That engine noise is confusingly unique. I would have to compare it to something antique, partly because of the two-cylinder layout, but also because of the mechanical diesel noises. What a time rally car!
That was exactely the goal of F. Piech: He wanted the VW conglomerate to be the one complex to make the most powerfull production car with over 1000hp as well as the most fuel efficient one with 1L/100km.
I feel like there should be an honorary mention of the VW Lupo 3L or even the Audi A2. Proper cars with genuinely amazing numbers in real-life conditions.
You are so right (@Hagerty !).It's an important part of the story. And they drove well too. In Denmark there are many of them still alive with 500.000 km on the clock. (Denmark put high tax on diesel and gas cars and fuel) Soif you are on a low budget, a rusty old Lupo 3L is a dream car.
Man, the A2, my first car! A hand-me-down from my mom, not exactly a stunner, but was as large as a Golf while weighing as little as a Panda, an astonishing result that was! Too bad it cost the moon when it was new...
Let me also throw in the first Polo BlueMotion (Polo Mk IV-2), which has a claimed fuel economy of 3.7l/100km - which it achieved with much less technical trickery and exotic materials than the Lupo 3L or Audi A2. Thus making it affordable and a much more viable option as an actual, everyday car. An additional .7l/100km is perfectly acceptable, IMO, considering you didn't have to put up with an insanely high sticker price or things like that terribly sluggish drive-train/transmission that the Lupo 3L came with. It also gained some street-cred when Richard Hammond used it to win the ecomony run to Blackpool on Top Gear.
I worked for Audi at the time and the Lupo 3L and A2 1.2tdi was more important, while the XL1 is a "hold my schnapps" moment, the vents below the 3rd brake light inspired by a whale breathe hole and carbon fibre shell. None of the XL1 is used directly in any VAG and the team were not restricted financially. It's under the same umbrella as the Dakar racer.
All that has ever mattered about vehicles like this is that someone in power decided to create it, completely disregarding the bean counters. It still looks modern, in 2024, which is a testament to VW's designers at the time. Hats off, as always, Mr. Cammisa and Hagerty. =)
I drive an ugly little Prius C as a daily and it sees about 1,000 miles a month. The fuel cost is about $50 per month (the total monthly cost is about $290 when you factor in repairs, maintenance, tires and insurance) . At some point, fuel efficiency reaches a point of diminishing returns where the cost to improve it outweighs the actual savings. The XL1 is that car. BTW, a 1st gen Insight with a 5 speed is one of my dream cars!
@@mrflippantnot a hot hatch, it's a sporty hatch. I drive a current gen Mazda3 AWD hatchback. 0-60 7.0 sec, .88 skid pad on horrible eco Toyo tire, swapped it out for Pirelli P Zero AS+ UHP. I wouldn't call it a hot hatch, but a sporty hatch. Even the more powerful turbo model isn't classed as a hot hatch with it's 5.5 sec 0-60.
@@DroneStrike1776There was a little-known option that did make it into a hot hatch, however they're VERY hard to find. HPD offered additional equipment (supercharger, body kits, big brake kit, suspension kit, and an LSD) but the one to get was a dealer-installed and warrantied supercharger that brought power up from 130hp to ~200hp. But because you had to go through dealers and because it was pricey (~$5K in parts, $7k total for only the supercharger option), people just went and bought Fiesta STs instead. Regarding the Mazda3, I think it's not a hot hatch only because Mazda doesn't want to sell hot hatches. They distanced themselves from Mazdaspeed branding because it was "childish" (-Masahiro Moro, CEO of Mazda NA and Mazda Motor Corp) and it contradicts how they wanted to move towards the luxury market. They have the platform and engine to make a hot hatch, but it doesn't work from a brand and marketing perspective. That mentality of quiet comfort and almost-luxury was there from the start with the current Mazda3 generation, as they never would have gone with the current rear suspension architecture had they ever intended there to be a Mazdaspeed3/hot hatch model.
@@brianp6965 they move out SF only when doing track related action, if you are interested there's a podcast with anthony esposito and their editor on the carmudgeon show
The fact that it is still "good to drive" (as per Jason and some other journos) despite every compromise and design decision being biased towards economy, really goes to show that the "lighter is better" axiom is the automotive holy grail.
I'm really hoping that Honda Insight introduction is a tease of a possible Revelations episode. Something I love about the Honda Insight story is that it's similar to the NSX for hybrids. It's why Honda lost the race to become the hybrid king to Toyota with their Prius. Were it designed with scaleability in mind, Honda might've been the leader of Hybrid technology before Toyota !
I had an Honda Inisght 2 for a few years. Insane MPG figures. Even today's cars can hardly match that - if they even can, and especially can do that that in real world. That thing was so cheap to run that it even comes close to running my EV now with solar power (have to pay for the solar install - so power isn't actually free) for a fraction of the price. Honda really did something wrong there marketing wise. Even a Prius of that time isn't really better in real world commuter usage. And the Inisght 2 looked better too. Yet, you see Prius from all generations everywhere, while an Insight is a rarity.
@@XTRLFX you cant build a car at 1800 lbs anymore due to crash regulations. my prius c was 2500. the new prius is 3100. they get 56mpg weighing much more than the honda so theyre actually more efficient
The XL1 just goes to show that the old Honda Insight is still the actual king of ICE/Hybrid efficiency. No carbon fibre, no pointless plug-in system and no 6 figure price tag & a whole lot more practical. What an amazing little machine it is.
