The layout seems bizarre in a modern context, but it's one which was actually quite popular in the first half of the last century (Morgan, for example, built its initial reputation on it). There are three wheels, arranged in the best possible order for stability, with two at the front and one at the back.
As a result, the GX3 resembles a car - of sorts - at the sharp end but becomes more like a bike the further back you go. Up front, where Volkswagen has managed to retain some styling cues from its more conventional cars (notably the Golf GTI) lies a 1.6-litre engine supported by two 8x17" wheels with 215/45 tyres. The engine sends its power through a six-speed gearbox and chain drive to the single, massive rear wheel, which is 18" in diameter, 12" wide and covered by a 315/30 tyre.
Actually, the engine is by far the least radical part of the entire design. It's a plain and simple four-cylinder petrol unit producing a modest 125bhp. But that's all the GX3 needs to produce what Volkswagen promises to be dazzling performance. The 0-62mph time, for example, is 5.7 seconds, and the maximum cornering force is exceptionally high at 1.25g.
How come? Well, the GX3 is very light. The chassis is a steel spaceframe, clothed in glassfibre. There are just two seats, and the barest minimum of cockpit frippery. The body is so minimalist that all the wheels and nearly all the suspension components are uncovered, apart from the two almost irreducibly small front wings.
The total weight, therefore, is a claimed 570kg. No wonder it's quick, no wonder it has very high cornering limits, and no wonder Volkswagen can claim very high levels of fuel economy (though an estimated 46mpg on the US urban cycle gives only a vague idea of what fuel consumption as expressed in Europe would be like).
Of course, it's just a concept, isn't it? We're never going to see one of these things in a VW showroom, are we? Well, you'd think that, but either Volkswagen is doing a very good tease right now or it's being astonishingly bold for a major manufacturer. The official line is that Moonraker will continue to work with Volkswagen's US designers to create an "exciting and comprehensive spectrum of totally new motor vehicles which are currently being conceptualized by Volkswagen of America for the US market".
And that seems to include the GX3. Volkswagen has gone so far as to suggest that the car could go on sale for less than $17,000, and that a production counterpart "could be on the market very soon. It all depends on the American driver's feedback."
gawd i want one.
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Creative Draft Image Manipulation Forum:::
As impressed as I am by it, I'm WAY more impressed that North America may actually see it!
"i promise we won't get drunk, and go out in boat in the dark, stand up in the boat and fire the gun into the air unless we have life jackets on."
I think its pretty cool. That would be a fun weekend toy
“Things fall apart. The cracks get wider: More paper is used, with increasing ingenuity, to cover them. Madness implodes, as people are slowly crushed, or, perhaps worse, help in crushing others.”
--Jon Savage
--Melody Maker’s Review of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures when asked “ How has Unknown Pleasures has affected you”
Looks very simlar to the Trex.
^^^ LS1 Swap available, driver's seat: optional.
There's a trike like that called the Grinnall Scorpion... excellent toy
Those trikes have only one real quirk: If the rear tire gets somewhat low on air, the trike becomes dangerously unstable at highway speeds.
If it's not network news, it's probably the truth getting out.
Some people are like slinkies: Not really good for anything,
but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them
down a flight of stairs.
