Elio Turbo

[wheaters]

It's all about low maintenance.

See my post #34! That's the one that you already quoted..

 

[CrimsonEclipse]

See my post #34! That's the one that you already quoted..

I tend to lose track over time.

 

[mike171]

Turbos=Money that is all anyone needs to remember

 

[TheCheeze]

...The Morgan three wheeler currently in production....

I got a quote for 60,000$ for a Morgan 3wheel in Charlotte, NC. It had 900 miles on it already. With a top speed of an estimated 115 mph. I'll continue to wait for my Elio.

 

[Mark Ambrose]

I can't help but comment on how many folks want to make the Elio into something it's not. It's not a muscle car. It's not going to haul your kids to Disney World, or pull your boat to the lake. It's primarily a commuter car or an errand car that gets great mpg and doesn't cost a lot. Having said that I love to tinker as much as the next person. Personalize it to the Nth degree, but keep the car for what it was intended. I think those who are talking about making this vehicle into something it wasn't designed to do are going to be sorely disappointed and will start trashing the whole concept.

 

[CrimsonEclipse]

Still want a Turbo-Hybrid-Flux Capacitor....

Come on Paul!! Don't hold out on us!!

 

[wheaters]

I can't help but comment on how many folks want to make the Elio into something it's not. It's not a muscle car. It's not going to haul your kids to Disney World, or pull your boat to the lake. It's primarily a commuter car or an errand car that gets great mpg and doesn't cost a lot. Having said that I love to tinker as much as the next person. Personalize it to the Nth degree, but keep the car for what it was intended. I think those who are talking about making this vehicle into something it wasn't designed to do are going to be sorely disappointed and will start trashing the whole concept.

I totally agree. As PE has always said, it's an "and" car. It' certainly not an MPV.

 

[ncarter124]

I can't help but comment on how many folks want to make the Elio into something it's not. It's not a muscle car. It's not going to haul your kids to Disney World, or pull your boat to the lake. It's primarily a commuter car or an errand car that gets great mpg and doesn't cost a lot. Having said that I love to tinker as much as the next person. Personalize it to the Nth degree, but keep the car for what it was intended. I think those who are talking about making this vehicle into something it wasn't designed to do are going to be sorely disappointed and will start trashing the whole concept.

I agree. I don't know why anyone would want a turbo, a sidecar, or to haul a trailer.

My thoughts on the turbo, and of course this is entirely subjective...

I used to have a 2011 Mazdaspeed3 with a turbo 2.3 liter 4-cylinder. It made 260hp/285tq I think. The little thing was a rocket all things considered. It wasn't as fast as my old V8 Mustang (2012 with 412 hp), but it was quick. Like, in the rain under boost it would spin the front tires at 70+mph and on dry concrete would bark the tires going into 3rd gear at 60 mph.

Some things I observed during my ownership as I had never owned a turbo before:
No low-end power due to lowered compression.
Had turbo lag (this is dependent on the size of turbo of course).
Had torque steer upon boost like you would not believe.
Awful mpg around town (like, 15-17)
GREAT mpg on the highway (~35)

Now some thoughts toward the Elio:

1) I do not believe it will hold up to a turbo, I just don't. It isn't a performance vehicle, so why try to make it one? An Elio with a turbo will still be slow, I'm sorry but it just will be. They project the 0-60 to be around 9.5 seconds, so with a turbo it will be around 7.5 at best... about the same as my Jeep Wrangler does... which I assure you isn't fast at all.
2) If it does, it will have to run a very tiny turbo, which will reduce lag (good) but also won't help with hp much (bad), I'd say it would add 10-20hp tops. That is a lot when you're starting with around 55hp, but it wouldn't be worth the added stress and lost reliability for a marginal gain in HP, not mention it will void the warranty.
3) For those of us in traffic, I found the turbo/stick shift combo to be very annoying in traffic. The reason is due to the non-linear power band, you either have no power or all power. An Elio with this configuration may not suffer from this (like the BMW N54/N55 inline 6's don't), but who knows.

In the end, I don't think it would be worth the effort. It's a commuter car, keep her stock, enjoy the warranty and the (hopefully) 84mpg.

 

[JEBar]

I can't help but comment on how many folks want to make the Elio into something it's not.

in my experience, customizing vehicles to where they can do more than what was intended has always been the way of things .... in reading on this forum it is clear that a bunch of folks fully intend for their Elio to do much more than serve as a commuter car or an errand car that gets great mpg .... my hunch is aftermarket companies will have a ball providing gizmos to enhance power, improve ride, improve looks, improve handling, etc .... in short, the Elio will create a market which will help our economy

Jim

 

[ncarter124]

in my experience, customizing vehicles to where they can do more than what was intended has always been the way of things .... in reading on this forum it is clear that a bunch of folks fully intend for their Elio to do much more than serve as a commuter car or an errand car that gets great mpg .... my hunch is aftermarket companies will have a ball providing gizmos to enhance power, improve ride, improve looks, improve handling, etc .... in short, the Elio will create a market which will help our economy

Jim

I can certainly see that. I can see everything working well except FI, but in theory that might be good too, just too early to tell.