Well it depends on how you look at it. The insight is very nice, but In an apples to apples comparison, the XL1 is surely much, much more fuel efficient. Those numbers in the video arent apples to apples comparison. And its always the last bit that costs the most.
@@mitchell-wallisforce7859 Well insight is a nice car, I like it, but no way does it come close to the fuel efficiency of an XL1 in an apples to apples comparison.
No it makes perfect sense. If you're going to get the most energy out of a liter of diesel, thus the most efficient car, you are also going to have terrible emissions. Low CO2 means high NOx and other bad particles.
@@jankoekemoer6034 What do you mean? VW (and other manufactureres) really did it themselves. You really think this is all a hoax? They cheated the system, the EU didn't care because of the strong lobby, the US cared about it. A Euro 5 diesel is very efficient, just not as clean as specified. And the Euro 5 diesel specification was already as low as a Euro 3 petrol car!
Piech was already gone by that time. And there are a few interesting parts about that whole story: 1) while people were "rolling coal" in their Pickups in the US which seemingly don't need to comply with any emission standards, the european cars that missed the emission standards way less than those trucks would if they would have to were crucified. (I don't say the forging of emissions is not ot be punished, but there's a big doble standard here. On one hand you crucify a car that emmits way less harmfull substances than those trucks per amount of fuel, on the other hand those trucks are selling like fresh bread and praised) 2) a big part of the emission forging actually was down to how US customers were perceived by the VW groups deciding managers. Specifically, what "burden" of fluid refilling could be brought on US customers: Audi engineers wanted to put a bigger tank for the Diesel exhaust fluid into the cars as they found that emission standards required more of the fluid than initially thought. This in turn would have meant that customers would need to fill up that fluid more often. -> several times between scheduled maintenance. And the managers were against both: no bigger DEF tank, and no refilling of that fluid, as they said "You can't make US customers refill that." So one engineer sarcastically then wrote: In that case we only reach emissions by cheating. The response by the management was "so then you have your answer." And what they did was reduce the use of the fluid so it only needed to be filled up at the normal maint intervalls. And in situations where they knew the car was tested for emissions they used the fluid like it was supposed to be used to actually have the emissions they should. (The conversation betwen engineers and management was published in german media years ago)
One of the stories i love about "x litre cars" in the economy era is that VW got wind of Renault building a 3 litre Clio. They dint want to get beaten so they set to work on the Polo with a 1.2 diesel and skinny tyres and got it to do 3L/100km: the Polo bluemotion. Then Renault released the Clio with a 3 Litre V6 mid mounted. 😅
The snap snap clap, is relatively common. I've seen it in many movies, tv shows and yt videos. Also a few people I know do it occasionally, including me.
It's basically the rare instance of concept car put pretty much straight into production. And I'm sure they lost a lot of money on every unit, but this was about proving a point, not about economics. And it still looks good and exotic in 2024. I guess they probably all ended up in collections somewhere.
Im always amazed with how experimental Ferdinand Piëch was with always trying to push engineering limits, which I never expected from a leader of a global auto conglomerate. The VW Phaeton, I still feel is an underrated car considering the advancements and design ambition, but it never quite caught on. Hope Jason covers it one day.
See, this is why we tune in to Jaybones. The dude has TASTE, cultured taste, like Leno. Not all Lambos and Ferrari, but all genuinely cool. This is a COOL car.
@@GoldenCroc It's not as much "it's what consumers want" it's more that people wanting an SUV are hard to sell smaller cars to while those interested in smaller cars are more tolerable to buying a bigger one. Ergo the answer is just make the bigger models primarily. Plus there's the added pressures that it's easier to push people to more expensive cars with claims of "more cargo" or "safety" than fuel economy. Just look how many people get pushed up from a Toyota Camry or Corolla to a RAV4 or Venza or Model 3 to Model Y. There's also the fact that bigger cars have less strict emissions regulations making it easier to make these vehicles
@@GoldenCroc customers mostly want what they're marketed. minivans were better in every way than suvs in 99% of use-cases but had stricter emissions standards and lower margins, so guess what got the marketing push
@@GoldenCroc it’s what the manufacturers want to sell us due to the higher profits and fuel economy regulation loopholes so it’s what we’ve been told we want
Somewhat missing the Audi 100 2.5TDI using 1,76L/100km in 1989. Although they did everything to make this car use as little fuel as possible, it drove through Europe and back on one tank. Only going 60 mind you but still. Interesting story, 4818km on one tank
I love the reviews from Jason! He is the only automotive journalist that is able to compete with Clarkson in terms of humor, detailed information, and overall presentation, and that is the highest praise I can give.
I loved the versatility of my 1971 Volkswagen Super Beetle.....😊 It got 30+mpg under 90mph/top speed. NA 1600cc dual port....4 speed with reverse. Seating for 4, big trunk, No oil filter, no radiator, 165mm tires. AM/FM cd player, and 4 wal-mart speakers.... Talk about simple., affordable, and fun!!
They should start offering some stuff inspired by the hypermiling community. I'd buy pizza pan wheel hubs and a winter grill if it were available for my vehicle. I saved quite a bit of fuel this winter by covering a part of my grill with cardboard (black to it looked better). The car used less fuel, got warmer much quicker and much easily maintained the proper temperature.
