The Vehicle I've Always Needed

All those years of commuting to work on the motorcycle most of the year, rain or shine, summer or winter, putting up with restricted lanes in the winter when I had to drive a 4-wheeler, and now that I don't any more, here's the answer.

A sleek 2-seater that's legal to drive in the HOV lanes with only me aboard. Went to see the Elio yesterday. Got to sit in it. Has lots of room although not having a passenger seat beside you in a very car-like vehicle took a bit of getting used to. This may be a partial answer to those long trips to the range as it will at least cut down on the gas used. You can bring your range buddy, but the amount of gear that comes along will be severely limited.

Looking into the rear with the back seat folded forward. Available space is comparable to an airline overhead bin in depth and about 24" wide. Probably 2 range bags unless you over stuff your bags. Leave the rear seat down and you could probably get a bag of golf clubs in there plus some floor space.
Still, for $6800, you can both buy one. 

Limited space is available on the floor on either side of the seats.

I took a look under the hood:

 

I was assured that this is NOT the motor the vehicle will come with. The "real" motor will be slightly different. As I was perusing the engine bay I was also told that other engines were not planned. Like the fellow could hear the clicking of the tape measure in my head as I was imagining something more sporty. I may be optimistic, but it looks to me like the old V4 engine that used to come in Saabs would fit. Barely.

I asked about a "Sport" model and was told that for the moment only this high-economy model was being considered. Bummer. With a curb weight of only 1000 lb, it wouldn't take much to deliver some pretty respectable 0-60 times. Of course at 1000 lbs, and 70 bhp, it's probably not all that bad right now. Note to marketing dept: This being a motorcycle, (legally) people will be attracted by the 49/89mpg rating, but would probably go for a turbo model for fun even if the mileage dropped to say, 40/80. This being a beta model with the wrong engine and several bits missing, they estimated the 0-60 times to be in the 9.5 sec range. Missing bits on this car included electric door lock and  electric windows.

I was told that the initial run will all be stick shifters, and that possibly cruise control will be included. Pre-production models are being driven right now, and Paul Elio has one with no cruise control and a handful of speeding tickets. One of the others has the CC and no tickets either.

 Here's the dash:

The radio would go on one side, and the heater and A/C on the other. This was as far back as I could slide the seat, but the edge of the interior is on the left just outside the vent. Imagine symmetry.


The most annoying thing about this is that after all these years of commuting, building a similar open vehicle from an old Subaru and threatening to take a Geo Metro and replace the rear axle with a single wheel, here it is, just in time for me to no longer be commuting. It still looks like fun. Maybe I can get the Denver dealership.


More at Elio website.