198 lbs.
(why Volkswagen’s aluminum engine is still years ahead of its time)

Dead weight in an engine is the enemy of efficiency.

That’s why airplane engines are made of aluminum. Why Volkswagen’s engine is ingeniously cast of aluminum and magnesium alloys (even lighter than aluminum).

Volkswagen reduces dead weight in still other ways. The engine is air-cooled — no bulky radiator. (No water to freeze in winter, or boil over in summer.) And placing the engine in the back gets rid of the conventional heavy driveshaft while giving direct power to the wheels. (In mud, sand, ice, snow, where other cars skid, you go.)

As a result, the Volkswagen engine weighs only 198 lbs. and every pound works.