So many off us would prefer more economy than performance. So bring on the lessons into EVs and give us 10 miles per kWh. Can’t believe more cars dont have rear wheels covered like this car, the Honda insight and the old DS…got to help with economy and cool to look at imo.
First time I saw it was in Spain 2016 in Barcelona, some kind of showroom in the city centre. I took a quick picture and was impressed by it’s design (mostly because of the VW badge).
The videos I'm always anticipating the most are Jason's Revelations and Icons episodes. Just an awesome story, and production. simply the best, keep up with the great work Jason and Hagerty team :)
It sounds like an old sportscar, it goes like an old sportscar and it looks like a modern day interpretation of an old, streamlined, sportscar. I would definitely love to have one.
Great video! We own an e-Golf and it is a properly wonderful car. It's fun to drive, comfortable, quiet and insanely well engineered. If it had 250 miles of range we would drive it everywhere.
I think it was yesterday I was wondering about it was needed another video from Jason and his team. I am so glad and happy to watch it eating lunch because I know they never disappoint. Well done!
When this came out I had a tax write off 2013 Focus EV lease in GA. I wanted an XL1 so bad because I wanted to drive all over the country for ultra cheap. Now I think the ghetto way to do it would be to get a cheap Focus EV replace weak cells in the battery pack so it still gets 70miles of range and put an efficient engine in the back driving the rear wheels, something like Robot Cantina uses, a little boosted Kubota diesel. It'd be perfect because all the accessories, AC, PS, PB, cooling system are there, the engine only has to apply power to the tires, drive it's oil pump and you could even make the water pump electric if it ended up being more efficient. I always wanted to figure out how to charge it while driving with efficent generators on a tow hitch platform or tiny trailer to see how the fuel efficiency could work out, even if the generators only edtended range and weren't powerful enough to feed as much energy as it took at cruising speed to go forever with refueling.
Series hybrids arent as efficent during crusing as normal ones. On the other hand, towing a trailer doesnt necessarily take much extra fuel, depending on the size of it and the shape of the car.
The VW R&D lab was in the same building that I worked out of in Belmont CA back in 2013 era. I walked out for lunch one day and they had an XL2 sitting out front. Super cool car and I had a chat with the engineers getting it ready to load into a semi. I wish actual people could drive fun cars. Nothing sold in the USA is exciting to me now.
Placing this thing next to an insight was genius. Even today the 1st gen insight looks like a melted jellybean so that XL1 must be microscopic, not to mention it's absolutely gorgeous. The design was so far ahead of its time, only Piech could have commissioned such a ludicrous project. It truly was the Veyron of MPG. It's too bad it wasn't more widely known.
It would not sell well at all lol Don't kid yourself, this is a super niche product and everyone wants an SUV because everyone else has one and they want to feel 'safe'
Yeah, pretty surprised at how awful these are on fuel really considering my dads A3 1.6tdi gets 4.2l pr 100km without too much trouble For this amount of effort going into it being ultra fuel-efficient it's really underwhelming when you look at real life numbers. HubNut reviewed one and also found it be quite lacking in terms of fuel efficiency in the real world.
I consistently get 55+MPG (750+ miles range on a 13.7g tank) in a 2020 Ford Escape AWD HEV(not even a PHEV) while driving cross country. it has AC and sound deadening, and room to sleep with the rear seats folded(used it as a stealth camper). I took her all over Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia.... 18k miles on three trips using barely 300 gallons total. All for a $28k purchase price in 2020
I am sure you do, this easily gets above 100mpg doing the same driving. Its always getting the last bit on the top that costs the most. Just as a comparison. Horses for courses.
Neat car, I had the 2000 Insight (silver 5 speed manual), it got 50mpg with my foot through the floorboard with an elevation climb of 4000ft on my daily commute of 100miles round trip. It got 72mpg driving from AZ to CA with a MTB in place of the passenger seat and weeks worth of luggage. The AC blew ice cubes and you haven't lived until you see that the digital speedo ACTUALLY has 3 digits not just 2. 😂
You have the oe tires? Those numbers are pretty bad for a 5 speed. I don't think I saw 50mpg in mine except on the trip home from the abusive previous owner when it had an engine full of sludge and tires low on air that didn't match. Not to mention a lawn mower battery Fer the 12v. Half those cars got owned by the cheapest people. After a set of rubber and 3 oil flushes it never seemed to get under 65mpg no mater how I thrashed on it finding that 3rd digit myself even with the ima bypassed. Road trips got into to 80mpg range easy if I even remotely tried. Best tank I managed was 94mpg. I miss that car.
@@chublez 😂 Yeah OE tires @ 65psi my drive was a miserable climb and back the gas pedal was on the floor the whole time I had it and the AC on MAX. It was well maintained though and everything working properly. The IMA was OG and weak. I had the conditioner "roomba" looking thing I did once a month (took 2 days of sitting in the garage).
Such an excellent car, VW is so admirable when they set out to achieve a lofty goal. Thank you for providing exposure to a car that deserves it as much as this one.
I loved this weird little thing since i saw it on aging wheels. I dunno how many exist but modifying one could make for some pretty awesome results.. Given it's focus on lightness and low drag.
As the proud owner of both the Lupo and A2 3L I had to get one of these but the constant people harassment whenever I drive it has confined it to my garage, mostly.
