Was Elio ever viable, and would you have bought one?

I'm assuming that you all  have seen the Elio, sometime over the last few years.  I had actually thought this would have been an amazing car.  I thought that all of the greens here in Maine would have picked one up, maybe not, it would mean not advertising your superiority in your prius.  I digress.

When I would commute and look at all of the people in huge suv's or trucks all by their lonesome, I thought maybe they would pick up  such a low priced car, just to save gas.  I really did enjoy the gas savings when we stepped down (or I would say up) from a ford Flex to our fiesta st.  We really were sick of filling that flex up every few days.  For me, I would have loved having something as odd as an Elio, and getting that gas mileage when prices were high.

I don't think it was a scam, but maybe just a pipe dream.  I was rereading the stories on the Tucker, and it really didn't seem Tucker started out with the plan of committing fraud.

Regardless, would the Elio have been a go?

Just for the sake of your informal polling - no, I wasn't interested in it.

Not that I'm one of those "my car has to be 500hp and huge" but in my area I need a car that is fast enough for me not to get run over (and big enough that I won't be killed when I do get hit by a soccer mom in an SUV). For example, my Porsche 924S just barely meets that requirement, and it's definitely not a commuting car!

If I lived out in BFE, with no traffic and noplace that I need to get to quickly, that could (in theory) change my calculations. 

I would have bought one, assuming it was comfortable and competent with my work rounds.

Nope.  Its a highly specialized vehicle.  I have one daily/street vehicle and I try to make my one vehicle meet most of my needs.  The Elio would be really bad at that.  There would have to be some very extreme situation presented where I would consider one over a used Prius* 

*I know, new vs. used is not apples to apples, but when considering if I would buy one, that is a valid comparison to make.

Also no, it was never viable. 

No to all questions. 

If I lived in Atlanta or DC or some place where you dont get up much past 35 anyway or maybe they have special parking for them in crowded cities, it's nice to think you could put $500 down, have motorcycle size payments and a 2 yr warranty AND get 75+ mpg.

Theoretically. 

Justjim75 said:

If I lived in Atlanta or DC or some place where you dont get up much past 35 anyway or maybe they have special parking for them in crowded cities, it's nice to think you could put $500 down, have motorcycle size payments and a 2 yr warranty AND get 75+ mpg.

I work on dc and you have some mistaken ideas...  Ability to rapidly accelerate to 85+mph amid very aggressive traffic is necessary for survival if you hit the beltway. Our mazda 5 has barely adequate acceleration.

I followed it from professional interest, but never saw it as much more than vaporware. 

I live in the perfect area for a gas-sipping utility car like that, yet I still can't find a good reason to buy an Elio. A Honda Gyro Canopy or a little Kei truck would be more fuel efficient and have more cargo capacity. Such a shame since it was such an interesting idea.

I was watching with great interest and would likely have bought one. Wise purchase? Maybe, maybe not. But I liked the idea, funkiness and simplicity.
As far as viable? I think the market would have seen not just an actual product, but competitors as well. The big automakers didn't seem interested in the idea, and obviously there were not enough early investors. Shame. I'd have liked to own one. 

*Assuming it was actually done in good faith* The idea might've made sense in 2005. It didn't make sense in 2015. They took way too long to get to market. Choosing to spend tons of time and money developing and manufacturing their own engine was the death knell. Cheap hybrids with equal fuel economy, more features and more functionality becoming available on the used market were the final nail in the coffin. I'd have far more faith in a $10k Prius with 100k miles making it to 200k than I would have in a brand new, $10k Elio to make it to 100k.

Justjim75 said:

If I lived in Atlanta or DC or some place where you dont get up much past 35 anyway or maybe they have special parking for them in crowded cities, it's nice to think you could put $500 down, have motorcycle size payments and a 2 yr warranty AND get 75+ mpg.

Theoretically. 

If you are not exceeding 35, a Prius is going to get better mileage.  Elio is rated for 49 in town, current Prius is rated at 58.  

Additionally, if you are doing driving where don't exceed 35mph, you likely are using very little fuel anyway.  A PHEV or EV might even be a better candidate for you.

The Elio had a front track of 66.8" (!), so it consumes just as much parking space, unless you make goofy interlocking T-shaped spaces.

I liked it in theory, but I just can't get past the whole "4 wheels good, 3 wheels bad" in my head.  I've driven low-powered vehicles in traffic (like a '81 Mercedes 240D with air conditioning) so my threshold for what's "fast enough" may be much lower than everybody else's.  But there's just enough times when my daily driver (a Mazda 3 hatch) needs to serve as grocery getter/ parts store runner/ hardwares store fetcher/ recycling dropper-offer that anything significantly smaller is just a non-starter.

It never made sense to me.  How many times have we heard the reports that somewhere over 80% of commuters can use a simple car like the Elio or some micro-sub compact car?  And yet people have always bought bigger than that- large cars, small SUVs, trucks of all sizes, etc.  

Most people buy vehicles with the question "what if" along with the commuter requirement.

I bet nobody remembers that the Fiero was designed as just a simple, small commuter car.  Just like I can't count how many small, efficient cars have come and gone over the decades.  And now they are pretty much all gone.

