Compare The Elio To 1980's Answer To Fuel Mileage

[Jim H]

Jim, I also owned 2 Chevy Sprints in the mid 80's. Great little cars for their price. MPG per passenger couldn't be beat! My 84 2dr manual weighed in @ 1488lbs. just a couple hundred less more an Elio!, and got 55+ mpg on the highway. My 87 4dr manual w/air only got 45+ mpg on the highway. On the down side I only got ~100K miles out of engines. The 84 wouldn't pass smog with computerized carburetor problems $$$, and the 87 had excessive oil consumption $$$, just like yours. Lets hope the new Elio engine turns out to be more reliable out the gate.

My question that Elio won't answer is: How much better is the orange P4 mule's MPG right now, than a 1984 Chevy Sprint? I know the orange mule doesn't have the production engine, suspension, hp tires etc, but if its not at least better than the Sprint, I can't see how a slightly different engine power curve, lighter springs, hp tires etc. will get the Elio up to 84 mpg??

Don't get me wrong, I like the Elio, and will buy one even if it only gets 70mpg! What I don't like is when Elio tells me they don't know what the P4's mpg is because it doesn't matter; computer simulations of the production components tell us everything we need to know!!

Gary, welcome to the forum the repository of information on the Elio including discussions on MPG. The forum has tons of information and I encourage you to start looking at the threads that most appeal to you. We are a friendly group and look forward to your comments, questions, and opinions. Enjoy the journey and the Elio experience

 

[JEBar]

nice, very nice

Jim

 

[zelio]

Any chance for a collage of your vehicles, Wheaters... that would be fascinating for us motor heads stateside.

Hey, anybody know how to retract a reply when you've screwed up and attached it to the wrong post. I boo booed this one and can't seem to cover up my stupidity

You should be able to select edit and then delete, I believe. :-) Z

 

[RUCRAYZE]

I used to own a Mitsubishi Space Wagon with a 1.8 ltr engine and the A/C compressor used to sap so much power that I used to switch it off to overtake!

[That car came back to UK with me when I returned from my time living in Hong Kong. It was too old to be saleable out there and I would have otherwise had to scrap it. It cost me £800 to ship it back but it got me to and from work for two years back here, then I sold it for £450. So I got a reliable car for about $250 a year. Only problem was that It had no hot air intake system and it used to cut out in cold humid weather. It suffered from carburettor icing!]

What's those little wiggles in from of some of your numbers? darn keep looking at my keyboard and don't see it?? Do we here in the states use lbs.?

 

[John Painter]

Sweet AJS! The only thing missing on that bike is me.

FB AJS Enduro (my actual bike):

 

[Hog]

ok, read this thread, couple of observations. At 12 to 1 compression will this run on 85-87 gas? Or is this a premium only deal? My vette had 11:1 and ran only on Sunoco 260 (remember that?).
Also, there was a decent pic of the crank in the 3rd tech series, you could scale that between the journals to get a rough idea of the throw, no?
As for early gas vehicles of the 80's, I had a Chevette, a few Pintos, a Rabbit (gas, not diesel, it was pretty quick), and the Fiero, (which died a fiery death). Anything near 20 mpg to 25 was really good then.

 

[JEBar]

I don't understand the mechanics but the reports are they have figured out a way to burn 87 octane at 12:1

Jim

 

[Jambe]

Just as an aside, for those who are flatlanders and not aware of this...
Up here, above a certain elevation--which I can't precisely specify--we are able to use gasoline which is rated at 85 octane, which is equivalent to 87 in the lowlands.
If I fill up my Elio here in Utah with our 85 octane, it will be knocking when I hit L.A. (actually sooner, like St. George.)

 

[ross]

Hmm, don't have a collage as such, what photos I have would take forever to find and put together. Having said that, I tend to keep cars a long time so probably not had as many as others.

