Options And Upgrades, Cruise Control, Etc...

[Gas-Powered Awesome]

Floor mats are a must to protect the carpet. They don't weigh that much and are much easier to clean when they get dirty and replace when they wear out. My Insight has mats on both sides and still gets 60 MPG. Only exception would be if they come with rubber floors like old 9C1 cop cars.

No need for a car cover for me as it will never sit long enough to need one. But I expect custom fit models in every fabric will be available from the aftermarket, even with licensed logos.

 

[Joe Coppinger]

Heck I wouldn't mind if I had a sealed rubber floor and a drain plug so I could use a garden hose to was it out.. At the cost of the elio I could purchase a nice elio for the "and and" vehicle..

 

[Joshua Caldwell]

Has there been an mention of offering an extended warranty. It seems like with this being a brand new vehicle, that it might pay for itself.

Extended warranties do not pay for themselves, if they did they would not be offered. Same as any other type of insurance.

 

[Joshua Caldwell]

The only problem is that manual seats are usually only 4 way adjust, I don't need power, but would pay for it to get a seat that adjusts to exactly where I like it. Make mine cloth, I hate the slippery feel of leather.

I hate the cooking surface feel of leather in the Carolinas

 

[tazairforce]

I was driving home yesterday behind a big suv and was thinking I can barely see around the left side of this thing. What will I do being dead center in my Elio? I think I'll need a parascope LOL

You're driving Blind at that point.
Expect the Worst, Hope for the Best.
Err on the side of Safety, change lanes or back off 5/6 Elio lengths. but then 5/6 small cars might fill up the gap.

A large vehicle can pass over much larger objects, in the road, than we can Climb over in our Elio's.
Think the Worst, the driver of that Suv/Semi/Camper could be: 1) using a cell phone, 2) looking at a GPS, 3) eating a hamburger, 4) dealing with kids in the back seat, 5) (maybe bitching at her/his husband/wife, {it's best I changed that}), 6) had bad day at the office/home, 7) not aware of traffic stopping ahead, until they Lock Down, 8++) etc, etc.

Could be, any or All, of the above. The scariest thing, while driving/riding, I have encountered on the road is a driver with a Cell Phone in one hand and a Steering wheel in the other.
I'm speaking, from experience, as a successful 70 year old bike rider here. Act like, 'They're All Out to Kill You', you'll live Longer.

 

[Rickb]

Extended warranties do not pay for themselves, if they did they would not be offered. Same as any other type of insurance.

I am in agreement on extended warranties.........generally if something major is going to happen it usually happens during the regular warranty period.......cars and electronics.

Elio repair costs when it comes to parts 'should' be much less reflecting the low initial cost of the vehicle. Shop Hourly Labor Rates the same........but since Elio is simple and easy to work on that side of the bill should be less too depending on PB's business model. Extended warranties give some people peace of mind that either don't manage their money very well or can't otherwise afford unexpected car repair budget hits. It's product insurance 'in case' of unexpected repairs........not comparable to insurance in general........comprehensive auto/autocycle, homeowner's, health, etc..

 

[checho]

some nice features would be:
1. a small turbo diesel engine, the elio with a diesel engine would provide over 110 MPG in HW, and 60 MPG in city, not only it would offer lots ore miles per gallon, but also diesel engines require less maintenance, and are a lot more reliable, if the engine is mass produce it might add $1000 to the cost of the car but this amount would easily pay off due to the extra fuel saving, and in future when the elio gets exported to other countries the saving by having a diesel engine will be even be greater since diesel is a lot cheaper than gasoline in many countries, also the engines themselves last a lot longer, I have a diesel car with over 420,000 miles and the engine is running great, plus you get more torque compare to a gasoline engine.
Even the HMV freeway was offered with a diesel engine in its days.
Reliability is very important on a car that is why a diesel engine will be a big plus, also you have the option of using biodiesel.

2. a good seat with a good recline, it really sucks when you have to be on the car in a restricted way for hours, that happens sometimes when crossing the USA border by ground from Mexico to USA, at the secondary inspection you could easily have to wait 1 to 3 hours inside the vehicle, and when in such a situation those 1 to 3 hours feel like eternity, having a full recline that reclines 180 degree that basically turns the seat into a bed will be a huge plus.

3, a very strong suspension and steering are highly needed for safety in third word countries, and for safety, once due to a very large pothole in Chile the front wheel of a c2v6 citroen ended up hitting the frame of the car with the steering bar completely bent, in Mexico over a similar pot hole, on my 240d only the rim got a little bent, nothing happened to the steering.

4. windows that go all the way down.

5. in the case of the air conditioner, the diesel engine will be a great plus, but in the case of the gasoline engine if the engine is too small when driving though the city the air conditioning could cause a rough idle, this is a very common problem at idle with the air condition on.

6. the leg space in the rear seat seems to be very small for a large person.

7. it is very important that the seat be comfortable, I have had lots of cars in which the seats feel comfortable at first but after driving over 6 hours you end up with back pain, this happened to me in a citroen 2cv6, a fiat 600, a ford mustang, a ford e150, however on a toyota camry and on a mercedes 240d I did not have that problem.

8. 2 small hitches, one for pulling the car if needed, and one for pulling a very small trailer.

