Now here is car that I’m sure many of us would love to have parked in our driveway. The XR3 is not a production car, nor is it owned by a major automaker. This vehicle is a do-it-yourselfer and was built by Robert Riley from Arizona.
The XR3 is something you would expect to see in a sci-fi movie or as a concept car in an autoshow, but this vehicle is all real and has some pretty impressive stats.
The XR3 is essentially a plug-in biodiesel hybrid vehicle that can reach a top speed of 130 kph 
and can travel a distance of 65 km on the battery alone. The fuel economy is even more impressive going about 125 mpg or less than 2 litres/100km on diesel and 225 mpg (1 litre/100km) in hybrid mode. Let’s compare that to a small V8 pickup truck (say a Dodge Dakota). The pickup would cost approx. $23 for a 100km trip, whereas the XR3 would cost a mere $1.30. If you drove 100km per day, 5 days per week, 52 weeks per year, the savings would be approx. $5600 in one year. Here’s the real kicker…the XR3 costs about $25,000 to construct, which makes pay-back VERY short.
The XR3 construction plans can be purchased from Riley’s website ($170-$200). Currently kits are not available for purchase, but plans are in the works to develop construction kits.
As you can see from the photos, this is not exactly your average family sedan. The XR3 is a two-seater with very little room for cargo. But if you are looking for a sporty futuristic commuter vehicle then check out the XR3.
I doubt you would go unnoticed driving the streets in one of these.
The XR3 is something you would expect to see in a sci-fi movie or as a concept car in an autoshow, but this vehicle is all real and has some pretty impressive stats.
The XR3 is essentially a plug-in biodiesel hybrid vehicle that can reach a top speed of 130 kph
and can travel a distance of 65 km on the battery alone. The fuel economy is even more impressive going about 125 mpg or less than 2 litres/100km on diesel and 225 mpg (1 litre/100km) in hybrid mode. Let’s compare that to a small V8 pickup truck (say a Dodge Dakota). The pickup would cost approx. $23 for a 100km trip, whereas the XR3 would cost a mere $1.30. If you drove 100km per day, 5 days per week, 52 weeks per year, the savings would be approx. $5600 in one year. Here’s the real kicker…the XR3 costs about $25,000 to construct, which makes pay-back VERY short.
The XR3 construction plans can be purchased from Riley’s website ($170-$200). Currently kits are not available for purchase, but plans are in the works to develop construction kits.
I doubt you would go unnoticed driving the streets in one of these.