Volkswagen XL1 meets Honda Insight Mk1 and original Toyota Prius - Autocar
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Date: 2022-04-17
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Comments and reviews: 10
Christopher
The XL1 was (and still is) one of my favorite modern car designs. You can actually find them for sale although there were never very many produced. If I was a collector, it would be near the top of my list to buy not only for its incredible (and still impressive) engineering, but for its sleek and well-executed design. It really was one of VWs high-watermark achievements which was badly marred by the 'diesel-gate' scandal that drew a dark cloud over all TDIs and turned-off many, many, many potential buyers such as me. As good as the Prius and Insight were, the XL1 was just in another class. If it wasn't for its original (and outrageous) price tag, I could have been a great success if VW could have managed to mainstream and reduce its production costs.
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The XL1 was (and still is) one of my favorite modern car designs. You can actually find them for sale although there were never very many produced. If I was a collector, it would be near the top of my list to buy not only for its incredible (and still impressive) engineering, but for its sleek and well-executed design. It really was one of VWs high-watermark achievements which was badly marred by the 'diesel-gate' scandal that drew a dark cloud over all TDIs and turned-off many, many, many potential buyers such as me. As good as the Prius and Insight were, the XL1 was just in another class. If it wasn't for its original (and outrageous) price tag, I could have been a great success if VW could have managed to mainstream and reduce its production costs.
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Sean
My Local VW dealer has a XL1 that they sometimes display in the showroom or workshop, I always go for a look-see as its so interesting. Imagine if VW could have made a version which was 70/80% of its benefits for 20/30% of the price. winner! When you mentioned the XL1 reminded you of something else, I thought you were going to say Lotus (Elise, not C5. Back in the 50s/60's Lotus were very clever making super efficient racers, with small engines & low drag that beat cars in higher classes. The seating positions, chassis tub, weight, overall lay-out. single mindedness of its design of the XL1 reminds me of the innovation the S1 Elise gave in the mid 90's.
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My Local VW dealer has a XL1 that they sometimes display in the showroom or workshop, I always go for a look-see as its so interesting. Imagine if VW could have made a version which was 70/80% of its benefits for 20/30% of the price. winner! When you mentioned the XL1 reminded you of something else, I thought you were going to say Lotus (Elise, not C5. Back in the 50s/60's Lotus were very clever making super efficient racers, with small engines & low drag that beat cars in higher classes. The seating positions, chassis tub, weight, overall lay-out. single mindedness of its design of the XL1 reminds me of the innovation the S1 Elise gave in the mid 90's.
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Marvin
Loved the XL1, and still do! Tried to explain the higher fuel consumption and emissions thing to my wife by showing how much more efficient my old Mazda 6 175D was compared to her less powerful CX-5 150D and she didn-t get it. I suspect most(not all) potential SUV buyers are unaware or don-t care. It-s a shame, as you say as all the work to improve efficiency has been undone by these talk, bluff fronted, heavy cars.
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Loved the XL1, and still do! Tried to explain the higher fuel consumption and emissions thing to my wife by showing how much more efficient my old Mazda 6 175D was compared to her less powerful CX-5 150D and she didn-t get it. I suspect most(not all) potential SUV buyers are unaware or don-t care. It-s a shame, as you say as all the work to improve efficiency has been undone by these talk, bluff fronted, heavy cars.
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Max
EV's render these car dinosaurs.
My 5 year average consuption for my daily driven BMW i3, driven without much care to economy is 190 mpg equivalent. And that seats 4, has a boot and frunk, hits 60 in less than 7 seconds, and doesn't need you passengers to sit staggered to fi tin (in fact it's got avery big cabin for the size of the car. The sooner we ditch the ICE the better imo!
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EV's render these car dinosaurs.
My 5 year average consuption for my daily driven BMW i3, driven without much care to economy is 190 mpg equivalent. And that seats 4, has a boot and frunk, hits 60 in less than 7 seconds, and doesn't need you passengers to sit staggered to fi tin (in fact it's got avery big cabin for the size of the car. The sooner we ditch the ICE the better imo!
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JakobusVdL
Amazing how far hybrids have come in a relatively short space of time.
The current Toyota and Honda hybrid power trains are a huge step ahead of these units, but as you say the shift to huge and heavy SUV's (and here in NZ to Double Cab Ute's) has meant that the move towards lighter, smaller vehicles with greater efficency has been side tracked.
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Amazing how far hybrids have come in a relatively short space of time.
The current Toyota and Honda hybrid power trains are a huge step ahead of these units, but as you say the shift to huge and heavy SUV's (and here in NZ to Double Cab Ute's) has meant that the move towards lighter, smaller vehicles with greater efficency has been side tracked.
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Francisco
We cannot forget that the insight already has a very good formula for low consumption the base is there with a very interesting price nowadays. However the XL1 is in another league, just the materials and technology it is up-to-date which elevates this limited production car. The concept is so good that is at least almost a decade ahead of his time.
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We cannot forget that the insight already has a very good formula for low consumption the base is there with a very interesting price nowadays. However the XL1 is in another league, just the materials and technology it is up-to-date which elevates this limited production car. The concept is so good that is at least almost a decade ahead of his time.
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Shane
I-m glad to hear a reputable English journalist give the Prius especially the Ecvt the honours it deserves, I drive a Lexus hybrid which had a Ecvt, and I have to say it-s brilliant, there is no such thing as gear changes anymore as in you forget you have a gearbox cause everything is just so smooth and linear.
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I-m glad to hear a reputable English journalist give the Prius especially the Ecvt the honours it deserves, I drive a Lexus hybrid which had a Ecvt, and I have to say it-s brilliant, there is no such thing as gear changes anymore as in you forget you have a gearbox cause everything is just so smooth and linear.
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autos
The insight was a very diligently engineered light weight design. Bear in mind it's a proper car with a hybrid drive train which weighs within the range of an S1-S2 Elise. I think that's quite amazing. The XL1 is another level really, it's the yang to the yin of the Veyron!
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The insight was a very diligently engineered light weight design. Bear in mind it's a proper car with a hybrid drive train which weighs within the range of an S1-S2 Elise. I think that's quite amazing. The XL1 is another level really, it's the yang to the yin of the Veyron!
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James
I have crawled all over VWs own XL1 and it is a masterpiece of F1 style engineering. Amazing build quality and materials. Given the huge cost of EVs, this now makes much sense but has been killed by the blunt -no more ICE- legislation. Great shame as I really dislike EVs.
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I have crawled all over VWs own XL1 and it is a masterpiece of F1 style engineering. Amazing build quality and materials. Given the huge cost of EVs, this now makes much sense but has been killed by the blunt -no more ICE- legislation. Great shame as I really dislike EVs.
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mcl48YT
I couldn't believe at the time that they weren't putting the VW into regular production. 300mpg. I mean, saving a thousand quid a year on fuel compared to a regular runabout. Just so cool. Still don't understand why it isn't on sale in some shape or form.
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I couldn't believe at the time that they weren't putting the VW into regular production. 300mpg. I mean, saving a thousand quid a year on fuel compared to a regular runabout. Just so cool. Still don't understand why it isn't on sale in some shape or form.
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