The car and concept look really cool, I really like the car, I am looking forward to it, planing to see it in Sacramento, hopefully they will let me drive it.

 

[Joshua Caldwell]

From sitting in it I can confirm #2 for the front seat, not a full recline but is good. Rear seat has no reclining at all - but what car's rear seat ever has? I can also confirm #4 & #7. I comfortably do multi-thousand mile car trips every year in my Grand Prix and the Elio seat felt exactly the same.

 

[Dustman]

some nice features would be:
1. a small turbo diesel engine, the elio with a diesel engine would provide over 110 MPG in HW, and 60 MPG in city, not only it would offer lots ore miles per gallon, but also diesel engines require less maintenance, and are a lot more reliable, if the engine is mass produce it might add $1000 to the cost of the car but this amount would easily pay off due to the extra fuel saving, and in future when the elio gets exported to other countries the saving by having a diesel engine will be even be greater since diesel is a lot cheaper than gasoline in many countries, also the engines themselves last a lot longer, I have a diesel car with over 420,000 miles and the engine is running great, plus you get more torque compare to a gasoline engine.
Even the HMV freeway was offered with a diesel engine in its days.
Reliability is very important on a car that is why a diesel engine will be a big plus, also you have the option of using biodiesel.

2. a good seat with a good recline, it really sucks when you have to be on the car in a restricted way for hours, that happens sometimes when crossing the USA border by ground from Mexico to USA, at the secondary inspection you could easily have to wait 1 to 3 hours inside the vehicle, and when in such a situation those 1 to 3 hours feel like eternity, having a full recline that reclines 180 degree that basically turns the seat into a bed will be a huge plus.

3, a very strong suspension and steering are highly needed for safety in third word countries, and for safety, once due to a very large pothole in Chile the front wheel of a c2v6 citroen ended up hitting the frame of the car with the steering bar completely bent, in Mexico over a similar pot hole, on my 240d only the rim got a little bent, nothing happened to the steering.

4. windows that go all the way down.

5. in the case of the air conditioner, the diesel engine will be a great plus, but in the case of the gasoline engine if the engine is too small when driving though the city the air conditioning could cause a rough idle, this is a very common problem at idle with the air condition on.

6. the leg space in the rear seat seems to be very small for a large person.

7. it is very important that the seat be comfortable, I have had lots of cars in which the seats feel comfortable at first but after driving over 6 hours you end up with back pain, this happened to me in a citroen 2cv6, a fiat 600, a ford mustang, a ford e150, however on a toyota camry and on a mercedes 240d I did not have that problem.

8. 2 small hitches, one for pulling the car if needed, and one for pulling a very small trailer.

The car and concept look really cool, I really like the car, I am looking forward to it, planing to see it in Sacramento, hopefully they will let me drive it.

Hey, Checho, welcome to the forum! I'm just up the road in the Tri-valley.

IMO, although a good Diesel engine sounds like a great idea, I think Elio Motors is going about the first model year the right way by using the more common/familiar route of a gasoline engine, with a high enough mpg to get people's attention. The Elio is a unique vehicle that will take some time for exposure & acceptance in the general public as it is. That being said, once successful, EM has stated that they will be looking at alternatives.

We are all hoping for a well-made dependable vehicle, but it would not be my first choice to take over the border. Bear in mind that we are talking about a brand new company manufacturing a brand new vehicle. We won't really know how dependable & durable they are for a few years to come.

I hope you have a chance to see the prototype in Sacramento. It is great to actually see it, sit inside it and experience the Elio from that perspective. However, you will not be able to drive it. The prototypes were extremely expensive to create from scratch (I heard $500,000 mentioned for the P4), and it gets beat up as is with the thousands of butts going in & out of the seat, door being opened & closed thousands of times, etc. We have seen the P4 driven by a couple of journalists, but that is about it.

Again, welcome to the group!

 

[checho]

Thanks for the welcome, I will definitely see the car in Sacramento.
The Elio is very unique and special in many ways and I believe that is the reason so many people like it, simple and efficient, and the very high fuel mileage at a very low cost, I am sure many of us would be willing to pay a little extra for the diesel engine, it would also help Elio with the adds advertizing 110MPG sounds much better than 84MPG, also it would put Elio in the same category as the VW and MB since they are the only 2 car companies that currently sell diesels in the state, one big plus about diesel engines is their simplicity, once running they do not depend on the electronics to keep running.
The best feature is the 3 wheel design which in the states means cheap motorcycle insurance, cheap registration, no smog check, freedom to modify the car at will, and because Elio is putting safety as a priority it will make this 3 wheel car very unique.
If Elio can make it multi purpose, not only a city car, but a highway vehicle for very long trips it will be great, and I personally think most people are underestimating the saving, since having 3 wheels you have a huge saving from the laws, and the fuel saving is even bigger once calculated correctly, most people compare the existing miles that they drive with the current mpg that they get with the mpg that Elio gives them, but that formula is wrong, since the Elio gives much more mpg a lot of people will simply drive a lot more, therefore the actual savings will be higher than they appear.
having a diesel engine would not require changes to the car itself, just like the jetta same car offered with a choice of gas or diesel engines, also a diesel engine due to the slight heavier weight would help with the traction of the vehicle since the weight will be on top of the front wheels, which helps in traction and braking.