2014 VW XLI 261 miles per gallon (diesel)

[Windpower]

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1082472_2014-volkswagen-xl1-the-261-mpg-car-debuts

But you cannot get one in the United States

[rick91351]

Very nice looking rig.  Nice to see VW returning to the forefront in economy engineering.  Be interesting to find out how you change the rear tires on the road in case of a flat tire.   

[John Raabe]

Impressive project. Looks like it is driven by both a diesel engine and an electric motor with the electric probably used as a booster. My guess is that the batteries are not charged by an onboard generator (there is talk of keeping the battery "topped off" to get Max. MPG). On a trip over 300 miles do you lose acceleration?

At any rate, if this thing lives up to projections the 2nd and 3rd generations will be very interesting.

[Windpower]

It has a reported top speed of 99 MPH that is limited by a governor

the bench mark 0 to 60 mph is just under 12 seconds

these were reported in another article without electric assist


Too bad the US government won't allow them into the country --- they do not have certain EPA mandatory emission components -- although at 250 miles per gallon I can't imagine much pollution per mile compared to a car getting 25 mpg -- certainly not 10 times as much

[John Raabe]

I would assume that the emissions are pretty low, certainly per mile driven.

It seems like VW is being cautious and only producing a small run initially. America may have to wait to see one, but it will be a killer product if it passes all the safety tests. What about fuel? Is German diesel the same as the US has? They may be running a lower sulphur fuel and not yet ready to meet US market needs.

Did a Google search and found this: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-european-diesel-cars/