Better than a 4-wheeled scooter

Now that my ardor for the smart fortwo has cooled, I find myself drawn to another minimalist automobile:

This is Volkswagen’s Space Up! Blue, which debuted at the L.A. Auto Show. It’s the third of three versions of a planned family of vehicles. While the hydrogen fuel cell/lithium ion battery powertrain probably won’t make it to production anytime soon, word on the street sez the production Up! will hit European streets in 2010, priced around $8,000 (unless, of course, the U.S. dollar continues its free fall).

Prior to the debut of the Up! 4-seat hatchback at this year’s Frankfurt auto show, drawings of a smart-like 2-seater appeared throughout the automotive media. The Up! (they’ll probably call it something else… or at least lose the “!”)  marks a return to VW’s roots with its rear-mounted engine driving the rear wheels.

As with the smart, the powertrain is quite compact, therefore making the possibilities for types of vehicles almost limitless. The Space Up! is kind of a Type 2 Transporter for the 21st Century, the one in L.A. meant to evoke the 21-window VW Microbus of the late ’50s and early ’60s with the little windows on the sides of the roof.

VW envisions a 1.0-liter 3-cylinder gasoline engine as the primary powerplant, with 2- and even 1-cylinder versions in bare-bones models a possibility for emerging markets like China and India.

Before you groan and say, “gosh, this thing is going to be a slug,” remember that the engine in the Vespa GTS displaces 244cc and produces 22 horsepower, according to Piaggio. They don’t mention the top speed, but a GTS will do the speed limit (or better) on any road on which you’d care to ride. As an old sage once said, “they don’t build them like they used to… they build them much, much better.”

The ‘08 smart fortwo’s Mitsubishi 3-banger puts out 71 hp, so the VW 3-pot should do at least that well. Maybe better… after all, the Up!’s  home market will be Europe, the land of the eight-dollar gallon of gasoline.

It will help that the Up! will be light, probably less than 2,000 lbs. The Chevrolet Aveo got a 5-star crash rating, so VW’s baby should be able to achieve that level of occupant protection. Airbags are pretty cheap these days.

While many in this town gnash their teeth and rend their garments about it, the fact remains most people will get around in personal, volatile-liquid-fueled vehicles. The VW Up! and others of this kind would seem to be an excellent solution…

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