.

I said make a car sized one...
Oh, and about the undersexed part...I can handle that.

[cfg83]

Big Dave -

Originally Posted by Big Dave

The revised 1L looks more like a coffin and less like a sex toy.

VW needs to go all-in for their real market for these things and go single seat with cargo space for 6-8 bags of groceries. You ain't gonna get Momma in that back seat. Not even at gunpoint.

This car is strictly for the guy who has a long road commute. They might sell 25,000 units a year if they can keep the price under $18,000 US. Its a "halo car" like the Z06 Corvette. Get the rubes in the dealership to look then sell them a Jetta that they can use.

That's me, so I like it. Ha ha, coffin, I like that too. I could put skull and crossbone decals on it.

...

Frank -

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Note some of the aero changes:

no dorsal fin
did the moving engine compartment intake vent(s) go away?
less greenhouse-less solar gain and less glare in driver's eyes
less distortion (bubble) in windshield and side glass
hubcaps might be similar but styled to look less like discs; more conventional
camera pickups in regular mirror locations (if that's what those are) eh... i think those are conventional mirrors...
i don't recall V1 having those strakes under the rear end before- shouldn't say without reviewing a pic of that tho'.
wheelwell flare appears to stick out less, with less radius on aft edge (but photos can sometimes deceive too so...)

Dang it, I might have to break my "no new cars" pledge...

From NeilBlanchard's pix, they are cameras. I would offer conventional mirrors in the base version and the dual cameras as an option. In this way the consumer would be made *directly* aware of the MPG increase as a function of reducing frontal area. The brochure could present the "payback period" on the camera option.

CarloSW2

[evolutionmovement]

Looks simple enough to rewire if necessary. As much as I hate VW, I'd be interested. Have to make the canopy slide back, though. Maybe put the front wheels on outriggers and just throw a single wheel in the rear, also... Forget it, I'll just build my own.

[aerohead]

Makes my heart race just lookin' at it! Teutonic dopamine.

[MetroMPG]

Some video of the production process for the L1 concept (including a ridiculously long sequence showing the automatic door of a curing oven closing):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAUKEddl6ck

And working up the car's various clay models, from small to full size:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMh883wahq4

And on the test track:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LVcfl4SJ-o

More L1 vids from YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...rch_type=&aq=f