Dream with me - your perfect car

[19bonestock88]

Shape the final product like the VW XL1


Make the monocoque from an aluminum alloy for weight savings...

Make all exterior body panels from carbon fiber skinned plastic(think sheets of coroplast die formed to shape)

Keep the interior simple but rattle free.. I would want adequate instrumentation and a decent sound system but not ridiculous... the car should seat two

Forged amooth faced alloy wheels, with just enough tire for grip (195-215 width at max)

Use modified LEA Ecotec (2.4L), 12.5:1 compression, high flowing intake and exhaust manifolds... run it on E30 fuel(95oct)
Run behind this engine a GM F40 six speed transmission, 3.55 final drive and a pretty tall sixth gear... fit it with the factory Quaife LSD

Use this powertrain to drive the rear wheels

Package the width of the car small enough to just encapsulate the occupants(staggered seating) and keep the rear width small for shorter axles(more torque to ground)

Done right the curb weight should land right under 1000kg, CdA should be great and it, with about 210whp/215wtq, should be properly quick and fast... the gearing and CdA, coupled with lean burn on an ethanol fuel should see mileage with “normal” driving in the mid forties and with an experienced hypermiler at the helm, could be as much as 60mpg

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Dream car....hmmm....a sedan that had the styling of a supercar (without the dimensions) but the size/dimensions of a Civic or Accord, with a boosted version of the 1st gen Insight's engine, but that also had solar panels on the roof, and wind turbines in the grille to capture energy to transform into electricity to run the car at high speeds...and that got over 100 mpg/mpge.....there were no limits to the question were there?

[freebeard]

....a sedan that had the styling of a supercar (without the dimensions) but the size/dimensions of a Civic or Accord....

Size/dimensions vs proportions. Wheel/tire size works in your favor, but if you keep the height in proportion, how would you get in it?

...and wind turbines in the grille to capture energy to transform into electricity to run the car at high speeds...

I hope you not suggesting what this sounds like you're suggesting.

We don't need no li-mi-tations...

Lately I'm leaning toward an Arcimoto FUV on light-plane floats, with the center drive wheel spinning a floating paddlewheel.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Size/dimensions vs proportions. Wheel/tire size works in your favor, but if you keep the height in proportion, how would you get in it?

A little of both. A sedan based on a supercar but that is taller to overcome a supercar's practical limitations. I don't have an exact photocopy per se of it in mind.

Originally Posted by freebeard

I hope you not suggesting what this sounds like you're suggesting.

Why not? If the air entering the grille could be captured and converted to energy, that energy could charge a battery and greatly extend the range of electric/hybrid cars.

[freebeard]

Greatly?

If you make the propeller big enough, you'll get enough power to move the vehicle and it will be sucked down the road?

[mpg_numbers_guy]

The propellers wouldn't suck the car down the road; that would have the potential to create dangerous situations. I was thinking of miniature wind turbines in the grille area to capture air flow and convert that to energy that charges a battery for assist. The higher the speed, the greater the amount of airflow and energy being transferred to the battery, thus negating most if not all the reduced efficiency in highway speeds.

[freebeard]

That was reducto ad absurdum.

You'd have to increase the output of the road engine to balance the power generated plus the drivetrain losses and the electrical losses.

[Stubby79]

I want the Gadgetmobile!

[Frank Lee]

Smokey used a prop driven alternator once but only because he had issues throwing belts.

[freebeard]

Our AME: Air Driven Generator(Ram air turbine)



Having searched out that reference I'm now inclined toward the Riedel 2-stroke "putt-put" to drive my VLVW:

The Riedel 2-stroke engine used as the pioneering example of an APU, to turn over the central shaft of both World War II-era German BMW 003 and Junkers Jumo 004 jet engines.

We're talking ME-262 here. It's started with a pull cord like a lawnmower.