I actually saw one of those near Mainz in Germany. Its really striking in real life, low and small. I had to immediately find out what it was and the story was quite interesting :D
That engine noise is confusingly unique. I would have to compare it to something antique, partly because of the two-cylinder layout, but also because of the mechanical diesel noises. What a time rally car!
Unique and awesome! I wonder if that is what you truly hear inside the cabin.
Kinda sounded like an old VW or Porsche flat 4 to me ...
Sounds like a Yamaha XS650 or Honda CB360, but more diesel-y.
Time trial rally? Doesn't Jeremy's ex wife do those?
Sounds exactly like a Citroen 2cv hehe
Fact that VW made both 100km/l and 0,01km/l cars in same time is mindblowing.
That was exactely the goal of F. Piech: He wanted the VW conglomerate to be the one complex to make the most powerfull production car with over 1000hp as well as the most fuel efficient one with 1L/100km.
@@nirfz And of course for all to use the same mirror motor, never forget that detail!
@@Munkenba You are of course correct! Alas, i forgot to mention that. 😁
Wonder how much studying the aerodynamics that made the XL1 possible helped in creating the Veyron
And to think they both had engines based off ones you could find in a Golf
I feel like there should be an honorary mention of the VW Lupo 3L or even the Audi A2. Proper cars with genuinely amazing numbers in real-life conditions.
You are so right (@Hagerty !).It's an important part of the story. And they drove well too. In Denmark there are many of them still alive with 500.000 km on the clock. (Denmark put high tax on diesel and gas cars and fuel) Soif you are on a low budget, a rusty old Lupo 3L is a dream car.
Man, the A2, my first car! A hand-me-down from my mom, not exactly a stunner, but was as large as a Golf while weighing as little as a Panda, an astonishing result that was! Too bad it cost the moon when it was new...
Let me also throw in the first Polo BlueMotion (Polo Mk IV-2), which has a claimed fuel economy of 3.7l/100km - which it achieved with much less technical trickery and exotic materials than the Lupo 3L or Audi A2. Thus making it affordable and a much more viable option as an actual, everyday car. An additional .7l/100km is perfectly acceptable, IMO, considering you didn't have to put up with an insanely high sticker price or things like that terribly sluggish drive-train/transmission that the Lupo 3L came with. It also gained some street-cred when Richard Hammond used it to win the ecomony run to Blackpool on Top Gear.
I worked for Audi at the time and the Lupo 3L and A2 1.2tdi was more important, while the XL1 is a "hold my schnapps" moment, the vents below the 3rd brake light inspired by a whale breathe hole and carbon fibre shell. None of the XL1 is used directly in any VAG and the team were not restricted financially. It's under the same umbrella as the Dakar racer.
No one wants to hear about average cars.
Those cars Are ducks. They can walk, swim and fly, but they don't do any of them well.
Babe wake up new Jason video just dropped.
Mrrrnnnn ....
I’ve got 30 minutes for lunch and I know what I’m watching 😊
Idk what you're talking about, Jason IS my babe! 😂
In my mind..
I cant wait to watch it🎉
Ut up
Ayy, finally some real coverage of the XL1. One of the coolest looking production cars ever
No.
limited production*
@@SupraSav Production is production. It’s road legal, and you can buy it. That’s what counts
@@TempoLOOKING Yes.
@@leomux2004 nah. Looks like a silver turd.
All that has ever mattered about vehicles like this is that someone in power decided to create it, completely disregarding the bean counters. It still looks modern, in 2024, which is a testament to VW's designers at the time. Hats off, as always, Mr. Cammisa and Hagerty. =)
Saw this car in the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee several years ago. It’s a thing of beauty.
Not according to Sony. Not in gran turismo
got to see that one in person last year
Me too, got to see it last fall. In a museum full of incredibly cool cars the XL1 definitely belonged there. Amazing museum!
No-one should forget the freaking XL Sport with the Ducati V4, since it actually made more sense than the regular XL1
Was going to mention that version. Very cool concept!
Small correction. The engine is a V Twin from Ducati Panigale 1199 Superleggera. Not the V4 from Panigale V4.
@@kkao33 dang, you right
Came here to mention this. How on earth did Camissa not comment on that? crazy !
Was going to say, looks like they'd be ideal for an old Honda CB twin 350/500 cc motor (for MPG), or a ZX1400/Hyabusa motor, for, er, 'Fun' 😉👍
😎🇬🇧
I drive an ugly little Prius C as a daily and it sees about 1,000 miles a month. The fuel cost is about $50 per month (the total monthly cost is about $290 when you factor in repairs, maintenance, tires and insurance) . At some point, fuel efficiency reaches a point of diminishing returns where the cost to improve it outweighs the actual savings. The XL1 is that car. BTW, a 1st gen Insight with a 5 speed is one of my dream cars!
same except the CRZ with the 6 speed manual
Ayyyyyy fellow Prius C owner
Ngl the fuel economy on it is really good considering how old the tech in it
@@TheImperfectGuy CRZ with 6-speed manual is a legitimately awesome little hot hatch.
@@mrflippantnot a hot hatch, it's a sporty hatch. I drive a current gen Mazda3 AWD hatchback. 0-60 7.0 sec, .88 skid pad on horrible eco Toyo tire, swapped it out for Pirelli P Zero AS+ UHP. I wouldn't call it a hot hatch, but a sporty hatch. Even the more powerful turbo model isn't classed as a hot hatch with it's 5.5 sec 0-60.
