Design Rationale: 2 seat side-by-side

My initial purpose was to build a 100+ mpg car and the best way to do that is to keep it as small and light as possible. That meant one seat. However, I know that this may be the only car I ever get built (God willing) and after all that work, not being able to share the experience with someone else would be very disappointing. It would be incredibly fun to drive, though. There are several on the web. The Sport Cycle designed by Jim Musser is a great design. I especially like how he has designed the front suspension to prevent body roll while cornering. I will be using the same concept in my design. You can check out the Sport Cycle here: http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/IndyCycleOwners/ Another nicely done single seat was built by Jamieson DuRette and you can check out his version here: http://www.indycycle.net/IndyCycle/indycycle.html

Enter the 2 seat tandem design. I actually started laying out the chassis for this version, but a ride I took in a Varieze airplane kept coming to mind. It is a two seat tandem design. While I enjoyed the ride, it felt very "disconnected" from the other person. One interesting design along this line is the HyperRocket. You can check it out here: http://ecomodder.com/blog/hyperrocket-125-mpg-100-mph-3wheel-motorcycle/

Enter the 2 seat side-by-side version. I have two main objections to this design, namely 1) increased frontal area will result in higher drag and 2) the asymmetrical loading while only occupied by the driver affects the handling in such light vehicles. In spite of these two disadvantages, I can't imagine not being able to sit beside my beautiful, sweet wife, Julie, while driving down the road. She likes this one the best too.

So now I have adjusted my target on the fuel mileage to 75+ mpg. I commute 55 miles each way to work every day, so it would still be a great improvement.

The only problem with the 2 seat side-by-side is that I will have to remove part of a wall in order to get it out of my shop after building it. At least its not in a basement where I would have to dig a tunnel also.