Street Legal car that gets 239 mpg!!! (1 Viewer)

[Brian Kleinke]

Legal in europe at least:
And it holds 2 people!
http://www.vwvortex.com/news/04_02/04_16/index.shtml
Brian

 

[Ron-P]

Death Trap.
Peace Out~

 

[Ryan Wright]

If it'd do 100mph, I'd buy one.

Why do I need it to do 100? Well, I don't, but speed limits around here are 70, and across the border in Idaho they're 75. If it can do 100, then that gives me some extra power to spare in the low range. I drove a Suzuki Samurai that would barely do 65-70 for a couple of months, it wasn't much fun.

Wonder what the 0-60 times are on this thing? It only produces 8hp...

 

[MikeAlletto]

Why do these car makers think that making a car look like a tylenol capsule is a good design? The thing doesn't go fast enough to need the aerodynamic benefits. It just looks stupid.

 

[JasenP]

It's ugly and wouldn't survive an encounter with a speedbump. However, it is exciting that they can get that kind of mileage.

 

[Kevin P]

Cool. Now they need to make a practical car that gets 100+ mpg. I believe it can be done. Internal combustion engines haven't really evolved much in the past 20 years, and they're quite inefficient. It's time for something new!

 

[AjayM]

The thing doesn't go fast enough to need the aerodynamic benefits.

Of course it does. To go a certain speed requires a certain amount of power to overcome aerodynamic drag. At 60mph a Ford Excursion (very un-aerodynamic vehicle) uses a lot more power than say a Porsche 911. I'm sure if somebody searches the net they can find the equation to figure out power vs speed vs aerodynamics. The numbers can be very interesting.

Anyways, on to the size thing...it's a great car for probably most places except US/Canada. When you look around the streets of Europe you'll probably never see 10 SUV's sitting at a stop light, most of the cars there are smaller than what we're used to seeing. Add in the benefits of going a long ways on just a little bit of gas (although they'll probably tax it somehow, like they do with diesels in some countries), and it's tiny and easy to park (and some parking places charge half price for those small cars).

Andrew

 

[Ashley Seymour]

Totally Euro.

No on in the US or Canada will buy a car for gas mileage. The car companies can't make enough of them cheap enough to offset the higher cost of production.

Since the end of the Model T, American cars are more concerned with sex appeal than another other factor.

This "capsule" would have to less for about $9,000 US to make the gas savings even worth considering.

I don't think the Birkenstock crowd is large enough to make this a viable car for the U.S.

A few years ago Popular Science had an article on how to reduce weight in U.S. cars and get higher gas mileage. A Taurus type car could get 50 MPG easily and they could make get it up to 100 MPG or so without making the car so geek looking.

 

[Mark Paquette]

I'd like to see that thing survive an afternoon on Detroit area roads.

 

[Charles J P]

I agree, that thing would be a death trap here in the states. That thing would get punted by any truck-based SUV here. It weighs less than 700 lbs. That thing getting hit by a ford excursion would be the same as a person getting hit by a mazda miata. Both would turn you into crubled heap of broken bones. Bring it to the west coast and some ricer will turbo it and drop it. You could get 12 hp easy It doesnt matter how strong they think they can make it. If a suburban going 70 miles an hour pops up over a hill and that thing is in front of it going 40, the burbans going to shear the top right off as it rolls over you. Of course, in reality, if they can make it go the speed limit, I see no reason why it couldnt, in theory, be legal here. We have motorcycles that weigh far less, and they dont even fully surround the passanger. Do they have a production name for it. A few suggestions:
VW Flea
VW Pip
VW Rabbit (oh wait, nevermind )
Their new slogan could be Farfrommovin

 

[Todd Hochard]

Not so sure about the death trap thing. Carbon fiber shells can be made stronger than anything you've probably seen on the road. An Excursion hitting it, would likely cause it to ricochet off at high speed, but I'd bet the shell would be intact. Of course, the sorts of G-forces created in such an encounter would not be particularly kind to the occupants. Think not? Watch an Indy car bounce off the wall, with the shell intact.

It's certainly 10x safer than your average motorcycle.

Nice concept, though.

Todd

 

[Dennis Reno]

I never imagined I would utter these words - it actually makes the EuroVan behind it look... attractive!

I don't care if it gets 239,000 mpTablespoon, that little thing is a coffin. With that thing you just don't worry about the semi's or the big SUV's, you better also watch out for the kid on the Big Wheel!

 

[Shawn C]

NEWSFLASH:
Of course it's not going to be a production car. This is just a prototype showcasing what VW can do. I don't think that comments like "Death Trap" are necessarily fair since it's only a concept car. I don't understand the need to criticize the entire package when it's the details that are the most important.

Of course VW wouldn't produce this but think of what they could do by upsizing into a more reasonable package and utilizing some of the same technology. Wouldn't it be cool if they could utilize the same technology to maybe get 75 MPG from a Jetta or a Golf?

 

[Ryan Peter]

Europe could create a car that runs on polluted water and seat 4 people and the US would turn their nose up to it unless it's the size of a Canyonero.

 

[ChrisMatson]

I agree that it is probably safer than a motorcycle, depending on its agility.
Re: engines and fuel economy, there have been substatntial rumors going around that Dean Kamen (of Segway fame) is perfecting a Stirling Engine for commerical applications.

 

[Kevin Coleman]

Probably no worse than a motorcycle.
I would imagine it is even safer than a motorcycle.
Kevin C.

 

[Cam S]

I'll have to say though, it does look pretty sweet inside, plus the carbon fiber shell, pretty trick. I don't think the "death trap" designations are correct, since Motorbikes are far more dangerous. I mean this thing has the cockpit of an indy car, and those withstand 100+ G-force crashes at 220+ mph!!

 

[Rob Gillespie]

I always chuckle at threads concerning cars on this site.
Anything with less mass, dimensions and with better fuel economy than your average tank gets called a 'death trap'.

 

[Larry Seno Jr.]

Only a freaking Euro would think that his buddies knee wrapped around him was an acceptable amount of space.

 

[BrianB]

[snip]