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6800 bucks 84 mpg american made

For that cheap, I'd probably pick one up as a commuter vehicle. One or two seats is all the average worker needs, realistically, when only about 10 percent of people were carpooling in 2009. Americans' aversion to carpooling and public transportation stems from the same line of reasoning: it's not convenient, it forces us to interact with people, and it forces us to rely on people. If we can't cram more commuters into a car, we can at least design a car to carry fewer people.

Still, it's ugly as sin. I thought the future was supposed to look good?
 
For that cheap, I'd probably pick one up as a commuter vehicle. One or two seats is all the average worker needs, realistically, when only about 10 percent of people were carpooling in 2009. Americans' aversion to carpooling and public transportation stems from the same line of reasoning: it's not convenient, it forces us to interact with people, and it forces us to rely on people. If we can't cram more commuters into a car, we can at least design a car to carry fewer people.

Still, it's ugly as sin. I thought the future was supposed to look good?

It certainly would be advantageous for commuting to work. And you could squeeze into those smaller parking spaces with greater ease but could a big man squeeze into the car? The design is different but I wouldn't call it ugly. I don't think there is anything uglier than the Nissan Cube. Looks like a toaster on wheels.
 
It certainly would be advantageous for commuting to work. And you could squeeze into those smaller parking spaces with greater ease but could a big man squeeze into the car? The design is different but I wouldn't call it ugly. I don't think there is anything uglier than the Nissan Cube. Looks like a toaster on wheels.

I don't agree. I think the Pacer is the ugliest, but that's my opinion.
 
It certainly would be advantageous for commuting to work. And you could squeeze into those smaller parking spaces with greater ease but could a big man squeeze into the car? The design is different but I wouldn't call it ugly. I don't think there is anything uglier than the Nissan Cube. Looks like a toaster on wheels.

That Cube is the ugliest thing Ive ever seen. How did that get made?
 
I don't agree. I think the Pacer is the ugliest, but that's my opinion.
Yeah they are pretty ugly too. Those creepy back windows. When behind a Cube it's like you are just waiting for someone to pop up out of the roof. :)
 
It certainly would be advantageous for commuting to work. And you could squeeze into those smaller parking spaces with greater ease but could a big man squeeze into the car? The design is different but I wouldn't call it ugly. I don't think there is anything uglier than the Nissan Cube. Looks like a toaster on wheels.

The Cube mostly irritates me with that weird asymmetry, and I think the Nissan Juke is as bad or worse. It's the back end of the Elio that's throwing me--looks like a tippy canoe. But I drive an old lady car in the name of practicality, so it's not like aesthetics would stop me. I'm more interested to see how it holds up in a wreck, how it handles, and whether or not it ever makes it to market.

As for comfort, fitting into a car has never been something I've had to worry about, but I found this on the company's Facebook page:
The question of internal space keeps coming up, particularly head room and leg room. We designed the vehicle for the "95% male", which is approximately a 6' 1" 220 lb person. As we mentioned in some individual questions, we have had a lot of larger people sit in and drive the prototype and, without exception, they exit the vehicle with what we call the "Elio Smile".
https://www.facebook.com/ElioMotors/posts/468479123216965
 
That Cube is the ugliest thing Ive ever seen. How did that get made?

Beats me. Have you ever watched a big man get into a Cube? You wait in anticipation his feet will pop out of the bottom and he'll yell "Yabba Dabba Do"!
 
It's a single-seat vehicle. Look at the fuel economy from the perspective of MPG/person. If I buy a car that gets 30 MPG, but I carpool with three other people, that's moving four people @ 30 MPG or 120 MPG/person. The Elio is stuck at 84 MPG/person. It's stuff like this that makes me shake my head. You have a highly impractical vehicle that if put into large scale production would put more cars on the road than a practical one that could hold four people and put fewer cars on the road. Classic eco-nut dumbness. If you're the type who doesn't carpool, then go ahead and salve your conscience with one of these or you could start a carpool and do some REAL good.

