I Took Delivery Of My New Elio Today !

[booboo]

I bet it paid off too

I bought Mom one, it's what she wanted a long time ago. 0% interest, so I paid it that way. She crashed it, and got a new one with insurance. This happened several times, until the one that we have now. She no longer drives.
P.S. I dislike paying interest. Pay of my VISA in full every month. If I am not making money with borrowed money, I am not interested at all in paying interest.

 

[Ty]

Well, I really liked the Start/Stop that the loaner car had when my truck was in the shop. It was nice not being at idle while stopped (the air keeps blowing while stopped) and it was so fast to restart that there was no way I could beat it when moving from the brake to the accelerator. I didn't see a downside.

 

[Samalross]

Well, I really liked the Start/Stop that the loaner car had when my truck was in the shop. It was nice not being at idle while stopped (the air keeps blowing while stopped) and it was so fast to restart that there was no way I could beat it when moving from the brake to the accelerator. I didn't see a downside.

I had a Grand Cherokee for a month as a rental . The lurch starting up took some time to some getting used to. I was wondering if the starter will be able to last, and how much of a fuel saving there is?

 

[Ty]

I had a Grand Cherokee for a month as a rental . The lurch starting up took some time to some getting used to. I was wondering if the starter will be able to last, and how much of a fuel saving there is?

The little car I drove didn't have any lurch at all. In fact, it was doing it for a while before I realized it was doing it at all. I had the radio on and couldn't tell the engine had turned off. I was wondering what the light on the dash meant. That's what impressed me - the fact that it was unnoticeable was cool. I had to take the wife and kids over to Custer's for some frozen custard just to show it to them. It didn't impress them too much because they'd ridden in the Prius which does the same thing under the right circumstances.

Fuel savings is only one piece of the benefit pie though. The times a vehicle is still and idling, it is producing pollution (Okay, not electrics). It USED to be the case that starting a car used more gas than you'd save shutting it down. But, that was back in the carburetor days and is definitely no longer the case. Today, restarting a warm engine doesn't take any extra fuel. So, those 5 minutes you sit behind a minivan that is ordering food for the whole soccer team can now be pollution free and pleasantly quiet... and it'll save you a little bit of gas or diesel.

 

[W. WIllie]

Auto stop is an"emissions" thing rather than a fuel saver. "Lean Burn" as in the Insight G1 is a fuel saver.
It also has both systems.

HTH
Willie

 

[Ty]

Auto stop is an"emissions" thing rather than a fuel saver. "Lean Burn" as in the Insight G1 is a fuel saver.
It also has both systems.

HTH
Willie

True. It's a difficult sell though because the current standard testing doesn't benefit from start-stop and it is VERY dependent on how often you stop and for how long. If you spend half your time idling in traffic that is completely stopped, you could save considerable fuel by shutting down with the start-stop. I basically have 6 lights (I usually make 3-4 of the lights but ALWAYS get caught by the one stop sign) on my way to work which are quick and wouldn't benefit as much. I also rarely go through a drive-thru. But, the system can really save SOME people quite a bit of fuel. I think I'd get a kick out of a BEV. I just can't sell the truck and space is limited.

 

[Ian442]

The Spark is TINY. I am 6 foot 2 with long legs and I can't fit in a driver's seat in the Spark. needs about another inch where my left foot would go and I might have considered it.

I went with a 2015 Accent. LOTS of room, solid easy to care for engine, autostick is fun.

 

[StevenB]

I’ve bought a Ford Focus for a commuter, $15K brand new. Obviously existing technology, 38 mpg, quiet, comfortable and a warranty. It’s not my wife’s $70K Lincoln but it’ll do until my Elio arrives.

 

[W. WIllie]

Steve B:
I think I would have gone with the Fiesta over the Focus.

 

[RSchneider]

Two months ago I picked up a 2015 BMW i3 with REX at an insurance auction for $5K. It was rear ended but the rest was in great shape with only 26K on the clock. What is neat about them is that all of the body panels are bolted on and are made of some carbon fiber material (i.e. the LR quarter panel weighs 2 lbs). I found a salvage yard with one in the same color that was in a front end crash. So, they unbolted off the rear fenders, hatch, bumper cover, bumper and various trim. Even the hatch is so light I can lift it myself. Sent it to me for $1K. I unbolted the bad parts and bolted on the salvage already painted ones. It now looks like new. I got the software to modify the electronics on it and activated some features and then changed it to I have adjustment for when the REX comes on (the REX is a 2 cyl BMW motorcycle engine attached to a generator).

After a month of driving, it's been fine. The app that comes with it is cool because it allows you to precondition the car and tune on and off charging when you want. I travel in NJ pretty often and there are lots of charging points but the best one is at the BMW headquarters because it's a DC fast charge and it's free.