Good news! VW seems to have found some balls and is now putting their XL1 prototype into (very limited...) series production. See story and some
pictures here: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20130221/GENEVA/130229972
It's probably going to be really expensive and I expect them to still loose money one every single one, but as a "Halo-car", I could
think of worse things to put into production.
Thing is, I think that I actually would buy and drive something like that IF it were reasonably priced. How about the rest of you guys; would you?
[img]http://www.topgear.com/uk/assets/cms/3edacc9d-264e-4de2-aaeb-fc9fdb69e14f/Thumbnail.jpg?p=110405_11:32[/img]
I'm just about to buy another car and the over-riding concern will be the cost of running it. So 'yes' - if I could get a reasonably
priced car that did 270mpg i'd be camping outside the dealership at to get my name down for it!
Realistically 90% of my annual mileage must be commuting - which doesn't present opportunities for enjoying a 'drivers' car - for
anyone else in the same position I can't understand why you wouldn't buy a car like that...
[Edited on 21/2/13 by jps]
Yes, but it would need to be at least a 4 seater & the price would have to be sensible for what it is - ie Prius type prices or a bit more - not
£30k for something like a Nissan Leaf which runs out of "fuel" every 100 miles
No I wouldn't its a hideous design which is already dated.
I could buy a 3K micra and spend 3K a year on fuel or buy a 30K car and spend 1K on fuel a year.... urm....
I remember seeing the VW Bluesport when the prototype was banded about and thought it looked great but they never made it.
VW Bluesport
Rich
Fugly and pointless... thats is all
I do a 1000 mile a month commute so should say yes, but I do a further 1000 miles of short journeys that I like to enjoy the drive, so I couldn't do it.
With looks like that, absolutely not.
quote:
Originally posted by NigeEss
With looks like that, absolutely not.
If it was a sensible price then yes, I could put up with that odd light cluster thing on the back end. Otherwise I think it looks pretty sleek
now imagine it without the covered rear wheels. I think that's better!
quote:
Originally posted by Grimsdale
now imagine it without the covered rear wheels. I think that's better!
Reminded me of the Masseratti powered citroen SM.
40 years later is not radical!!!
SM was a pretty car, that is beyond FUGLY!!!
quote:beyond FUGLY
Originally posted by Slimy38
quote:
Originally posted by Grimsdale
now imagine it without the covered rear wheels. I think that's better!
Yeah, definitely a flawed design to cover the rear wheels, reminds me of an old citroen my mate used to have?
My worry for these sorts of cars is still the lifespan of the battery pack. I thought the bill for changing a cambelt on a regular basis was bad enough, but having to pay thousands for a new battery pack every five years or so just seems bonkers. I guess it might be more relevant to all electric cars rather than hybrids, but it's still very offputting.
I thought from the back it looked a bit DS-like, obviously not the only one seeing the Citroen shapes in there...
Too complicated and too expensive, strip out the electric part, lose the carbon, ceramic matrix, side view screens/cameras and halve the price.
People who can afford a new $50,000 car aren't overly bothered by their fuel bills IMHO.
If they sold it for $25,000 I reckon it could be massive 
If that's representative of the future of the automobile then I'm looking forward to it.
Covered wheels - yes please
So, a marmite car (as expected!)
I must say that I really like it, but think that it would be a lot better without the electric bits and carbon fibre shell. But that then basically
leaves you with a Smart roadster with improved aerodynamics....
I think another issue will be the weight of the batteries - as we've seen with mobile phones and mp3 players over the last ten years, battery
technology is advancing so that the same power can be generated from smaller, lighter packages, and components are constantly being redesigned to be
smaller and more efficient.
I don't know a huge amount about the efficiency of the motors which drive modern electric cars like the leaf but assuming that electric cars are
eventually going to become the norm, I can only assume that more will be spent on research and the motors will become smaller and more efficient, and
the batteries will also become smaller. Less weight to carry around should see the operating range increase significantly.
In and of itself that's great, but it does mean that the electric cars are likely to devalue faster than conventional cars, and will devalue
increasingly quickly - meaning that at almost any point in time you would be economically better off not buying an electric car. So a 3k micra with 3k
a year on fuel as suggested would be a better proposition. Of course I could be talking nutsack in which case you just wasted your time reading my
comment 
ETA: I know the intended use is at the other end of the scale, but I was reading up about the electric versions of the SLS, and that has 500kg of
batteries, so there is a significant weight.
[Edited on 22/2/13 by tomprescott]
Along the lines of something i want to build , GRP structure and a £500 donor ........hmmmmm
"If that's representative of the future of the automobile then I'm looking forward to it.
Covered wheels - yes please"
+1
i like it, looks differnt, and i like the covered rear wheels
How can you say it looks "different". Every single futuristic car in films since the early eighties had covered weels like that...
Lose the rear spats and change the engine for a Hayabusa.
Now, that would a nice car 