Where's this magic carpool group that's full of people who drive to the same places at the same time as me? I'm very curious.
 
It's a single-seat vehicle. Look at the fuel economy from the perspective of MPG/person. If I buy a car that gets 30 MPG, but I carpool with three other people, that's moving four people @ 30 MPG or 120 MPG/person. The Elio is stuck at 84 MPG/person. It's stuff like this that makes me shake my head. You have a highly impractical vehicle that if put into large scale production would put more cars on the road than a practical one that could hold four people and put fewer cars on the road. Classic eco-nut dumbness. If you're the type who doesn't carpool, then go ahead and salve your conscience with one of these or you could start a carpool and do some REAL good.


It is a two seater read or even watch any of the videos?
 
Anyways... I took a look at the website and found this:



... Well this is either brilliant or absolutely stupid. Why a credit card? I think that people who don't have $6800 (which is enough for a decent down payment on a car) won't be too concerned about racking up credit card debt. A simpler solution would be a pay for use system (think cellphone or WoW accounts for you nerds). Car owners would have to deposit a minimum amount of say $100 into an account before the car became usable. Once depositing those funds, a code would be given and the car would function again.


I think that is an available option for poorer folks eventually they may take EBT payments. But i am sure it is not the only payment option.
 
It's a single-seat vehicle. Look at the fuel economy from the perspective of MPG/person. If I buy a car that gets 30 MPG, but I carpool with three other people, that's moving four people @ 30 MPG or 120 MPG/person. The Elio is stuck at 84 MPG/person. It's stuff like this that makes me shake my head. You have a highly impractical vehicle that if put into large scale production would put more cars on the road than a practical one that could hold four people and put fewer cars on the road. Classic eco-nut dumbness. If you're the type who doesn't carpool, then go ahead and salve your conscience with one of these or you could start a carpool and do some REAL good.

The reality is that people don't carpool as much as they should. Compared to four of five lanes of lone drivers on the freeway to the number of cars in the 'passenger-only-lanes' during rush hour bares the truth of it.
 
Where's this magic carpool group that's full of people who drive to the same places at the same time as me? I'm very curious.

The point is that building a car that is designed to encourage single drivers isn't what we should be moving towards. Look at some of the overcrowded Asian cities wehre they have a multitude of "mini-cars". Making the cars smaller just added to the congestion. We need to encourage car-pooling/ride-sharing as much as we can and car that only holds two people isn't the way to do it.
 
I drive about 80 miles a day. This would be pretty useful.
 
The point is that building a car that is designed to encourage single drivers isn't what we should be moving towards. Look at some of the overcrowded Asian cities wehre they have a multitude of "mini-cars". Making the cars smaller just added to the congestion. We need to encourage car-pooling/ride-sharing as much as we can and car that only holds two people isn't the way to do it.

Encouraging single drivers? Most people already drive alone and I highly doubt anyone who doesn't already drive alone is going to buy one of these cars. Car pooling and ride sharing are fine ideas, but they can only be used efficiently by people who are coming from and going to roughly the same place. There are millions upon millions of drivers who don't have that option, not to mention the fact that you don't car pool and ride share to the grocery store and the pharmacy or to your grandmothers house. There are plenty of useful applications for a car like this that would increase overall efficiency. "Asian" cities aren't overcrowded because of mini-cars or scooters for that matter. They are overcrowded because there are a lot of people in a small space. If you've lived in a big city before, you'd know that mini cars can be incredibly convenient for parking and take up half the space that a traditional car would while being plenty useful for the limited applications of a car in big cities with public trans.

So lets see? Somehow change the driving habits of 100+ million people who drive alone on a daily basis mostly out of necessity....oooooorrrr....produce a car that meets their needs while being produced in America, getting 3 times the fuel efficiency as other cars, and costing a third as much? I don't see how there is even a question here.
 
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