@@DroneStrike1776There was a little-known option that did make it into a hot hatch, however they're VERY hard to find. HPD offered additional equipment (supercharger, body kits, big brake kit, suspension kit, and an LSD) but the one to get was a dealer-installed and warrantied supercharger that brought power up from 130hp to ~200hp. But because you had to go through dealers and because it was pricey (~$5K in parts, $7k total for only the supercharger option), people just went and bought Fiesta STs instead. Regarding the Mazda3, I think it's not a hot hatch only because Mazda doesn't want to sell hot hatches. They distanced themselves from Mazdaspeed branding because it was "childish" (-Masahiro Moro, CEO of Mazda NA and Mazda Motor Corp) and it contradicts how they wanted to move towards the luxury market. They have the platform and engine to make a hot hatch, but it doesn't work from a brand and marketing perspective. That mentality of quiet comfort and almost-luxury was there from the start with the current Mazda3 generation, as they never would have gone with the current rear suspension architecture had they ever intended there to be a Mazdaspeed3/hot hatch model.
I saw one of these parked on the road in Salzburg, Austria and i turned into a 6yr old child over it for 10min. They're super small in real life.
Driving something tiny and small around big rigs and giant ass trucks (mostly the US EPA’s fault, ironically), I’ll pass, I choose life
@@goldenhate6649especially going slow
Jason hooning the baby diesel at the end is cherry on top
Won’t lie, I couldn’t wait to see Jason hoon it on Lucas Valley Road at the end. Did not disappoint! 🙃
Wait... is that the same Lucas Valley Rd in Marin county? I had always assumed this was shot in Southern CA.
@@brianp6965 they move out SF only when doing track related action, if you are interested there's a podcast with anthony esposito and their editor on the carmudgeon show
Wait till George Lucas finds out!
The fact that it is still "good to drive" (as per Jason and some other journos) despite every compromise and design decision being biased towards economy, really goes to show that the "lighter is better" axiom is the automotive holy grail.
lighter is better as long as the compromises aren't too big
and "too big" is rather hard to get to
I'm really hoping that Honda Insight introduction is a tease of a possible Revelations episode.
Something I love about the Honda Insight story is that it's similar to the NSX for hybrids. It's why Honda lost the race to become the hybrid king to Toyota with their Prius. Were it designed with scaleability in mind, Honda might've been the leader of Hybrid technology before Toyota !
I had an Honda Inisght 2 for a few years. Insane MPG figures. Even today's cars can hardly match that - if they even can, and especially can do that that in real world. That thing was so cheap to run that it even comes close to running my EV now with solar power (have to pay for the solar install - so power isn't actually free) for a fraction of the price. Honda really did something wrong there marketing wise. Even a Prius of that time isn't really better in real world commuter usage. And the Inisght 2 looked better too. Yet, you see Prius from all generations everywhere, while an Insight is a rarity.
@@XTRLFX you cant build a car at 1800 lbs anymore due to crash regulations. my prius c was 2500. the new prius is 3100. they get 56mpg weighing much more than the honda so theyre actually more efficient
This was a fantastic dive into one of the coolest cars from the Piech era. As a TDI owner, the sound of this little 2cyl fills me with joy 🥹
The XL1 just goes to show that the old Honda Insight is still the actual king of ICE/Hybrid efficiency. No carbon fibre, no pointless plug-in system and no 6 figure price tag & a whole lot more practical. What an amazing little machine it is.
And gas is about a third less energy dense than diesel.
Annoyingly common Honda W
Well it depends on how you look at it. The insight is very nice, but In an apples to apples comparison, the XL1 is surely much, much more fuel efficient. Those numbers in the video arent apples to apples comparison. And its always the last bit that costs the most.
@@bolt5564 No, its not. Where ever you got those numbers from, they are sadly wrong. In reality, its about the same.
@@mitchell-wallisforce7859 Well insight is a nice car, I like it, but no way does it come close to the fuel efficiency of an XL1 in an apples to apples comparison.
Kind of poetic that the same company that created such a fuel-efficient machine was also slammed for falsifying emissions data for years 😂
Imagine the emissions from a two cylinder 360 degree cranked non-turbo diesel. Yikes!
No it makes perfect sense.
If you're going to get the most energy out of a liter of diesel, thus the most efficient car, you are also going to have terrible emissions.
Low CO2 means high NOx and other bad particles.
Yes the American car companies had to play that card to try and save themselves.. Amazing what your Americans can believe
@@jankoekemoer6034 What do you mean? VW (and other manufactureres) really did it themselves.
You really think this is all a hoax?
They cheated the system, the EU didn't care because of the strong lobby, the US cared about it.
A Euro 5 diesel is very efficient, just not as clean as specified. And the Euro 5 diesel specification was already as low as a Euro 3 petrol car!
