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Gas Prices Got You Down? This 261-MPG Volkswagen Solves That—For $140,000

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Gas Prices Got You Down? This 261-MPG Volkswagen Solves That—For $140,000

In 2013, VW launched one of the most fascinating experiments in fuel efficiency ever made. The Volkswagen XL1 took 12 years to develop and ended up costing a whopping $150,000 at the time. However, as an engineering exercise, it was brilliant. And since VW only made 250, it's even rarer than a Bugatti Veyron from the same era.

If you're looking for an extreme answer to high gas prices, today's your lucky day. There's currently an XL1 in the Netherlands up for auction on Catawiki. The 2016 model up for grabs has just over 1,000 miles on the odometer and is apparently in excellent condition inside and out.

The XL1 project was spearheaded by Ferdinand Piech, VW's top boss at the time. Not known to ever give up on his lofty, ambitious goals, Piech fought for 12 years, and through several iterations, to finally achieve his "one liter" car, something that could burn just one liter of fuel per every 100 km. VW pulled out all the stops to make it extraordinarily efficient; the result was something closer to a supercar than a Toyota Prius.

That teardrop-shaped body is made from carbon fiber, as is its chassis, saving weight. It debuted a full year before BMW's i3, an EV/PHEV which only had a carbon chassis but a plastic body. The car has butterfly doors and two seats that are offset to optimize the car's aerodynamic shape.

5 kilowatt-hour battery. The plug-in hybrid powertrain wasn't originally planned, and didn't come about until near the end of its development, so it needed a massive 50-pound removable charging box in the trunk so you could plug it in.


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