Volkswagen L1 Concept 230 mpg

[Sarge]

Hmmmmmm

http://autos.yahoo.com/auto-shows/frankfurt_auto_show_2009/1106/Volkswagen-L1-Concept

A one-liter car? This moniker describes a car that uses one liter of fuel—about a quarter of a gallon—to propel a car for 100 kilometers, or 62 miles. The one-liter car’s fuel economy translates to almost 240 mpg, and VW has had such a car in its sights for some time now. In 2002, outgoing VW CEO Ferdinand Piëch, now head of the company’s supervisory board, drove a cigar-shaped prototype from VW headquarters in Wolfsburg to a shareholders’ meeting in Hamburg.

 

[servumtuum]

Because, Mike, aerodynamic considerations, weight considerations, packaging constraints, weight constraints and such (especially cost considerations as well) dictate the optimizing of a vehicle when maximum fuel effeceincy is the goal. There are certain exceptions the neat electricTesla roadster is based on the Lotus Elise and thus is one sharp looking little sports car-current battery technology limitations are giving it range problems-especially when driven hot-footed, which is what most buyers would be doing-plus it's pricey-around $90K the last I read.

Current cars-even the high performance ones-are unbelievably fuel efficient when compared to like cars in the past. The appearance of the car or truck does come into play in the design but, for instance, flat, slab-front vehicles-such as SUV's are simply too aerodynamically inefficient to make into a fuel-efficient vehicle. Technology is making progress here-the new Camaro, for example, is a good looking car, to me at least.