155mph car gets 186mpg and costs £7500

[Ghosth]

That thing is so low that if it did run into 60 mph winds its going to still be on the highway. While all the SUV & Pickup trucks are in the ditch!

Its not about weight, its about design.

I don't know about you but I havn't seen that many VW beetles flipped by a wind. Not because of the weight, but the aerodynamics. Ooops,  there is that design thing again.

The GT with 9 sec 0 to 62 mph would be fine for this country.
And there certainly is a market for an inexpensive point a to point b vehicle that gets decent milage.

So it doesn't tow, or cartop, so?

I wouldn't tow with a Yugo or a VW beetle either.

Best of all, set this little gem up to run on sunflower, or soybean oil, or bio diesel instead of petro and you'd have a real winner.

[john9001]

Originally posted by Ghosth


Best of all, set this little gem up to run on sunflower, or soybean oil, or bio diesel instead of petro and you'd have a real winner.

it comes in two flavors, gas or diesel.

[lazs2]

The old VW beetles flipped all the time around here on the freeway just changint lanes and it was because of the wind... the new ones weigh 1000 lbs more.

plastic windows?   Ever have a care with plastic windows?  I have.   not good.

20 hp and 0-60 in 20 seconds?  you are gonna have some seriously po'ed people anywhere there is merging into traffic or hills.

in their quest to save weight they seem to have left out a few things that people might like.... air conditioning... heater and defroster... working windows...  windshield wipers...

Gear it lower (lower top speed.. more acceleration) and it might make a good third car to replace a motorcycle and run errands with.

Funked is right tho... putting cars on diets is a good thing.

lazs

[Morpheus]

lol my 05 wrangler has a better 0-60 time.

shweet!:rolleyes:

[beet1e]

There are two versions of this car.

The 186mpg version costing £7500 is the slower of the two.

The 155mph version will cost more, accelerates to 100km/h (62mph) in ~9 secs, and achieves 2.7L/100km which is about 88 miles per US gallon.

[lazs2]

Ok... a car that goes 0-60 in 9 seconds would be a hazard getting on the freeway and going up hills...

it would still not have air conditioning or heat or defrost and would be like seeing the world out of the bottom of a coke bottle once those plastic windows started getting messed up.   Add all the stuff you need to make it a real car and it will be lucky to get 40 mpg.  

lazs

[indy007]

Originally posted by lazs2
Ok... a car that goes 0-60 in 9 seconds would be a hazard getting on the freeway and going up hills...

it would still not have air conditioning or heat or defrost and would be like seeing the world out of the bottom of a coke bottle once those plastic windows started getting messed up.   Add all the stuff you need to make it a real car and it will be lucky to get 40 mpg.  

lazs

I liked this one...

And it’s a myth, says Tobias, that lighter cars are more vulnerable in an
accident: just watch any Formula 1 racer emerge unscathed from a pile-up.

Didn't an IRL driver just lose both his legs in an accident? There's also a difference between a open-wheel, carbon fibre monocoque chassis hitting a wall at speed, and a little plastic box with 3 girders getting T-boned by a 3+ ton cargo truck.

Cool looking car, but it'd fail horribly in an America market.

[beet1e]

Originally posted by lazs2
Ok... a car that goes 0-60 in 9 seconds would be a hazard getting on the freeway and going up hills...

I call BS on that. Some variants of the Honda Civic take longer than 10 secs to reach 100km/h or 62mph, and yet the Civic is one of the best selling cars in America. Besides, if taking 9 seconds to reach 60 is such a hazard, how do trucks get by???

it would still not have air conditioning or heat or defrost and would be like seeing the world out of the bottom of a coke bottle once those plastic windows started getting messed up.

Sounds like you were describing the original air cooled VW Beetle - best selling car of all time, and which sold over 100,000 units in America some years in the 60s. But then Detroit decided you wanted power everything, so that's what you got. The whole point of this Loremo car is a no-frills car. Many people (including gunslinger ^) would waive "luxury" items to get a car which was competent for the commute and was economical.

[Skuzzy]

Hehe, I could see the ad for it in Texas.

".....We can offset the weight gains of adding A/C by removing the brakes!  When you want to stop, just turn on the A/C!"

Guns, wait until August before you think you would actually commute in this car.  You just moved to Texas (San Antonio).   When the temperature hits 100 and the humidity is at 80%, you would kill to get rid of something like this.

Talk about road rage.

[john9001]

Originally posted by indy007
a little plastic box with 3 girders getting T-boned by a 3+ ton cargo truck.
 

i guess what you drive now would survive getting t-boned by a 3+ ton cargo truck?

[rpm]

Originally posted by Mr Big
a 20 hp engine? I guess it's just meant for flat roads. That's not new technology, thats a go-cart

It all depends on how the ponies get to the ground. I had a 19hp tractor that would pull stumps a 400hp Blazer couldn't.

It's never going to beat a Corvette, but it could be an effective commuter car. You can forget about installing a/c, unless it was one of those old swamp cooler in the window types.

[indy007]

I'll give myself a better chance of surviving with all those exceedingly heavy, dangerous enemies of the environment and low mileage commuting like side impact airbags, crumple zones, energy absorbers...

I used to work at car dealerships, still do consulting for them, so I've seen more than my fair share of bodyshops. If I'm going to be hit by a 3 ton truck.. much rather be in my SUV, or any sedan for that matter, with all the safety features. Why willingly put yourself in a vehicle that shed all of that to save on mileage?

[Debonair]

the "you might get in an accident, what about the children" arms race must be stopped.
maybe gorby will be the next GM CEO

[Midnight]

Would you really buy another car just to use for commuting? You aren't going to save a penny if you don't have it for a LONG time.

Figure the 1st year costs alone: (costs may vary, these are approximate)
1. Purchase: $14,158
2. Sales Tax:     $707
3. Excise Tax:    $400
4. Registation:     $65
5. Dealer Fee:   $200
6. Insurance:    $600

That's $16,130 - at $3.50 per gallon of gas, that's 4608 gallons of gas.

If your current vehicle gets 20MPG, thats 92,160 miles of driving to equal what you spend to get the thing.

Still want to buy it?

[cpxxx]

It is a good idea as long as you are aware of it's deficiencies. It's safer and more practical than a motorcycle. But less safe in an accident than a normal car.  As cheap transport, it's ideal. If you can afford better you won't buy it. That will be it's downfall, it's only real advantage is that it's inexpensive to run. That doesn't sell many cars these days.

Someone mentioned the Geo Metro. I had one of those, actually the Suzuki Swift version. That was such a tinny car. No weight at all. Oddly enough the engine suffered from carburettor icing after about ten miles or so. You had to stop and let the ice melt:lol before starting off again.  It was wrecked when I was rearended at a red light by a fool in van and pushed into a VW ahead of me. Neither the VW or the Van had more than minor dings and scratches. The Suzuki was totalled. It made me wary of lightweight cars ever since.

I think they'll sell a few Loremos but really what needs looking at is normal cars with better fuel economy or biofuels. That is what people will buy.