Piech was already gone by that time. And there are a few interesting parts about that whole story: 1) while people were "rolling coal" in their Pickups in the US which seemingly don't need to comply with any emission standards, the european cars that missed the emission standards way less than those trucks would if they would have to were crucified. (I don't say the forging of emissions is not ot be punished, but there's a big doble standard here. On one hand you crucify a car that emmits way less harmfull substances than those trucks per amount of fuel, on the other hand those trucks are selling like fresh bread and praised)
2) a big part of the emission forging actually was down to how US customers were perceived by the VW groups deciding managers. Specifically, what "burden" of fluid refilling could be brought on US customers:
Audi engineers wanted to put a bigger tank for the Diesel exhaust fluid into the cars as they found that emission standards required more of the fluid than initially thought. This in turn would have meant that customers would need to fill up that fluid more often. -> several times between scheduled maintenance. And the managers were against both: no bigger DEF tank, and no refilling of that fluid, as they said "You can't make US customers refill that."
So one engineer sarcastically then wrote: In that case we only reach emissions by cheating. The response by the management was "so then you have your answer."
And what they did was reduce the use of the fluid so it only needed to be filled up at the normal maint intervalls.
And in situations where they knew the car was tested for emissions they used the fluid like it was supposed to be used to actually have the emissions they should.
(The conversation betwen engineers and management was published in german media years ago)
One of the stories i love about "x litre cars" in the economy era is that VW got wind of Renault building a 3 litre Clio. They dint want to get beaten so they set to work on the Polo with a 1.2 diesel and skinny tyres and got it to do 3L/100km: the Polo bluemotion. Then Renault released the Clio with a 3 Litre V6 mid mounted. 😅
I think you might be thinking of the Lupo 3L, no polo was rated at 3l/100km as far as I know.
@@GoldenCroc Probably, I'm relaying a story I read in a car magazine over a decade ago.
Renault Wind is awesome car
I just wanted to pop in to appreciate Jason's craft and also his snap-snap-clap at 13:18min - I thought I was the only one doing those.
The Blues Brothers taught me to do the snap-snap-clap.
@@mrflippant "Fix the cigarette lighter"
@@mrflippantOh wow I had no idea!
The snap snap clap, is relatively common. I've seen it in many movies, tv shows and yt videos. Also a few people I know do it occasionally, including me.
Data in Star Trek: Generations does a great one.
It's basically the rare instance of concept car put pretty much straight into production. And I'm sure they lost a lot of money on every unit, but this was about proving a point, not about economics. And it still looks good and exotic in 2024. I guess they probably all ended up in collections somewhere.
Im always amazed with how experimental Ferdinand Piëch was with always trying to push engineering limits, which I never expected from a leader of a global auto conglomerate. The VW Phaeton, I still feel is an underrated car considering the advancements and design ambition, but it never quite caught on. Hope Jason covers it one day.
What an awesome video! The cinematography and writing are just amazing. Never. Stop. Making Videos.
See, this is why we tune in to Jaybones. The dude has TASTE, cultured taste, like Leno. Not all Lambos and Ferrari, but all genuinely cool. This is a COOL car.
Unironically one of my dream cars
Still wish the car industry adopted this philosophy as a standard rather than the SUV
It would if that would be what customrs want. Alas, the customers loves SUVs and CUVs.
@@GoldenCroc It's not as much "it's what consumers want" it's more that people wanting an SUV are hard to sell smaller cars to while those interested in smaller cars are more tolerable to buying a bigger one. Ergo the answer is just make the bigger models primarily.
Plus there's the added pressures that it's easier to push people to more expensive cars with claims of "more cargo" or "safety" than fuel economy. Just look how many people get pushed up from a Toyota Camry or Corolla to a RAV4 or Venza or Model 3 to Model Y. There's also the fact that bigger cars have less strict emissions regulations making it easier to make these vehicles
I agree
@@GoldenCroc customers mostly want what they're marketed. minivans were better in every way than suvs in 99% of use-cases but had stricter emissions standards and lower margins, so guess what got the marketing push
@@GoldenCroc it’s what the manufacturers want to sell us due to the higher profits and fuel economy regulation loopholes so it’s what we’ve been told we want
Somewhat missing the Audi 100 2.5TDI using 1,76L/100km in 1989. Although they did everything to make this car use as little fuel as possible, it drove through Europe and back on one tank. Only going 60 mind you but still. Interesting story, 4818km on one tank
You should to a revelations on the gen1 insight. That car despite being a hybrid is fun to drive and has a cool story behind its development.
So cool to see Jason pull up to Prestage in this thing! Wild to see in real life, and Jason is the real deal .
The format of these videos = perfect. Damn that would be a fun car to drive!
I have been wondering about the engine sound for decades. Thanks for the demo!
Awesome Video's making me watch a video about a car I don't care about because the value of your content is why I am here.
My day is ALWAYS made when a new Jason/Hagerty video comes out. Thank you Hagerty team!
I love the reviews from Jason! He is the only automotive journalist that is able to compete with Clarkson in terms of humor, detailed information, and overall presentation, and that is the highest praise I can give.
Cammisa and XL1 - not a combination I was expecting, but two of my favourite things ever.
I loved the versatility of my 1971 Volkswagen Super Beetle.....😊
It got 30+mpg under 90mph/top speed.
NA 1600cc dual port....4 speed with reverse.
Seating for 4, big trunk,
No oil filter, no radiator, 165mm tires.
AM/FM cd player, and 4 wal-mart speakers....
Talk about simple., affordable, and fun!!
I love my 62 Karmann Ghia :) Also gets 30+ MPG
i love my 2014 prius c 60+mpg and better than an old beatle in every way
@will.green.
Sure little buddy....just let us know how much your replacement battery costs.
