Click above for live shots of the Golf TDI Hybrid from Geneva
Remember when Jim Press used vegetables as an illustration for green cars? TTAC writer Alex Kambas manages to make the same comparison, but for completely different reasons. "Like the vegetables of my childhood era, shoving green cars down my throat just because they're good for me won't make me want to buy them," Kambas opines. It seems that he feels that the Geneva Motor Show focused solely on green news, with nothing exciting to show the performance-minded drivers among us. Looking back on Geneva, there certainly were plenty of green cars on display, but we really feel that many of them ought to be interesting to everyone. Take, for instance, the Koenigsegg CCXR Edition, Lotus' Tri-Fuel capable Exige 270E or the Audi R8 TDI Le Mans, all of which use an alternative fuel for performance reasons.
Even if you want nothing to do with green cars, many of the vehicles presented in Geneva catered to the go-fast crowd. The beautiful Alfa Romeo 8C Spider, Spyker C8 Aileron and Artega GT, should be enough to make any performance-minded enthusiast happy.
[Source: TTAC]
1. Well TTAC, the actual 'truth about cars' is that car drivers have been getting away with using cheap abundant energy for far too long - hence the mess we are in with peak oil, $110/barrel prices, global warming etc.
Also where are these 'performance cars' going to be driven ? The developed and devloping world are in gridlock. Average traffic speed in London is now 8mph. what is the point of a car that does 180mph ?
Having said that, it IS still possible to hav performnace and good fuel economy - the lotus elise jas porsche like performance for nearly twice the fuel economy.
Ligthweighting is the key. it gives performance and economy - and i'm not convinced by the argument that light cars are unsafe - given that 80% of the weight of a typical car is not the chassis/safety cell - it's all the peripherals and extras that add weight.
Posted at 1:22PM on Mar 25th 2008 by daniel billinton