Just like "ride sharing" isn't going to revolutionize anything- as it's been around forever.  Nor is autonomous ride sharing vehicles, since we all commute to and from work at the exact same time.  

None of these "revolutions" are new.  The real revolution is working from home.

Viable, maybe with some better decisions at the beginning.  I wanted one, especially after sitting in one  at the NAIAS one year..

Yeah... I don't get it. In what world would somebody buy an Elio when this exists:

Apexcarver said:

Justjim75 said:

If I lived in Atlanta or DC or some place where you dont get up much past 35 anyway or maybe they have special parking for them in crowded cities, it's nice to think you could put $500 down, have motorcycle size payments and a 2 yr warranty AND get 75+ mpg.

I work on dc and you have some mistaken ideas...  Ability to rapidly accelerate to 85+mph amid very aggressive traffic is necessary for survival if you hit the beltway. Our mazda 5 has barely adequate acceleration.

 

I followed it from professional interest, but never saw it as much more than vaporware. 

Yeah....  same exact thing for Atlanta. Of course at times it's locked up and slow, but when it's not you need to be at 85+  in a hurry. The speeds people drive through Atlanta when cars are moving is amazing, easily 30 over the posted speed limit at times.

I'm only just now interested in electric vehicles due to my utter lack of driving (seriously it took me 3 months to burn a tank of gas in the jeep) and I don't see it changing soon. 

As for elio, no. Call me gun shy but I'm still not trusting of the battery tech that's out there. Coupled with the fact that elio was basically vaporware from the start (tesla is the only one of the true electric people to get off the ground, and I'm 200% elon is a supervillain) and virtually nothing elio ever did made me think it was going to work. I don't think they were ever viable for pretty much the same reasons. When elio launched, it was a lot like the dotcom boom- everyone www running on venture capital, no one was actually sure of they could do it. Turns out elon could. Elio not so much. 

Tom Suddard said:

Yeah... I don't get it. In what world would somebody buy an Elio when this exists:

Well, the Elio is rated at basically double the highway mileage.

That said, I think the point may be:  Elio is is a simple, barebones attempt at a commuter vehicle, but it takes it a step too far.  Eliminating a rear wheel and shrinking the cabin do not gain that much in economy, but cost a ton in utility.

Apexcarver said:

 

I work on dc and you have some mistaken ideas...  Ability to rapidly accelerate to 85+mph amid very aggressive traffic is necessary for survival if you hit the beltway.

QFT.

In reply to Tom Suddard :

Because that is hideous, and not interesting in the least?

I liked the idea, and had they gotten in production before two things happened, they may have actually had decent sales for a few years before failing:

1. Gas prices dropped precipitously.  
2. The used Prius supply went way up.

Of course, if gas prices had continued to stay high, or go up even further, cheap, used Priuses might not have been a thing.  

I would have liked to at least gotten a chance to drive one.  Even with the track width, they’re still smaller than almost anything else on the road today.  I’ve read an article about vehicle footprint size in the past, and it made a convincing argument about smaller vehicles reducing congestion even with the same number of miles driven.

Elio exists in the same area as the Smart Car.  How many of those do you see running about?  I love the idea, but I would rather a Tesla Model 3 or even a really expensive road bike and save my Landy for the nasty weather.

Unfortunately, while said roadbike is in the range of my easy riding to work, the Elio would have the same issus it would, getting run over on the super speedway that is the road into work.  The 4 miles across the marshes where no cops can hide makes for easy 85+mph speeding for some people.  The number of skid marks, scuffs on the jersey barriers, and slides out into the marshes is just sobering.

Personally, no. While I thought the idea worked, I didn't like how it looked nor the interior.  I was able to sit in one of the prototypes at the NYIAS a few years ago. A friend of mine actually did put down a $100 deposit for one, but even he wasn't confident it would ever make it to production.

I have a similar view of the Aptera Mk 2, although I really like how these look.  That said, I would need to see one in person and actually make sure it would fit in my garage.

Part of my calculation when considering one of these is I already have a high-MPG "commuter" vehicle - a 2003 VW TDI. A car I don't really drive anymore.  So I would really need a compelling reason to replace it (eventually, I'll get it back on the road).  Besides the whole WFH thing, my commute to the office now is similar to irish44j's DC commute.  A mad-dash across the PATP at occasionally triple-digit speeds.  The posted limit is 70 and if you aren't doing 80+ you get run over.  While the aerodynamics of the Aptera would theoretically allow it to cruise at higher speeds without as much of a energy hit (the planned model is supposed to be a pure EV), there is no way of knowing until cars (trikes; whatever...) get out into the real world.  

But most of the reason I want an Aptera is not for the efficiency. I just love how they look. Which I think is where the Elio failed. Regardless of the price or how well the Elio performed, it really looked terrible. 

In reply to ProDarwin :

You cant get a brand new Prius with a warranty for $7500.  Read my whole post, not just one part please.

A considerable amount of parking in big cities is parallel parking on the street, I was thinking of length not width.

No, i was never interested in the Elio.  Like most car buyers I don't prioritize mpg over all else, and a normal car is more practical than a tricycle for nearly every use case.