The Smorgasbord

High gas prices got you down? Check out this 280mpg VW car!

So you’re thinking you might get a Prius to enjoy that 60mpg at the gas pump, or maybe a Honda Civic with 35mpg? Maybe you were even thinking of getting motorcycle or moped. I get that you didn’t think there was a car currently being tested that gets 282mpg - did you? The pic below is from Wired, and this car is called the “One-Liter”

This concept they’re calling a “microcar”, and they plan to build a limited number of them in 2010. It’s a two seater car (one behind the other) with aerodynamics much like an airplane or jet sans wings. Made of carbon fiber, magnesium, and titanium, the One-Liter weighs less than a third of a Toyata Echo and has less the coefficient of drag of a Honda insight. It has a one-liter (of course) diesel engine, anti-lock brakes, and airbags. It can do 65 on the freeway, and the engine shuts off at lights and automatically restarts when you hit the accelerator. By the time it hits the market it’s sticker price could be $20-30,000

VW is only slated to build 1,000 of these per year, but I bet they’re sold out completely well before they are even available. To go as far on one gallon as an entire tankful means that the average person driving 10,000 miles per year at $4 per gallon of gas could drive the one-liter for $160. A traditional car that gets 20mpg would cost $2,000 per year in gas.

Caveat emptor though, it’s only a 2 seater, and if something goes wrong your little exotic green car could cost a lot to get fixed! Would you feel safe driving this? Would you give up your SUV for something like this?