Slick 50 For The Elio?

[NSTG8R]

Remember, that's 84mpg Highway, not all the time.
In city is 45 to 49mpg.
So unless you drive Highway and highway speeds every time you drive it; with no traffic, no slow downs; just constantly from the highway on-ramp at the end of your driveway to the highway off ramp to your parking spot ; plan on getting a little less than 84mpg 100% of the time.

I'm 1/4 mile from I-44, and Boeing has it's own exit off the highway [I-170] up near the airport that dumps right into my parking lot, with an entrance ramp from the parking lot directly onto the highway for the way home. The 1/4 mile of "city driving" will hopefully be enough to allow the Elio to warm up before I put the pedal down. 84mpg "should be" my average.

 

[NSTG8R]

Here's a little trivia that has to do with my building [bldg. 101]. In 1966 the Gemini 8 astronauts were killed in a T-38 aircraft when it hit my building. Red "X" marks the spot of impact. I was watching a documentary called, "Last Man on the Moon" about Gene Cernan, and they showed the pics and an interview of a witness right outside our building with the damage shown in the background. When I first hired in all the 'old timers' would talk about the day it happened and what they were doing at the time. Had a definite impact [no pun intended] on them as they were in the process of building the Gemini 9 capsule here [McDonnell Douglas].

 

[Ty]

Here's a little trivia that has to do with my building [bldg. 101]. In 1966 the Gemini 8 astronauts were killed in a T-38 aircraft when it hit my building. Red "X" marks the spot of impact. I was watching a documentary called, "Last Man on the Moon" about Gene Cernan, and they showed the pics and an interview of a witness right outside our building with the damage shown in the background. When I first hired in all the 'old timers' would talk about the day it happened and what they were doing at the time. Had a definite impact [no pun intended] on them as they were in the process of building the Gemini 9 capsule here [McDonnell Douglas].
View attachment 11516

Neat history lesson there. I've got nothing like that except seeing the memorial inside the Pentagon for 9/11... I did, as part of my thesis work back in 2005, get to lay my hands on two of the shuttles. One was horizontal and getting its tiles repaired and the other vertical and being loaded.

I re-read this post and it looks kind of out of place. I MEANT to agree that though they are little things, those historical events that you can actually visit the sites of are quite sobering.

 

[Coss]

Damn spell check. For the Castrol is about 8 to 10 a quart depends on where you get it. Obviously wally word is about the cheapest place.

$8 to $10 a quart
I'm getting the 5 quart jugs of Edge here at Wally World for $28
O'Reillys is $7.95 a quart, and AutoZone is about the same.
I just can't figure out why there is such a difference in the price at WW.

 

[Coss]

Car and Driver did an article about mileage enhancers... everything from chips to magnets to a tornado thing for the fuel line...

The only device or additive that they tested that made any significant improvement in mileage was a simple thing that plugged into the obdii port and displayed the current mileage. Apparently, manufacturers have real engineers and make their vehicles as efficient as they can given other constraints. The one thing manufacturers can't control is the drivers. But, the psychology of seeing how your habits affect your mileage makes people want to drive more efficiently.

I just wish people would figure out going from a stop light up to speed can be faster than just taking your foot off the brake and not touching the gas, hoping that the speed of gravity and idle will get you there. That uses more gas than actually accelerating "briskly" and holding a steady speed does.

 

[Ty]

I just wish people would figure out going from a stop light up to speed can be faster than just taking your foot off the brake and not touching the gas, hoping that the speed of gravity and idle will get you there. That uses more gas than actually accelerating "briskly" and holding a steady speed does.

Car and Driver said as much... moderate acceleration. It takes energy to change speeds... we turn it into heat when we stop and we burn fuel to accelerate... When I time the lights just right, I'll say "Well, I just saved ## MPGs right there!"

 

[Gas-Powered Awesome]

with the piston walls being flame sprayed, I tend to believe that one should be very careful in the use of additives .... I have no clue if products designed for standard sleeved/cast piston walls will be compatible with the EM cylinder wall lining

The material is still metal. Whether it's cast, sleeved, or sprayed it makes no difference. That's kind of the point of the spray is it makes no difference except it's cheaper/faster. An it doesn't make any difference because none of the additives do anything anyway. Except empty your wallet.

 

[XanWolf]

Sorry it took me so long to get back to here. My driving style (free flowing interstate highway driving -- cross country) on my experiment did not change before and after the oil change. I do admit that I changed two things at once and thus cannot definitively say which change had what portion of the change. I do stand by the approximate 10% increase in mileage.

That brings it back to my original curiosity.... slightly rephrased.... What sort of liquid(s) will be in the oil pan when we have the new Elios presented to us? Is the targeted 84 MPG intended to be after a break-in period once we change the oil(s) to (whatever is then prescribed to be changed to)?

 

[W. WIllie]

Remember, "Up to 84 MPG". Not set in stone or any tests yet. Nobody knows what oil will be in the vehicles yet, from the factory.
YMMV.

 

[larryboy]

Car and Driver did an article about mileage enhancers... everything from chips to magnets to a tornado thing for the fuel line...

The only device or additive that they tested that made any significant improvement in mileage was a simple thing that plugged into the obdii port and displayed the current mileage. Apparently, manufacturers have real engineers and make their vehicles as efficient as they can given other constraints. The one thing manufacturers can't control is the drivers. But, the psychology of seeing how your habits affect your mileage makes people want to drive more efficiently.

I want one. I have 3 vehicles and two of them have the mpg readout. I was hoping the Elio would come with one but it does not look like it will be offered as an option. I think it would be a good idea for Elio to make it standard because when people are tempted to complain that they are not getting 84MPG all they have to do is look at their MPG readout and they will know it is not the Elio's fault. Do you remember who made the gismo or what it was called? Or the date of the magazine. If it is within the year I can get it at the library.