yamaha wrote:
In reply to alfadriver:
Strangeness......most I've seen will easily pass a sniffer.
Ah. Sniffer tests don't test to stringently.
For the Elio, what's the engine supposed to be? I know I heard either a 5 speed manual or auto. Which, to me, seems appropriate for a car that small. But it also kind of means that the engine will have a reasonably wide torque band (relatively speaking, of course). My old CRX HF engine would not be bad- 1.5l, 62 hp, low red line, and delivered 50mpg with 1800lb. If the metro motor has similar characteristics, well...
It does seem like it would be an entertaining car to drive.
I thought I wanted an Elio. I commute alone, 80 miles each way, and am very cheap. The hope was I could milk my Malibu until they started building cars and then get one wrapped in a Flying Tigers scheme.
When I needed a car quickly I found what Alfadriver said to be pretty true. I looked at Fiestas, Focuses, Sonics, Cruzes and a bunch of other small cars. Thanks to rebates I picked up a new Verano for the same or a little less then I would have paid for any other those cars with less equipment. After a lifetime of small and tired cars it's nice to be comfortable when I get out of work and have a bit of room to stretch out. I can't believe how happy I am and don't mind the slightly lower fuel mileage I'm getting which at about 38 mpg is still saves me about $5 a day over my Malibu.
In reply to alfadriver:
900 CC I3. Rather low tech. SOHC, 2 valve, timing chain, conventional MPFI. 55hp, I can't remember the TQ. Speced for conventional oil and a 3k change interval.
I'm looking forward to the P5, but I won't get too excited until the 25 finalized test mules are running around.
Ian F
MegaDork
6/23/15 9:22 a.m.
In reply to Adrian_Thompson:
Elio said in the intereview the '08/09 financial crisis put a major damper on their early plans and they really didn't get started seriously until 2012.
Tesla has Elon Musk who has an amazing ability to cause investors throw sanity out the window. An investing newsletter I get sees all sorts of inconsistencies in Tesla's books and only recommends their stock as a potential short, but even that's risky.
I don't get the impression Elio has anywhere near that sort of money to play with, so they're going slowly. They could very well be planning to export the cars to other countries, although I've seen nothing about that. Electric is simply too expensive an option right now with current technology, although I've read it's a long-term goal.
When I first noticed the Elio I was intrigued and interested. I started a budget line to save for one with the provision that I must test drive the car I could buy before any money is spent. Best case is me getting a cool car with money I have been stashing for 6 years...worst case is that it all falls apart and I have a chunk of money for something else. Just need to make sure I avoid new car pitfalls should it come to that.
No bidding wars, no stupid markups, no deposits...drive up, like the car, buy it and drive away.
If they make it, I will come. Until then I will watch!
Bruce
And now for your Sunday morning necro-post:
Watching Velocity channel while drinking coffee and thinking about what I won't get accomplished today, and lo and behold, an Elio commercial popped up.
No clue if this means they are getting closer to, well, anything, but I found it interesting. Haven't heard anything for months.
In reply to XLR99:
I think they're still using people's prepayments for advertisements and talk.....nothing thus far. Allegedly however, they claim to have exemptions in place for helmet law states(which doesn't really make sense on how they did)
WOW Really Paul? wrote:
In reply to XLR99:
I think they're still using people's prepayments for advertisements and talk.....nothing thus far. Allegedly however, they claim to have exemptions in place for helmet law states(which doesn't really make sense on how they did)
They've also raised capital with a rather bizarre public offering.
Every time this thing resurfaces I think less of it. Right now I just can't see any situation where it makes financial sense to have an Elio, especially considering current gas prices.
Zomby Woof wrote:
It blows me away that people are still talking about this like it's a real thing. Unbelievable.
Still relevant after all these months 
I heard the laws were trying to be being changed in regard to 3 wheeled vehicles. If it's enclosed and has a steering wheel, its considered a car and is subject to those regs.
The reasoning is that people will treat it as a car and expect the same level of safety. This can't be good for Elio.
In reply to Gearheadotaku:
It is my personal belief that if they want to call it a car, it should be a car subject to all the requirements of cars. Just like if it were considered a motorcycle, then it should be subject to all laws pertaining to motorcycles. It's not berkeleying rocket science, and they definitely shouldn't be specially treated.
