Skip to main content

FOTD Supplemental: The Carbon Fiber Two-Seater with Less than 100 HP That Could Sell for $150,000

It may seem strange to call a car manufactured in 2015 a classic, but VW’s XL1 is just such a car. And that puts the hyper-aerodynamic, super-efficient car in the strange position of somehow both being a classic and futuristic at the same time. And it could be yours (if you’re reading this in the UK and have lots of money).

Unless you have a Torchinskyesque obsession with doing more with less, the driveline numbers on this car won’t impress you. 800 cc engine, 48 diesel horsepower, 27 electric horsepower, 31 miles electric range. But the curb weight is also very small at just 795 kg (1,750 lbs).

VW achieved this with some of the loftiest supercar tech. The body is made of carbon fiber (naturally), while the wheels are made of magnesium, and the brakes are ceramic. In fact, less than a quarter of this car is made of steel or iron.

[See image gallery at www.vwvortex.com]

The coefficient of drag, too, is impressively small. Volkswagen makes a big deal of how aerodynamic the new Jetta is because its 0.27 cd does set it apart from most modern cars. The XL1, though, has a coefficient of drag of just 0.186. That makes it the most aerodynamic production car to date.

The weight, along with the slipperiness of the car, means that it only needs 8 hp to maintain 62 mph. And that means that it can return 313 mpg.

And since this car has traveled less than 100 miles in its life, it’s conceivable that in thee years of existence, it has consumed less than a third of a gallon of gas. And that’s if those were highway miles. If, as is conceivable, it only did a few short trips around town, it could have consumed considerably less than that.

Which is kind of sad, since this is such an interesting car. I can’t help but feel that it should be driven.

Regardless, the low miles, and the fact that fewer than 200 XL1s ever left the factory means that Silverstone Auctions expects it to bring home a tidy £95,000-£115,000 ($120,000-$150,000 USD).

The post FOTD Supplemental: The Carbon Fiber Two-Seater with Less than 100 HP That Could Sell for $150,000 appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex https://ift.tt/2Skajzb
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Saying Goodbye to the CC V6

For all its size and its global reach, Volkswagen is still, in many ways, a deeply human company. There was, for instance, the Bugatti Veyron an ego project if ever there was one. Then the purchase of Ducati, a move most called folly. And then there was the Phaeton, the Volkswagen that most folks can’t afford. Not only were these moves all strange, I’m sure that they made VW’s accountants furious. None of them made good business sense, but they were all deeply interesting and they all are evidence of the heart that beats at the center of VW. Among these follies is the CC, a car that everyone agrees is rakishly handsome, but that no one really wanted to buy. The car couldn’t last, but the world is brighter for its having been in it. With the approach debut of the Arteon, it seems like a good time to look back on its sadly departing predecessor. The version I drove, because I live in Canada, is a V6 Wolfsburg Edition, which apparently isn’t available in the States. Nor is the V6, not as...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mitsubishi admits it lied about MPG ratings for all vehicles in Japan

Filed under: Government/Legal , Green , Mitsubishi , Fuel Efficiency , Japan Mitsubishi says its shady fuel-economy test practices may have been used on all vehicles it sells and has sold in Japan. Continue reading Mitsubishi admits it lied about MPG ratings for all vehicles in Japan Mitsubishi admits it lied about MPG ratings for all vehicles in Japan originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 11 May 2016 12:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments from Autoblog Volkswagen http://ift.tt/21X3bHv
Post a Comment
Read more

More 3.0-Liter TDI Settlement Details Expected by January 31

Volkswagen and the TDI Plaintiff’s Steering Committee were in court today for another status conference following the agreement in principal reached earlier this week. Little new information was given at the conference held before Judge Charles Breyer today, but the court ordered the parties to develop a formal settlement agreement, class action notices, and a class notice plan by January 31, 2017. For now, though, owners still don’t know how much to expect in compensation. Elizabeth Cabraser, lead Counsel for the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee reaffirmed in a statement today that the compensation would be “substantial.” The potential cost to Volkswagen is widely reported to exceed $1 billion, though, with an additional $225 million going into an environmental trust to help offset excess emissions. Buy back offers are still only expected for the oldest 20,000 of the roughly 80,000 VW Group vehicles sold in America with the 3.0-liter TDI engine. Those vehicles are mostly SUVs, like ...
Post a Comment
Read more