Doesn't seem exactly like a
"peoples' car" with that level of technology. I guess this one wasn't
exactly designed for production..
------------------------
Maybe not for production - and probably too forward-thinking for the US
market. But the folks in Wolfsburg have been shipping the highest mileage
production car for awhile now - the Lupo. 1.2 liter turbodiesel in what
looks like a small Golf/Rabbit - 78 MPG.
http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/publish/article_319.shtml
On the kit-car front, the folks a Riley have been doing high mileage for
many years. I have a set of plans from 1981 for their Urba Centurion
2-seater. It's styled after the Delorean, uses a small Kubota diesel, and
gets 128 MPG.
http://www.rqriley.com/cent.html
Their latest is the XR3 - Kubota driving the front wheels, electric driving
the single rear. 125 MPG diesel-only, up to 225 MPG as a plug-in hybrid.
http://www.rqriley.com/xr3.htm
Andy Hecker
What will she do zero to sixty? A bicycle with a 1/2 HP gas engine will
get 487 MPG on a level road. A person can only sustain .25 HP but
can sustain 20 MPH on a bicycle on a level road. Using this factual data
we now have the HP required for a bicycle with one rider to go 20 MPH.
Let us do the numbers. A 1/2 HP engine burns .25 pounds of fuel per hour at a
BSFC of .5. Fuel weighs six pounds per gallon so 1/24 of a gallon or .0416 gallons
per hour at 20 MPH or 487 MPG at 20 MPH. Check my numbers. I could have made a
mistake.
Therefor quoting MPG alone is meaningless unless you quote the acceleration,
hill climbing ability, interior volume, frontal area, max gross weight
and top speed is.
The experimental 100 MPG VW initially mentioned had only eight HP so the
acceleration and hill climbing ability was nil. These types of so called "cars" are
dishonest publicity stunts designed to impress the physics challenged naive masses.
It is pure unadulterated BS.
BTW At the head of every traffic jam moving at 80 MPH in LA is a Prius.
Why? Because that is the top speed of the Prius. No acceleration
possible at top speed. When they come to a long hill the battery is soon depleted
and they must and do slow down. If you took out the battery and the electric
motor that would save about 200 to 300 pounds. Put in an engine in that gave
a top speed of 80 MPH and it would get more MPG and climb hills better
at 80 MPH than the hybrid version because of the lighter weight and be two
to three thousand dollars cheaper to buy. It takes two to three years to
get that money back in fuel savings at $3 a gallon. Most popular economy cars on the
other hand will do at least 110 MPH. A lot of them will do about 140 like a Mini
Cooper S. A Mazda 3 turbo will do 151 MPH. The Mini Cooper S gets 36 MPH EPA highway.
No question Prius's get better MPG around town because they recover some
braking energy. The engine also shuts off at stops lights. According
to GM that is worth 10% alone.
Diesels will never make it in the US for cost and carcinogenic smog reason.
Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.
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