Volkswagen XL1 Test Drive: 1 Gallon, 235 Miles

[richtate]

Popular Mechanics published this on a new prototype that VW is looking at producing.

Here's the link;

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars...atest+Content)

Here is what they said about it's aerodynamics;

"With a frontal area of 16.15 square feet and a drag coefficient of 0.186, the XL1 is one of the slipperiest cars in the world."

Not bad looking...

[NeilBlanchard]

Thanks for posting. Here is an earlier thread on this car:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ide-15907.html

[Rokeby]

Very cool.

I'll bet that the average Joe/Jane would take it over the Aptera...
just too new, too different, too weird.

On the other hand, the XL1 looks like a car, albeit a small one.

[richtate]

I posted here because VW is putting into play the areo mods this forum topic talks about. Smooth under belly, grill that can close when cooling not needed, wheel skirts and so on.

[HeadlessNorseman]

This is awesome...factory supported ecomod!!! And socially very important because if they can come out with a "normal" or "acceptable" looking car with a CDA that low... That is a huge achievement. Props to VW. Even with a normal fairly powerful engine like the stock 2.5 the car would still attain massive MPGs and probably be a bit of fun to drive. Win all around!

[some_other_dave]

Originally Posted by HeadlessNorseman

Win all around!

...Not if it costs $50K in the showrooms... I'm hoping it comes in for half that, but not gonna hold my breath. It would be really nice if it were priced on par with some of the conventional compact cars.

-soD

[richtate]

It could be done if they stick to the ICE and not hybrid the car, even though that is what they are talking about. Maybe an option of hybrid or ICE, I'd even consider buying a VW it they offered that! Sheet metal isn't as expensive as batteries. And if they can acheive the massive MPGs then people will buy when gas hits $4 US and more. With the crisis in Egypt, barrel prices are soring and that is after they announced $5 a gallon by 2012.

[Ryland]

Where did the $50,000 figure come from? when the L1 prototype was built they were saying that they could build it for around $17,000 if there was only a market for a car like that.

[wdb]

SVX side windows, I love it!

Ain't no way a car with a carbon fiber tub will come in at $17K. And the doors aren't really practical, and there is that small matter of climbing in and out over wide sills. If they do build it, it will be an exotic.

[Ryland]

Originally Posted by wdb

SVX side windows, I love it!

Ain't no way a car with a carbon fiber tub will come in at $17K. And the doors aren't really practical, and there is that small matter of climbing in and out over wide sills. If they do build it, it will be an exotic.

The L1 I believe was a plastic body instead of carbon fiber but it was over a magnisum skeleton.