I had a decent conversation with those guys at the NAIAS recently. They specifically were working on legislation to ensure that drivers would not need to wear a helmet to drive it. That seemed to be the main thrust of the legal aspect. Apparently they've got it done in 44-46 states or so.
I believe they had the P5 revision on display.
The spokesman I talked to sounded like they wanted to start production this year. They've already acquired a former GM plant in Shreveport, Louisiana, for the manufacturing, so it definitely sounded serious to me.
scardeal wrote:
I had a decent conversation with those guys at the NAIAS recently. They specifically were working on legislation to ensure that drivers would not need to wear a helmet to drive it. That seemed to be the main thrust of the legal aspect. Apparently they've got it done in 44-46 states or so.
I believe they had the P5 revision on display.
The spokesman I talked to sounded like they wanted to start production this year. They've already acquired a former GM plant in Shreveport, Louisiana, for the manufacturing, so it definitely sounded serious to me.
They agreed to lease a small part of the Shreveport plant a few years ago and nothing happens followed by nothing happening.
I honestly think the guy really wants to build the car, but there just isn't a sensible business case, let alone business plan behind it. Don't you think that if it was even remotely possible for this thing to come to fruition for anything close to the price point someone wouldn't have come on board with the money by now. I don't mean nickles and dimes like he keeps conning, sorry raising from the public, but actual real money.
Somewhere Charlie Ponzi and P.T. Barnum are having a laugh.
They released the P5 (prototype #5) at the LA autoshow in November.
The P5 is fitted with the company's 3 cylinder eninge (an engine designed specifically for ELIO)
I'm a bit baffled by the tone of the responses about the Elio. They face significant hurdles, but have overcome quite a few already. They have 49,017 people who have paid money as deposits. So someone is serious about purchasing them once built.
Personally, I'm cheering for them to make it. I think MORE motoring options is better, not fewer. The power to weight ratio of one of these could be quite FUN with a few speed parts I'm sure.
I want them to make it. Louisiana needs them to make it.
How is the federal investigation coming? From a manufacturing perspective the initial plan (build their own motor) and sales goal were too much to overcome to be successful. I still wish then all the best.
nice zombie thread revival too
In reply to IndyJoe:
Some of us are actually in the car making business. And since this is a car, they should be treated like a car. Which means they have to meet exactly the same rules all the new cars have to meet. It's not impossible to be the bare minimum crash safe, nor is it that hard to meet the emissions rules.
As for those 50k deposits- I wonder how many will stay with the current gas prices, and then how sustaining they will be once production starts. To run a factory making a car that's going to sell at that price will take somewhere near 200k to make any money. Every year.
alfadriver wrote:
.....And since this is a car, they should be treated like a car.....
Actually, no it's Not a car. In the US anything with only three wheels is considered a motorcyle and treated as such. It's an important loop-hole that the Elio is trying to drive thru, and therefore NOT be required to meet all those (car) regulations. Legislation would have to be passed to lump three wheelers into the "Car" designation category. If the laws were changed (to eliminate the loop hole) it would be a serious set back for Elio, perhaps a fatal one.
IndyJoe wrote:
alfadriver wrote:
.....And since this is a car, they should be treated like a car.....
Actually, no it's Not a car. In the US anything with only three wheels is considered a motorcyle and treated as such. It's an important loop-hole that the Elio is trying to drive thru, and therefore NOT be required to meet all those (car) regulations. Legislation would have to be passed to lump three wheelers into the "Car" designation category. If the laws were changed (to eliminate the loop hole) it would be a serious set back for Elio, perhaps a fatal one.
Tell Polaris that. It's still banned in Connecticut
WOW Really Paul? wrote:
In reply to Gearheadotaku:
It is my personal belief that if they want to call it a car, it should be a car subject to all the requirements of cars. Just like if it were considered a motorcycle, then it should be subject to all laws pertaining to motorcycles. It's not berkeleying rocket science, and they definitely shouldn't be specially treated.
My impression was that they were aiming to have the Elio meet car crash standards. However, some states would have automatically stuck anything with 3 wheels under motorcycle laws and required a helmet anyway.
In Texas, Polaris somehow got hit with a problem when their 3 wheeler neither met the legal definition of a car nor of a motorcycle.
In reply to IndyJoe:
The guy behind this was originally trying to do the same thing Carbon Motors did here in Indiana.....say a bunch of big things, get government money, move government money somewhere to keep it, bitch about not enough money, then fold the entire endeavor.
The government actually said "No" for a change.
