VW Lupo 1.2tdi 3l (112 MPG)

[Vekke]

Originally Posted by Franmcm

In the days lupo was made there was no such things (generally used in these type of cars)

Yes I know that but both of those mods will make it look cooler and don`t cost so much. There are also few other mods that in my opinion add value

Tinted windows for example.

[SoobieOut]

I was watching a episode of Top Gear on You tube where they heavily criticized the Prius. Saying the Lupo was a much better car, and did less harm to the environment in production and much better FE.

Top Gear had nothing good to say about the Prius.

The US government should allow the Lupo in the states.

[groar]

I don't know about Top Gear. If they are as French "turbo" TV show then I only look at pictures without listening to what they say as they are only repeating vendor's b*s* and they like only cars that they can drive as their p*n*s...

Prius and insight are SULEV since 1st day (2000) while only 3 expensive diesel are ULEV only since 2010. Every year 10,000 French people are dying because diesel particles. The impact on environment during use is the main one. How do they quantify this impact ?

Now the 3L versions of the Lupo and the Audi A2 are real attempts to make diesel "cleaner" without selling expensive anti-pollution components on a big diesel engine in a big sedan or crossover. They worked hard on weight, aero and a mild hybridization to lower the consumption.

About the environment impact during building, this is only a partial problem. The real problem is the total impact. What is the total impact of these German/French cars with an equivalent size of a Prius ? I remember Carlos Ghosn (Renault/Nissan CEO) saying the Prius is b*s* because all the batteries so Renault will never build hybrids. Nowadays he wants to be the biggest electric cars seller... but with batteries owned by Project Better Place.

Anyway I like anybody driving a Prius or a A2/Lupo 3L as they all privileged ecology to their p*n*s, while I will never appreciate these expensive cars which are receiving an hybridization only to have better 0-60 and max speed.

Sorry for the rant now back to the Lupo 3L

Denis.

[rmay635703]

There has always been the comment that it is impossible to own a euro car here in the states, I disagree. There are active groups actively transporting certain cars from europe and japan here to the states and getting them registered, like the 2CV folks.

So the question is how much and how hard would it be for an ecomodding group to go through this undertaking? Going it completely alone can be expensive but I have seen 2CV's selling around here that were imports in the $4-$5k area, it must not be impossible.

Any ideas? I might be the one crazy ******* that brings one over here. If I remember there are already a handfull of Lupos here in the US, probably from Solders returning, who knows?

[savefuel]

The LUPO 3L (and also the AUDI A2 3L are amazing vehicles. They're not sold any longer but achieve above average prices on the used car market. I saw 2.2 litres several times on the BC on my drives, too -but- wait till You top off the vehicle at the gas pump. MPG achieved over a full tank of diesel are just more trustworthy than a non calibrated gauge readings over a shorter distance. Sustained values in excess of 100 mpg in traffic are very doubtable... but it's possible to beat the three litre mark as several longtime LUPO drivers prove.

Currently the VW POLO 1.2 (basically the same 1199 cc engine as the LUPO) TDI bluemotion is the most fuel efficient (seats 4 - 5 people) vehicle being sold on the European market. It delivers 3.3 litres per 100 kms on the NEFZ, New European Driving Cycle (US EPA mpg values are more conservative!). On a recent hypermile (maximum distance between regular fuel stops), I did 1808 kms on 54.7 litres (that 77+ mpg or 9% below NEFZ), vertical gain/drop was 27'000 ft, 53% Autobahn (at 55 mph) 37% rural roads, 10% city. Average speed was 40.4 mph.

[BillHoo]

If you know anyone in Europe stationed on a US military base, you can offer to give them a few thousand bucks to buy a car and have it shipped with them when they do a PCS (Permanent Change of Station) move.

So if you have a nephew who is station in Germany and that is his fulltime station, after his tour is up in a few years, ask him to buy a car six months to a year before he is transferred to a new duty station in the continental US.

The military (last I recall) will ship his car for free to his new duty station. After he arrives and is settled at his new military base, he can sell his car if he wishes to you. Give him a nice tip for his birthday as a thank you.