They should start offering some stuff inspired by the hypermiling community. I'd buy pizza pan wheel hubs and a winter grill if it were available for my vehicle. I saved quite a bit of fuel this winter by covering a part of my grill with cardboard (black to it looked better). The car used less fuel, got warmer much quicker and much easily maintained the proper temperature.
So many off us would prefer more economy than performance. So bring on the lessons into EVs and give us 10 miles per kWh.
Can’t believe more cars dont have rear wheels covered like this car, the Honda insight and the old DS…got to help with economy and cool to look at imo.
This car reminds me of the Aptera in development. With BEV packaging advantages; the Aptera seems to be close to 10 miles/ kWh.
I love the sounds at the emd of the video. Shows it's a real car channel!
First time I saw it was in Spain 2016 in Barcelona, some kind of showroom in the city centre. I took a quick picture and was impressed by it’s design (mostly because of the VW badge).
That one is mine now!
The videos I'm always anticipating the most are Jason's Revelations and Icons episodes. Just an awesome story, and production. simply the best, keep up with the great work Jason and Hagerty team :)
NOW I can't wait for your vid on the [eventual] production model of the Aptera.
Ok right, 350mpg equivalent compared to more like 80 or even the hypothetical 250 is just a sweeping victory for aptera
@@h20dancing18 Aptera can be more fuel efficient than this, but not by an extreme amount. Its ratings shenanigans otherwise.
Jason, I need more Revelations! Awesome content. I've watched all of them. I need more!
It sounds like an old sportscar, it goes like an old sportscar and it looks like a modern day interpretation of an old, streamlined, sportscar. I would definitely love to have one.
I've seen one of these in person, and its really sharp. Now we need an electric XL1... actually, make mine the Ducati powered one.
This thing looks absolutely awesome and still seems to be more futuristic than any car made today
Hi Jason Cammisa from your old stomping grounds in Frankfurt! Please take care of my old stomping grounds in NorCal!! Life is weird like that.
Interesting. My old stomping grounds were Frankfurt, and my current stomping grounds are NorCal.
@@heiner71Naja, dann viele schöne Grüße nach NorCal!
I just love this guy.... Revelations and the Drag videos are top notch
15 years earlier safety standards really, really, helped that Honda Insight be such a low weight.
This showed up at cars and coffee in Marin last week. And so did Jason. In a sweet Honda Beat!
I wished they released the L1. 170 MPG, I can live with that..
you going to pay 150k to save 15k in gas? get a prius for 25k and spend 20k in gas. or is it just about virtue signaling?
Great video! We own an e-Golf and it is a properly wonderful car. It's fun to drive, comfortable, quiet and insanely well engineered. If it had 250 miles of range we would drive it everywhere.
1988, Öko-Polo,
I've been waiting for this! Please more in-depth technical reviews of engine etc.!
These videos need to be more frequent
You can’t rush art
I think it was yesterday I was wondering about it was needed another video from Jason and his team. I am so glad and happy to watch it eating lunch because I know they never disappoint. Well done!
When this came out I had a tax write off 2013 Focus EV lease in GA. I wanted an XL1 so bad because I wanted to drive all over the country for ultra cheap. Now I think the ghetto way to do it would be to get a cheap Focus EV replace weak cells in the battery pack so it still gets 70miles of range and put an efficient engine in the back driving the rear wheels, something like Robot Cantina uses, a little boosted Kubota diesel. It'd be perfect because all the accessories, AC, PS, PB, cooling system are there, the engine only has to apply power to the tires, drive it's oil pump and you could even make the water pump electric if it ended up being more efficient. I always wanted to figure out how to charge it while driving with efficent generators on a tow hitch platform or tiny trailer to see how the fuel efficiency could work out, even if the generators only edtended range and weren't powerful enough to feed as much energy as it took at cruising speed to go forever with refueling.
Series hybrids arent as efficent during crusing as normal ones. On the other hand, towing a trailer doesnt necessarily take much extra fuel, depending on the size of it and the shape of the car.
So something like a BMW i3?
you were going to buy a 150k car to save a few bucks in gas? you could buy a prius and enough gas to drive 1M miles for the cost of the xl1
The VW R&D lab was in the same building that I worked out of in Belmont CA back in 2013 era. I walked out for lunch one day and they had an XL2 sitting out front. Super cool car and I had a chat with the engineers getting it ready to load into a semi. I wish actual people could drive fun cars. Nothing sold in the USA is exciting to me now.
They have no idea how rich you are in the car industry
Placing this thing next to an insight was genius. Even today the 1st gen insight looks like a melted jellybean so that XL1 must be microscopic, not to mention it's absolutely gorgeous. The design was so far ahead of its time, only Piech could have commissioned such a ludicrous project. It truly was the Veyron of MPG. It's too bad it wasn't more widely known.
If they drop this car today with a reasonable price and a rearview camera, it would destroy the competition, but instead we only get overpriced SUVs
It would not sell well at all lol
Don't kid yourself, this is a super niche product and everyone wants an SUV because everyone else has one and they want to feel 'safe'
If this were true, everybody would be driving Honda Fits and Toyota Yarises... but nope, "bigger is better"
As a long time TDI driver, this is the pinnacle TDI. I would do unspeakable things to own this vehicle
There are two on sale in Germany right now. One for 105k, the other for 146k.
