VW's 1L is back ("XL1" latest version of concept, side-by-side seating this time)

[MetroMPG]

According to Automotive News Europe, Volkswagen chief executive officer, Martin Winterkorn, officially confirmed the 2013 launch of the two-seat XL1. ANE quoted Winterkorn, "We will start small series production by 2013—in Germany." That most likely equates to VW whipping out 100 or so production versions of the XL1 and selling them to the general public over in Germany.

Interesting that more super-efficient "halo cars" are getting the green light.

Honda was about a decade ahead of its time with the first generation Insight, and GM with the EV-1...

[tinduck]

I hope you can order it with a manual transmission too... those DSGs usually use about 0,5L/100km more fuel (European norm cycle) than the equivalent stick shift vehicles.

Most of this is due to programming, I think; up to now with the XL1, nobody has really put an efficiency-biased software on those DSGs, usually they go for faster acceleration and smoothness of driving.

BUT: a DSG weighs about 20kg more than a manual transmission and has an oil feed pump which uses about 0,5 hp to work the transmission.

So, the XL1 would probably be a XL0.8 without this lousy DSG, at least in the hand of a hypermiler...

On the other hand, Joe Sixpack would probably be better off being reigned in by a mileage-conscious DSG :-)

so long,

tinduck

[NeilBlanchard]

I think the electric motor is integrated into the transmission, so that would seem to to mean they have to keep the dual clutch 7 speed transmission.

And this car gets ~0.91L/100km (if I recall correctly) so another 0.5L/100km of consumption would be non-trivial.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

I think the electric motor is integrated into the transmission, so that would seem to to mean they have to keep the dual clutch 7 speed transmission.

And this car gets ~0.91L/100km (if I recall correctly) so another 0.5L/100km of consumption would be non-trivial.

Why? The electric motor can be clutched to a direct drive off the tailshaft and the MT can stay for the normal motor. (assuming you want regen in neutral)

[Piwoslaw]

I think that the XL1's DSG is not the same run-of-the-mill DSG found in other production cars, but is fine-tuned to help the XL1 be even more efficient. I'm thinking that the penalty is much less than 0.5hp and 20kg.

Still, for the average Joe, having a 20kg DSG may be better than having an 80kg hypermiler drive him around everywhere

[Frank Lee]

Honda was about a decade ahead of its time with the first generation Insight, and GM with the EV-1...

They weren't ahead of their time... what happened was, the world got mass amnesia about what it was supposed to be doing for it's own good.

[MetroMPG]

Ha!!

I would give you a thumbs up / thanks for that comment if I didn't think it was an abuse of that feature

[Frank Lee]

[ai_vin]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

They weren't ahead of their time... what happened was, the world got mass amnesia about what it was supposed to be doing for it's own good.

Nah, we were all bought-off. Just after GM came out with the EV-1 their tax lawyers started to show people how they could get the government to pay for the Hummers they were also making.

Also there was the small fact you couldn't actual buy an EV-1 and could only get a short lease for one after giving GM more personal info than you'd give your doctor.

GM didn't want us to have the EV-1: They weren't ahead of their time, they were behind the times.

[ai_vin]

As you can probably tell, I'm still a little pi$$ed off about the whole thing.