Keep in mind, though he may have German license plates and will only be allowed to drive it that way for a few months before being required to pass inspection and get a US State license plate and registration it it.

I remember a friend with Hawaii plates driving around in NJ for 6 months. He would get pulled over by cops several times a week, but they would let him off after they found he was military, and strongly urge him to get it registered locally.

Originally Posted by rmay635703

There has always been the comment that it is impossible to own a euro car here in the states, I disagree. There are active groups actively transporting certain cars from europe and japan here to the states and getting them registered, like the 2CV folks.

So the question is how much and how hard would it be for an ecomodding group to go through this undertaking? Going it completely alone can be expensive but I have seen 2CV's selling around here that were imports in the $4-$5k area, it must not be impossible.

Any ideas? I might be the one crazy ******* that brings one over here. If I remember there are already a handfull of Lupos here in the US, probably from Solders returning, who knows?

[SoobieOut]

Just amazed that they quit making the Lupo.

Volkswagen Lupo 3l TDi

And why was it never offered in the US?

Besides the Oil companies owning our politicians and writing our laws...

[Hubert Farnsworth]

Originally Posted by MorphDaCivic

Just amazed that they quit making the Lupo.

Volkswagen Lupo 3l TDi

And why was it never offered in the US?

Besides the Oil companies owning our politicians and writing our laws...

Emissions (too much NOx), Not designed to meet NHTSA and federal crash safety standards, etc. Those pesky rules and regulations that keep cars getting fatter and more powerful, as well as favoring gasoline powered vehicles that were flex-fuel capable in order for the manufacturers to only count the percentage of fuel burned that was actually fossil fuels for CAFE, at least before the loopholes are closed, etc. Take your pick.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by MorphDaCivic

Just amazed that they quit making the Lupo.

You can't keep on building old designs as technology moves on.

VW now has the bigger, but nearly as fuel efficient Polo with the same engine :
3.3 L/100km /71.3 mpg compared to 3L/100km / 78.4 mpg for the Lupo

And why was it never offered in the US?

On the legal side the usual anti-diesel bias and "safety" considerations - despite the fact the streets are generally a lot busier here in Europe and our traffic safety / capita is lower than in the US.

On the marketing side, I doubt there would have been much of a market in the US for such a tiny car - it's small even for European taste. It was only a niche product here in Europe, being considerably more expensive than the regular versions.
Not everyone is as fond of diesels when gas is as cheap as in the US (and diesel more expensive than gas).
The Lupo is no rocketship either, it's more like a ground anchor for a rocketship.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Hubert Farnsworth

Emissions (too much NOx), Not designed to meet NHTSA and federal crash safety standards, etc. Those pesky rules and regulations that keep cars getting fatter and more powerful, as well as favoring gasoline powered vehicles that were flex-fuel capable in order for the manufacturers to only count the percentage of fuel burned that was actually fossil fuels for CAFE, at least before the loopholes are closed, etc. Take your pick.

I have to refute the above as its wrong, the LUPO passed US crash tests, yet still was not brought over.

The NOX issue is more likely but during that timeframe (when the lupo was made) was not all that important either as very similarly designed Diesel VWs still made it over and regs were different back then.

Those pesky rules are increasingly not making any logical sense. Most of the issues in the rules between us and Europe are with ride height, bumper height, view angles, material composition and source and other BS
AKA fantasy reasons.

Many like to defend the safety aspect but its mostly just BS and smoke, its not like we are comparing a Euro car being a 1970 Subaru 360 safety wise to a US car being an A1 battletank.

The differences are indeed very minor, in fact following Euro standards you might be more likely to survive a low speed crash than a US car in the same situation, but I digress.

I find it very unfortunate that we are basically mislead and lied to about why our US market needs to be protected from Euro spec cars.

The same statements are true of much of the pollution related regulation, outside CA there is no reason to burn 20% more fuel to have a lower percentage of a couple of types of pollution.

We need to organize to get these rules changed, aligning ourselves with Europe or at least making exceptions from both sides would help both countries and offer choice and competition, even if you could only do grey market imports, it would still be better than nothing.

Cheers
Ryan