RE: Volkswagen XL1: Spotted
Discussion
Saw one of these outside a Subway / Little Chef in Winterbourne, Dorset a few weeks ago!
My son and I were quite intrigued and took a few pics before googling it. Interesting engineering exercise but largely pointless IMHO. As others have said there are enough nerds / VW fans to pay this kind of money for something so rare. I can only imagine how boring the pub conversation is going to be around them actually achieving 200mpg and how much money they're saving Ha!
My son and I were quite intrigued and took a few pics before googling it. Interesting engineering exercise but largely pointless IMHO. As others have said there are enough nerds / VW fans to pay this kind of money for something so rare. I can only imagine how boring the pub conversation is going to be around them actually achieving 200mpg and how much money they're saving Ha!
Back in late 2012 / early 2013 I used to see a black one of these around the Braunschweig (Brunswick) area in Germany, when I was doing some work for DNW.
I remember seeing it for the first time pulling out of a junction as we drove past. It looked like a black spaceship with this massive looking VW badge on the front. We drove around for the next half hour trying to find it again (by the time we had turned around it had disappeared in the opposite direction somewhere) but never did.
Being so close to Wolfsburg I can only assume it was some final development vehicle undergoing final road testing? I've never seen one since.
I remember seeing it for the first time pulling out of a junction as we drove past. It looked like a black spaceship with this massive looking VW badge on the front. We drove around for the next half hour trying to find it again (by the time we had turned around it had disappeared in the opposite direction somewhere) but never did.
Being so close to Wolfsburg I can only assume it was some final development vehicle undergoing final road testing? I've never seen one since.
It's a shame that the XL Sport (a Ducati V2 engined sports coupe based on the XL1) proposal seems to have fizzled out --> http://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-germancars/duca...
Come on VW, that with a manual box would be a near perfect sportscar for UK roads.
Come on VW, that with a manual box would be a near perfect sportscar for UK roads.
dinkel said:
There are more sensible offers:
Renault Izzy anyone?
Or the ZOE if you're into 100 miles journey.
The XL1 is not for people who want to look 'sensible'. It's a seriously cool car and turns heads like nothing else on the road. Most 'sensible' people couldn't stand the attention it gets!Renault Izzy anyone?
Or the ZOE if you're into 100 miles journey.
My other thought on this is that it is just crying out to be the basis of a pure electric vehicle - without the derv burner. Not that it'd ever happen though : VAG wouldn't reuse the platform and they are so valuable that nobody would pull one apart to do aftermarket modifications on it.
As an idea in isolation, I love it.
But the price is just way out of the ballpark. I dont trust VW at all when it comes to their efficiency claims, and wouldn't see myself buying a product like this, when efficiency seems to be its USP, among a few other nice technical party pieces.
As for classic status? Hard to say. I get its rarity, and that alone would potentially mean it'd get there. But by the same token, if Hotpoint made a hyper efficient washer, I wouldn't get excited about that either.
But the price is just way out of the ballpark. I dont trust VW at all when it comes to their efficiency claims, and wouldn't see myself buying a product like this, when efficiency seems to be its USP, among a few other nice technical party pieces.
As for classic status? Hard to say. I get its rarity, and that alone would potentially mean it'd get there. But by the same token, if Hotpoint made a hyper efficient washer, I wouldn't get excited about that either.
250 produced, 200 for retail customers....
Methinks that perhaps all of that 200 weren't sold, or VW are selling off the other 50 cars (unless they had 'other' customers that I don't know about?)
Strange how we are seeing these at various VW dealerships, unless it's the same one doing the rounds?
Either way, I couldn't bring myself to buy one as I'm not convinced that VW have sufficient spares for these, not only the body panels, but also the engine and electric motor, which, as they only produced 250, would make sense economically.
Methinks that perhaps all of that 200 weren't sold, or VW are selling off the other 50 cars (unless they had 'other' customers that I don't know about?)
Strange how we are seeing these at various VW dealerships, unless it's the same one doing the rounds?
Either way, I couldn't bring myself to buy one as I'm not convinced that VW have sufficient spares for these, not only the body panels, but also the engine and electric motor, which, as they only produced 250, would make sense economically.
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