http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,544840,00.html??test=faces
Not exactly pratical, but really, really cool looking. I like it for it's "outside the box" thinking.
That is a lot of hardware packed in there for 3k lbs. At least on paper, this thing looks pretty damn awesome - I wonder how much of the powertrain is ready to be put in a real car.
On an aside... I wonder how long we will have to endure ridiculously heavy vehicles before someone challenges the safety standards enough to make a one ton car possible again. I mean, look at all that technology and cost in that thing... and Honda had a regular pump gas car that could do 40MPG 20yrs ago. Just putting a small direct injected modern diesel in it would have been more than enough to make it a ballpark 60MPG car and still be cheap to buy. Every engineer knows weight is the enemy. How long before they can convince lawmakers?
walterj wrote: That is a lot of hardware packed in there for 3k lbs. At least on paper, this thing looks pretty damn awesome - I wonder how much of the powertrain is ready to be put in a real car. On an aside... I wonder how long we will have to endure ridiculously heavy vehicles before someone challenges the safety standards enough to make a one ton car possible again. I mean, look at all that technology and cost in that thing... and Honda had a regular pump gas car that could do 40MPG 20yrs ago. Just putting a small direct injected modern diesel in it would have been more than enough to make it a ballpark 60MPG car and still be cheap to buy. Every engineer knows weight is the enemy. How long before they can convince lawmakers?
We are a society of Bob Costas. Not gonna happen.
There is an ad on the front page of today's NYTimes from ExxonMobil: "For every ten percent drop in vehicle weight, fuel economy improves by seven percent." Maybe they want people to get the hint?
But "less is more" must be considered old-tech, because three drivetrains sure sounds like "more is more."
The drivetrain sounds great, but that thing is ugly as hell. Take that set up and put it in a 3 series and I would at least think about it.
I think it's pretty radical thinking, but who affordable will something like that be to the common buyer. With Ford's now bringing their midsize sedans into the lower 40s before markup, we're probably looking at quite an expensive car there. But I guess that's per de BMW.
I concur with what already has been stated that if we can just drop the weight of vehicles, we can improve MPG's significantly. Look at cars such as the Pinto or CRX, light weight, not too bad to tote about in and 40 and 50MPG. There are gas meisers made today that don't hit 50MPG, LOL!
On a tangent, however, that car did put a smile on my face just looking at it, very futre-retro, I like it! Jeremy Clarkson is going to give that thing the WRINGER however if/when he drives it. He'll complain about everything, HAHAHA!
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