A list of the the ones I can recall:

Cars:
1963 Morris 1000 Traveller (actually belonged to my fiance, who I married 37 years ago. I passed my driving test in that car after no formal lessons).
1967 Singer Gazelle Mk VI 1725 cc (should have kept it; now a classic; they only made 500 or so).
1970 Triumph Spitfire Mk3 1298 cc.
1976 Hillman Hunter 1725 cc.
1976 VW Beetle 1200 cc (Kafer, actually, I lived in Germany at the time and that was the local name).
1982 Ford Fiesta XR2 1598 cc (boy racer, only car I could afford to buy brand new as I got it tax free as a perk for RAF service in a foreign country).
1983 Volvo 240 2.2 Estate.
1984 Nissan Prairie 1.5 (got kids and dog, had to sell the XR2 and get a family car. Interesting in that it had no "B" pillars and rear sliding doors).
198? Dutton Phaeton 1.6 kit car, Ford engine, no doors. Great fun...if you like that sort of thing.
1984 VW Passat Estate 1.8 (someone still owes me money on that....a so-called friend offered to sell it for me after I went abroad and he did so but he never paid me, the b*****d).
1987 Mitsubishi Space Wagon 1.8. (three row seating).
1987 BMW 318i saloon (as a police colleague told me: once you've owned one, you're only ever "between BMWs" with other cars - I think he's right).
1997 Toyota Previa 2.3 (8 seater, potential killer, will never buy another Toyota due to their total denial of responsibility for building a heap of junk).
1992 BMW coupe 2.0 (what a lovely car, straight six engine, listened to that rather than the radio).
2000 BMW 230i saloon (again, lovely car, 2.5 straight six, sadly wheel arches and brake pipes began rusting; it had to go).
Volvo S40 LX (2400 cc, 5 cylinder diesel engine, went like a tractor on steroids, but it's no BMW).
BMW 330D saloon (traded in the Volvo, actually went to buy a lovely BMW Z4 but it didn't do anything for me on the test drive, much to my surprise).
Suzuki Swift 1.0 (same engine as the Elio prototypes).
Liege 850 cc (built it all myself, took 3 years to get all the factory parts; still not finished after 12 years on the road).

Motor cycles:
A 1958 Phillips Gadabout 49 cc moped (my first motor vehicle).
1950/60s BSA: a D5 Bantam, a C15 Star, an A7SS.
A couple of small Hondas; C50/C70.
A 1977 CZ 250 Enduro, now gone back to the Czech Republic, where it was built. Something unusual about it, apparently only one in UK, it had frame number 00009 and engine 000140. The buyer's driver came all the way to UK to fetch it so I think it was an important bike!
AJS FB250 Enduro 2 stroke, a factory "one off" built to celebrate HM Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977. Retirement project bike.
I also have a 1991 Honda CB750 Nighthawk (last of the air cooled Honda 4s - the bike that helped kill the British bike industry, what a traitor).

I just watched Chip Foose rebuild a '65 Sunbeam Tiger on Overhaulin. I have a '66 Tiger that believe it or not, Chip's Dad, Sam flared the fenders on back in the early '70's and it reminded me, They built just over 7,000 Tigers between 1964 and 1967 and they were using an existing car IE the Sunbeam Alpine. My reservation number is #7771 and Elio hasn't even shown the final production model yet. 35,000 people have reserved one (or two) and the car is a year out. Do I think it's going to happen HELL YEAH!!

 

[goofyone]

ok, read this thread, couple of observations. At 12 to 1 compression will this run on 85-87 gas? Or is this a premium only deal? My vette had 11:1 and ran only on Sunoco 260 (remember that?)

Thanks to modern combustion chamber design, as well as knock sensors and high speed ECU's, 12:1 is very doable from regular grade gas. Many Mazdas sold in the USA today have engines running 13:1 on 87 octane with the aid of direct injection and in Japan they run 14:1. These higher compression ratios are becoming increasingly common as engine designers push to make engines ever more efficient to meet stricter fuel economy an emissions standards.

Just as an aside, for those who are flatlanders and not aware of this...
Up here, above a certain elevation--which I can't precisely specify--we are able to use gasoline which is rated at 85 octane, which is equivalent to 87 in the lowlands.
If I fill up my Elio here in Utah with our 85 octane, it will be knocking when I hit L.A. (actually sooner, like St. George.)

Thats why they have knock sensors and computer controlled engine management. The engine management system would compensate for the lower octane fuel but of course this would also result in reduced power output from the engine.