Designing an FE Car from the ground up.

[Sludgy]

I'm surprised that nobody posted drivetrain designs. Efficiency starts with the engine, transmission and its accessories. Here's my candidate for an ultra-efficient drivetrain:

ENGINE

Two cylinder gas engine, a "boxer" layout for good balance and even firing.
About 1.5 liters
Undersquare bore and stroke
Cast iron block
Aluminum heads
DOHC
4 valves per cylinder
Atkinson cycle cam timing primarily, but high valve overlap at high speed
Direct fuel injection
Lean burn, open loop at idle, closed loop at load.

ACCESSORIES

NO belt drives
Ebullient (boiling water) cooling or thermosiphon
Electric radiator fan
High capacity (NIB?) alternator (mounted on crankshaft, like a Harley Davidson) generating electricity only on decelleration or low battery voltage
Deep cycle battery
Electric power steering (or none)
Water-based based adsorption system A/C using either ammonia, lithium bromide or silica gel. (A/C would be powered by exhaust heat.)

TRANSMISSION

Magnetic eddy current CV automatic transmission. This would not require fluids, clutches, bands or torque converter. These are already commercially available from Magnadrive. http://www.magnadrive.com/

This drivetrain should power a Corolla-sized vehicle from 0-60 mph in 10-12 seconds, and could get upwards of 50 mpg highway WITHOUT weird shapes or aero mods. In a Prius body, it'd get 60 mpg. In a streamliner, it'd get 100 mpg.

The logical company to develop an drivetrain like this would be Subaru, since they already make boxer engines. Subaru doesn't seem to be focussed on economy these days, though.