The Elio Engine

[Hotscoots]

In five years , I would expect a new Elio to cost approximately $11,000 . Depending on the reliability scores , it is not unreasonable to assume a 2017 Elio will have retained the majority of it's value in 2022. Many factors will be at play , but $5000 does not buy much else .

 

[skygazer6033]

I think the Elio will have to deal with the curse of inexpensive cars. Many people won't take proper care of them because they're inexpensive and treated as disposable. Because of the use off the shelf parts from heavier more powerful cars the Elio should be fairly rugged. The wild card is the engine. Hopefully IAV design experience will pay off and the engine will prove to be durable as well. The key to longevity for any machine is proper care and maintenance.

 

[WilliamH]

I haven't been keeping up with the information flow for a while, so please forgive a stupid question, or two.

Is there any information which would indicate that durability and performance testing has been continuing on the engine? Planning on doing a dead stick landing by putting an untested engine in early release vehicles may not be a real good idea.

There is no information to indicate that Elio hasn't been doing additional testing.
I thought people were innocent until proven guilty.

 

[Maurtis]

Funny, IAV is on Elio's list of suppliers: About Elio | Elio Motors

But Elio is not on IAV's list of clients: Our Clients – IAV Automotive Engineering

Must just be an out of date site When the Elio gets both the Motor Trend Car of the Year for 2017 AND is in the Cycle World top 10 for 2017, I bet we see them on the website!

 

[Okie51]

I think the Elio will have to deal with the curse of inexpensive cars. Many people won't take proper care of them because they're inexpensive and treated as disposable. Because of the use off the shelf parts from heavier more powerful cars the Elio should be fairly rugged. The wild card is the engine. Hopefully IAV design experience will pay off and the engine will prove to be durable as well. The key to longevity for any machine is proper care and maintenance.

I took care of my 73 Vega and it was burning oil after 4 years. GM had a poor product!

 

[Marshall]

There is no information to indicate that Elio hasn't been doing additional testing.
I thought people were innocent until proven guilty.

In a court of law that is supposed to be true, but in the court of public opinion, it has never been true.

 

[Maurtis]

In a court of law that is supposed to be true, but in the court of public opinion, it has never been true.

Reminds me of the quote from Star Trek: The Next Generation in Encounter at Farpoint:

Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Leading to the rule "Guilty until proven innocent."

Q: Of course. Bringing the innocent to trial would be unfair.

 

[Jeff Porter]

By the way I own a Northstar Cadillac and I've learned far more on the subject than I ever wanted too.

LOL, I'm with you... I'm even a few steps further... I experienced the aforementioned problem, and bought another one! Some of us never LEARN... lol

 

[Jeff Porter]

Funny, IAV is on Elio's list of suppliers: About Elio | Elio Motors

But Elio is not on IAV's list of clients: Our Clients – IAV Automotive Engineering

Must just be an out of date site When the Elio gets both the Motor Trend Car of the Year for 2017 AND is in the Cycle World top 10 for 2017, I bet we see them on the website!

Could be non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), who knows...

 

[Avards]

In a court of law that is supposed to be true, but in the court of public opinion, it has never been true.

1) Is there any indication that Elio, or its partners have been doing any testing of individual and combined components assembled as intended to be configured and sold?

2) Assembling a bunch of pieces/parts, though proven in other applications but never use in concert with each other, can result in some unforeseen consequences. I recall a problem which occurred with a mid-80's Volvo series. Engine and automatic transmission had not previously been used together. Each had been used in other editions of the vehicle around the world, but not in that exact combination which, for weight considerations, had never been put together. A horrible harmonic boom occurred in the produced cars between the speeds of about 52 mph, and 80 mph. The problem existed only in the vehicles shipped to the US. Months of attempts to solve the problem took place. Turned out that a slightly lighter bell housing was employed in order to be within a weight limit for emissions rules. Switched to heavier bell housing, and removed the under-hood sound deadening pad to stay within the weight limits. My vehicle was shipped back to Sweden, and was the one which was used in testing to solve the problem.

All parts had been used in other cars coming down the line. Just in that one odd combination did the problem manifest itself. The assumption was that as all of the parts had previously been used in other vehicles, they'd be no problem using them in this new combination. If testing was done on this assembly, it failed to reveal the problem. Only testing, in this case by the buyers of the vehicle, revealed the problem.

3) For years, the unofficial motto for GM was, "The public is our test track." I only hope that Elio will not adopt this as their moto. I'd like to see a small series of company owned test vehicles produced and tested for a period of months, conditions, and miles to see what will happen. Time for revisions and further testing with the resulting revisions needs to be built into the equation. If not, the GM motto may well apply.

-----A long time reserved, increasingly verging on cynical, reservation holder----

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