TIL: The VW XL1 is tiny

"Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now)" (bman76-4) 12/27/2018 at 16:31 • Filed to: None

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Like, kei car sized.

Honestly I’m pretty unimpressed. It looks more like a toy than a car.

I... I guess I thought it was more i8 sized?

That tire/fender gap is atrocious.

I assume most of you can guess where I went today.

TysMagic > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 16:44

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I think I expected this to have more presence to it as well. Very interesting 

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 16:48

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calls it xl

makes it tiny

and they say germans have no sense of humour

RallyWrench > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 16:51

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I still think it’s cool, but t he bigger news is TATRA AMBULANCE!!

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 16:52

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I fucking love that car. I think it looks like a gorram  spaceship. 

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > TysMagic 12/27/2018 at 16:54

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I was just underwhelmed. I remember how cool I thought these were in pictures and such, but like you said,  it just lacks any presence in person.

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) 12/27/2018 at 16:56

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TBH it really doesn’t seem as spaceship looking as an i8/R8/LC500 in my opinion.

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > RallyWrench 12/27/2018 at 16:57

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One of about four or five  Tatra 613s there.

duurtlang > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 16:57

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They went for maximum fuel efficiency. The small size helps.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 17:01

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That is the car that a small company could build and sell for under 10k new. IF the the government would allow lower safety standard for super high efficiency cars.

I think a car segment like that had its place and should exist. Just take an Elio and ad  another rear wheel

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 12/27/2018 at 17:03

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That’s why we have motorcycles. I’m not for lowering safety standards.

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > farscythe - makin da cawfee! 12/27/2018 at 17:04

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The original L1 was even smaller

Captain of the Enterprise > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 17:04

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Those are so much smaller than I thought. Still cool though.

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > Captain of the Enterprise 12/27/2018 at 17:05

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It makes my NA Miata look big.

Captain of the Enterprise > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 17:13

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Yeah which also means at 6’3” I’ll probably not fit into one. 

Cé hé sin > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 17:13

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I’ve managed to sit in one. It was about the size I expected - it is only 800cc after all as it’s very narrow so as to give a small frontal area. Its  predecessor had tandem seating but that was found somewhat antisocial.

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > Cé hé sin 12/27/2018 at 17:22

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Yeah, you’d better be friends with whoever is in the passenger seat, because they basically touch.

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > Captain of the Enterprise 12/27/2018 at 17:24

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I have no clue, but two guys my size would be touching because the seats basically touched and there’s no center console.

Milky > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 17:24

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Since the seating is like this I kind of assumed that.

Still cool that a major company made it though.  

Cash Rewards > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) 12/27/2018 at 17:24

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*started for gorram*

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > Milky 12/27/2018 at 17:26

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It’s a neat tech demonstrator, but I really don’t get how they thought they could sell them for $144k.

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > RallyWrench 12/27/2018 at 17:33

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The real party is the Tatar flat bed tow truck  in the back

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 17:41

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Allowing motorcycles isn’t any different than allowing a less safe, highly efficient car. Except for that you probably won’t die from  going around a wet corner, or hitting a deer in a small car.

PS9 > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 17:55

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They didn’t just ‘think’ they could. They did. They needed a raffle to settle how many of the applicants could actually purchase the car after more than 200 people showed up to claim the number of examples they were going to sell.

Are there faster and more exciting things to spend $150k on? Sure. But that doesn't mean XL1 buyers are wrong for thr owing their money at the worlds only 250 MPG car, and likely all have plenty of speedy excitement sitting in their driveways anyway. 

Milky > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 17:57

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Lol, didn’t know thats what they were asking.

Well if we can sell a Veyron for 1.5 mil, we can sell these for 1/10th of that.

-VW exec, probably.

Cé hé sin > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 17:57

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The seats are staggered so as to reduce that!

Cé hé sin > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 18:02

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Used ones are advertised for around €100,000 . Do your own cur rency conversion!

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars 12/27/2018 at 18:08

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Forget that, there’s that Citröen  CX hauler back there I want.

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > PS9 12/27/2018 at 18:11

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I mean yeah, it was an instant collectors item. For that kinda money I’d be buying an R8.

ihm96 > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 18:19

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I was there this summer! Day after the amphibious vehicle sank, yet I didnt know that while I was there haha nobody mentioned it

Second photo here was on my way to the dragon

glemon > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 18:29

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That is really cool, size doesn't bother me, but I have always liked small cars

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > glemon 12/27/2018 at 18:31

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I mean, it’s weirdly tiny. Way smaller than literally anything apart from an Autozam AZ-1.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 18:48

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You know in reality they were trying to make the Jetta of the future. So it makes sense that it doesn’t have much presesnts. It should be appealing but inoffensive. Jessica doesn’t need a flashy car

Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 18:54

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Wasn’t this sold in Europe only?

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 12/27/2018 at 19:18

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The $146k tiny 2 seater Jetta...

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner 12/27/2018 at 19:24

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I think so

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 19:54

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Did they actually sell these? I thought they were just concepts? Test and engineering exercise

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 12/27/2018 at 20:18

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Built 250, sold 200 to the general public.

wafflesnfalafel > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 22:04

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dang - had no idea it was toy sized,  (no wonder it gets good mileage...)

Nice Xterra - my neighbor’s care assistant (she has MS) just got a used one like that, same color.

thebigbossyboss > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 12/27/2018 at 22:49

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Where’d you find that?

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) 12/27/2018 at 23:28

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It looks like an ItalDesign (VW bought ItalDesign from Giugiaro) mashup of a tiny economy car size specification with aspects of ItalDesign’s Subaru SVX concept, McLaren F1, and Audi R8-turned-VW.

with a powersport sized engine, and hybrid drive, it should cost 30-40 grand, not 140 grand.

I don’t see why these things need to be so exclusive all the time.

“ Build them, and they (customers) will come.”

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > thebigbossyboss 12/28/2018 at 01:29

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The Lane Motor Museum in Nashville 

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 12/28/2018 at 06:59

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Carbon fiber ain’t cheap, and that car uses a lot of it.