Crazy that a VW Lupo and Polo TDIs can get around 70mpg and the XL1 without plugging in only manages about the same.
There was a Lupo called 3L
Yeah, pretty surprised at how awful these are on fuel really considering my dads A3 1.6tdi gets 4.2l pr 100km without too much trouble
For this amount of effort going into it being ultra fuel-efficient it's really underwhelming when you look at real life numbers.
HubNut reviewed one and also found it be quite lacking in terms of fuel efficiency in the real world.
I consistently get 55+MPG (750+ miles range on a 13.7g tank) in a 2020 Ford Escape AWD HEV(not even a PHEV) while driving cross country.
it has AC and sound deadening, and room to sleep with the rear seats folded(used it as a stealth camper). I took her all over Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia.... 18k miles on three trips using barely 300 gallons total. All for a $28k purchase price in 2020
I am sure you do, this easily gets above 100mpg doing the same driving. Its always getting the last bit on the top that costs the most. Just as a comparison. Horses for courses.
0:05 Confirmed Jason Cammisa is short AF!!!
Staggered seats
@@WizardSoonAccept the joke and move on.
@@soggycracker5934 oh ok its funny. 😂
This is one of the most beautiful cars I’ve ever seen
PIËCHISODE! PIËCHISODE! PIËCHISODE! PIËCHISODE! PIËCHISODE!
Neat car, I had the 2000 Insight (silver 5 speed manual), it got 50mpg with my foot through the floorboard with an elevation climb of 4000ft on my daily commute of 100miles round trip. It got 72mpg driving from AZ to CA with a MTB in place of the passenger seat and weeks worth of luggage. The AC blew ice cubes and you haven't lived until you see that the digital speedo ACTUALLY has 3 digits not just 2. 😂
You have the oe tires? Those numbers are pretty bad for a 5 speed. I don't think I saw 50mpg in mine except on the trip home from the abusive previous owner when it had an engine full of sludge and tires low on air that didn't match. Not to mention a lawn mower battery Fer the 12v. Half those cars got owned by the cheapest people.
After a set of rubber and 3 oil flushes it never seemed to get under 65mpg no mater how I thrashed on it finding that 3rd digit myself even with the ima bypassed. Road trips got into to 80mpg range easy if I even remotely tried. Best tank I managed was 94mpg. I miss that car.
@@chublez 😂 Yeah OE tires @ 65psi my drive was a miserable climb and back the gas pedal was on the floor the whole time I had it and the AC on MAX. It was well maintained though and everything working properly. The IMA was OG and weak. I had the conditioner "roomba" looking thing I did once a month (took 2 days of sitting in the garage).
The XL1 nothing like a Bugatti Veyron. The XL1 isn’t ugly as sin.
Interior dash and gauges are identical to my Up! :D
Makes modern electric SUV looks like 🦕
It looked genuinely fun to drive on twisty roads. Those POV shots are always cool.
My GF: "I'm no longer on my period"
Me: Jason Cammisa just dropped a new video
I once saw an XL1 drivig around in traffic in munich. My rarest car spot in the wild so far.
Such an excellent car, VW is so admirable when they set out to achieve a lofty goal. Thank you for providing exposure to a car that deserves it as much as this one.
Always a pleasure to hear from Mr. Cammisa.
I came across this video while in the market for a Dodge Hellcat. Life is amusing at times.
I genuinely look forward Camissa's videos..
Me too !!!
Saw one in person at my local VW dealer some years back. No matter what else, It's very cool.
Didn't even know this thing existed, great video as always.
I love your information so much! Please never over estimate your importance but please never underestimate your importance ❤️
That looks really fun to drive! The sound is awesome, headphones required to understand a bit better
And VW XL1 is one of the cars I would love to own the most love its looks and just the story behind it.
never thought i'd see a revelations that featured my car! though my Insight is quite a beater
I was looking for an XL1 video then this guy dropped this banger
I loved this weird little thing since i saw it on aging wheels. I dunno how many exist but modifying one could make for some pretty awesome results.. Given it's focus on lightness and low drag.
I used to follow this well over a decade ago. Was disappointed when they ditched the canopy design. Still a dream car.
As the proud owner of both the Lupo and A2 3L I had to get one of these but the constant people harassment whenever I drive it has confined it to my garage, mostly.
I take it you dont live in Scandinavia? No one here cares even if you show up/drive around in a UFO....
I saw you with this car at the pre stage this weekend. So cool. I took a few pics
I was lucky enough to see one at Cars and Coffee. They were driving it across the US. Couldn't believe it!
Beautiful presentation, would love to work with Hagerty in the future. ❤🧡💛
Good information and good presenter, I can see why this channel has three million.
And that minute of car sounds at the end... you really get it
I hover on the video to see if its this guy presenting. If it is, i watch.
You're an awesome storyteller. Even the videos of cars I have no interest in are entertaining! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Jason's videos hit different. 💟 Thank you 🙏
Piechisode! I will literally watch you do a mini series on this man.
Finally!! Another Cammisa video!!!🎉
Hey Jason, I recently got my dad hooked on your content. He loves the Muira video
Amazing - the drive footage at the end is sublime.
I actually saw one of those near Mainz in Germany. Its really striking in real life, low and small. I had to immediately find out what it was and the story was quite interesting :D
I want this car so bad. Thanks for yet another cool video