A Toyota Prius justifies its existence by being a little bit more economical than a regular gasoline-powered car, and in fact, has gone on to sell more than a million units in the United States.
However, it’s still too much like a regular car to be that much more efficient, and if it had feelings, it would definitely feel very embarrassed if it was in the same room as VW’s XL1 diesel-hybrid.
Sure, it failed to achieve the crazy-ambitious 261 mpg US claimed figure, but it still returns over 160 mpg US, or about 1.47 l/100km and that’s very good too. It proves that if you really go to the extreme with all of the important stuff (weight, engine size and aerodynamic efficiency), then the benefits you reap are proportional. Plus, it proves to actually be a good, usable car, in modern-day traffic conditions, as the video review from KBB that we’ve posted below reveals.
The XL1 has no trouble keeping up with traffic, and maintaining high motorway speeds, while carrying two fully-grown adults, as a regular two-seater efficiency-oriented car would. Granted, the seats are placed in an offset position, but this seems to bother nobody, and makes full use of the relatively narrow interior volume.
By Andrei Nedelea
VIDEO