Volkswagen's EcoRacer
Wednesday October 26, 2005
Volkswagen surprised most people at this year's Tokyo Motor Show by presenting a concept sports car with a twist. The Volkswagen EcoRacer is mid-engined, small, lightweight and - here's the twist - powered by a 1.5 litre diesel engine. All fine and well so far, but the problem with this concept in this humble editor's opinion is that it is so ugly that any other importance the car may have is completely overshadowed. It seems like Volkswagen is fed up with playing second fiddle in the ugliness stakes to BMW, and have thrown the gauntlet down rather firmly.
All superficial quirks aside though, it is a really interesting concept. The 4-cylinder 1484cc diesel engine provides an impressive 136 PS (100 kW), which in a car weighing in at a pretty light 850 kg allows the EcoRacer to hit 100 km/h from rest in just 6.3 seconds. Not startling by today's standards, but this is a 1.5 litre diesel after all. The mid-engined layout gives the car 39/61% weight distribution. Volkswagen says the torque output is "over 250 Nm", which is exceptional for a 1.5 litre diesel.
All superficial quirks aside though, it is a really interesting concept. The 4-cylinder 1484cc diesel engine provides an impressive 136 PS (100 kW), which in a car weighing in at a pretty light 850 kg allows the EcoRacer to hit 100 km/h from rest in just 6.3 seconds. Not startling by today's standards, but this is a 1.5 litre diesel after all. The mid-engined layout gives the car 39/61% weight distribution. Volkswagen says the torque output is "over 250 Nm", which is exceptional for a 1.5 litre diesel.
