Cvt Drive Train

[Music Man]

In some motorcycles they use CVT drive trains and they use electric to go into reverse. This could save weight and increase MPG.

WELCOME, Ray.

Keep the information flowing.

 

[ecdriver711]

Welcome to the group.

 

[carzes]

Well GM went out of business, so no CVTs from them!

I'm pretty sure the Elio will NOT have a CVT for some of the reasons you stated. Namely expensive and not US-made. I think Paul has already said it will be an automatically-shifted manual. No torque converter to soak up all the gas and what little power the engine will make.

I like that they're not planning to roll the dice with a cvt at this point, but I hope they don't have bad luck with the auto-shift manual. There seems to be a general concensus that ford's 5R55W auto-shifted manual IS the worst tranny built. Don't know how others have been holding up though. I guess I don't really trust anything 'till the technology has been around awhile. Probably why I like a good ol' manual transaxle. Efficient, (when driven well), low-maintenance, reliable, (when designed well), and easy/cheap to repair/replace. Usually.
Oh, and the 'old' GM might be supposedly gone, but then again so is the Pinto. Somehow that didn't stop it's engine block from showing up in my 1994 pickup. I guess once the manufacturers have a set of molds and dies and such for a major component they can't seem to help themselves trying to keep cranking out what they already have instead of trying to design something better. I guess innovation costs money though and the Ford family obviously needs that extra billion or three.

 

[Gas-Powered Awesome]

Be happy you had the Lima engine! That 2.3 was the same as used in the SVO Mustang, Thunderbird Turbo Coupe, and Merkur XR4Ti, all under-appreciated special cars. Pretty damn good engine over the years for what it was.

 

[carzes]

I dunno, throw a turbo on it and it might perk up, but in a Ranger pickup it's an anemic little engine with little power, less torque, and gets the same gas mileage as a modern V8 in a full size truck. I don't mind giving up the power to actually pull my boat up the ramp, but at LEAST I'd like to get decent mileage to make up for it. It was rated for 26mpg, but it never got better than 23 on it's BEST day. Maybe if I put a turbo on it.......

 

[Gas-Powered Awesome]

Yeah, not the most efficient or powerful non-turbo, I'll give you that. But you did buy a 4-cylinder pickup, what did you expect?

But now your going to get an Elio and make up for all those years of shotty gas mileage.

 

[Ray O]

Hi and welcome from Oregon, Ray O. You will find a very active group of Ohioans on this forum so you can expect to be contacted. I hope you enjoy this forum as we watch progress towards Elio production and ownership. See you next year while out driving my Elio. Z

Thank you I have a new post.I am happy to join this group