Volkswagen's latest concept sports car is powered by a two-cylinder motorcycle engine
For more than three decades, the Volkswagen GTI has defined lightweight, nimble, fun-to-drive sport coupes.
Now imagine that philosophy of efficient performance taken beyond its logical boundaries and clear on out to the extreme and you get Volkswagen’s newest concept car, the XL Sport.
Weighing less than one ton – 1,962 pounds to be exact, the XL Sport is motivated by a motorcycle engine, believe it or not. Under its slender and sexy skin is a Ducati Superleggera V-Twin motorcycle engine that produces 197 horsepower out of just two cylinders. Redline is a high-revving and ear-popping 11,000 RPMs. Can you say, banshee?
Mated to a seven-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic transmission, the diminutive powerplant pushes the XL Sport from zero to 62 miles per hour in 5.7 seconds, with a top speed of 168 miles per hour.
Thanks to the very, very light weight and a coefficient of drag of just 0.258, the XL Sport is fast, nimble and frugal. Although Volkswagen has not released fuel mileage numbers, presumably this little two-seater is fairly parsimonious with a gallon of fuel.
According to VW’s press materials, the XL Sport has the best ratio among weight, power and aerodynamics of any sports car.
To save weight, the XL Sport uses carbon fiber-reinforced polymer for its central monocoque and most of the body panels. The gullwing doors of the XL Sport swing up and out for easy ingress and egress and use lightweight polycarbonate material for the side windows.
This is an impossibly sexy car, and the right car for the future, given its efficiency. Even in this era of dirt-cheap gasoline, lightweight cars are the way to go for a whole host of reasons.
Given the expense of the Ducati engine – the Italian motorcycle maker is building just 500 Superleggera V-Twins – this might not make it to production. Officially, VW says that the XL Sport is simply a concept, but you have to believe it’s the blueprint for the next-generation of sports cars that VW will eventually build, maybe with a different engine and a few tweaks.
One can only hope that this eventually sees the light of day.
