Ultra-Efficient Volkswagen XL1 Ready For Launch, Debuting At Geneva
Further, the XL1 is still a diesel-electric plug-in hybrid. A 0.8-liter, 47-hp turbo-diesel two-cylinder is paired with a 27-hp electric motor, and drives the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. A lithium-ion battery pack provides 50 miles of range when used as a pure EV, and can be recharged in a little over an hour and a half on a 220-volt circuit. If you鈥檙e looking for impressive acceleration figures, the XL1 isn鈥檛 your car - it takes 12.7 seconds to hit 62 mph, and top speed is 100 mph. The XL1鈥檚 stellar performance comes in the form of incredible fuel economy. VW says the car sips only 0.9 liters of fuel for every 100 kilometers traveled on the EU combined test cycle -or, in other words, 261 mpg. Given the fuel tank holds 10 liters of diesel, this theoretically gives the XL1 a total range of a between 680-690 miles. The car鈥檚 light weight, low frontal area, and slippery aerodynamics (the coefficient of drag is but 0.189) means the XL1 needs only 8.3 hp to cruise at 62 mph. In EV mode, the XL1 uses only 0.1 kWh to travel a kilometer. Absolutely - and so too is the fact that the car will soon enter series production. Volkswagen says it鈥檒l essentially hand build the cars within the former Karmann plant in Onsabruck, Germany, which also manufactures Golf cabriolets and Porsche Boxsters. Interestingly, the only numbers we haven鈥檛 seen are tied to production - we鈥檝e yet to hear targets for annual volume, an on-sale date, and a price tag. Expect more information on the Volkswagen XL1 to emerge as the Geneva Motor Show - which kicks off on March 5 - inches closer.
I wanted to share the car I recently picked up. It may not be the rarest vehicle, or the most exciting, but it has a good story, with what I assume will be a pretty happy ending here in the next few months or so! This 1974 VW Karmann Ghia has been in my grandfather鈥檚 (Papa鈥檚) hands since 1977. He worked at University Volkswagen in Seattle as a salesman for a majority of his career. He took this in on a trade and decided he liked it enough to keep it. It was his on and off commuter into the early 1990鈥檚 when he decided to restore it. He put a new interior in, fixed some small body damage, rebuilt much of the mechanicals and got the car ready for paint. About that time his 5 children, my mom included, decided it would be a great present to him to have the car painted as a surprise for his birthday or some other holiday, I can鈥檛 remember exactly.
So they snuck it off to the paint shop and had it sprayed. Low and behold, it was the wrong shade of orange, not factory, as my Papa had wanted. The car was driven slightly thereafter, and I even remember riding in it when I was about 5 years old. Come 1994, the almost perfect condition car is parked and hasn鈥檛 seen the road since. Until now at least! It has been parked at my grandparent鈥檚 farm and as a car lover myself for the majority of my life, I always wanted to do something with it, but I knew it was sort of a sensitive subject. After 20 years I decided it was time something got said and so I started talking to my Papa about the ol鈥?Ghia in the gravel. He said take it. But to be fair I gave him some cash. The Ghia, with less than 90,000 original miles, got some new tires and made it to my backyard via trailer where it is now parked next to my Opel GT. Without much work a buddy and I were able to get it sputtering, but it will be a long ways before she鈥檚 cruising. However, I told my Papa I would drive the car back out to the farm come Christmas time and hopefully get him back behind the wheel! So while it may not be the most exciting vehicle, it is certainly a sentimental one. And hopefully someday it will be the right color! I want to thank Brian for sharing this story with us and I wish him the best with his new project! It is always good to hear stories like this, it reminds me of all the cars that have played a roll in shaping my automotive passion and who I am today. How about you guys, any cars that really made an impact on you?
This can be brown tape, or a better option is varnish. This should only be applied to the area that you don't want the resin to contact as it will also prevent a bond between the resin and the metal or fibreglass that you want to bond. Do It Yourself - Learn how, before you start. How many unfinished projects do you hear about? A lot of these are due to people not realising what they are taking on. It all looks so easy when you look at other peoples projects. The best thing to do is find out before you begin. This book goes through restoration work and will give you the basics. From there you can then learn how to do modifications and all the other things that you want to do. 0 of 8192 characters usedPost CommentNo HTML is allowed in comments, but URLs will be hyperlinked. Comments are not for promoting your articles or other sites.
Other minor gripes include the driving position, which feels quite far back in the cabin and a little too reclined relative to the steering wheel. However, you can manually adjust the position of the seat with tools. As a small brand, Alpine didn鈥檛 rank in our Driver Power 2018 survey. However, because much of the tech inside is borrowed from Renault, it鈥檚 mostly intuitive. This mainstream French firm finished 24th out of 26 manufacturers. Safety kit comprises two airbags and not much else. There aren鈥檛 any upgrades available on Pure trim. This is one of the sacrifices you have to make in order to get the great driving dynamics. Less weight means lower CO2. The A110 emits only 144g/km, which puts it in the 29 per cent BiK bracket; that鈥檚 four per cent less than the TTS and eight ahead of the Cayman. It means the Alpine will cost higher-rate earners just 拢5,411 a year to run as a company car, compared with 拢5,848 for the Audi and 拢6,523 with the Porsche. Testers鈥?notes: 鈥淭he 拢1,380 sports exhaust鈥檚 note is toned down in Comfort mode.
