84 miles per gallon and made in the usa .. who wants one of these ??

[frenchy]

we have a new car maker with a brand new idea .. its called elio and while at the moment it might be classified as a motorcycle i think it will eventually be classified as a specialty car .. cause its not all that much like a motorcycle .. well .. maybe a little bit .. its only got a 55 horsepower motor .. 3 cylinders about 900 cc's .. ok maybe a little more like a motorcycle .. but it has 3 wheels not 4 . it will seat 2 adults .. and it has only one door .. but it does have a hatchback .. yeah i know .. now you wanna get an eyeball on this thing dontcha ?? and it will come with a 5 star crash ratin .. 3 airbags . if you fold the back seat down you can get your golf clubs in the back .. soundin better ain't it ?? i had to do some diggin cause i live in florida and the first thing i wanted to know was does it come with a/c .. and yup it does .. a/c and heat and an am fm radio and a place to plug your ipod in . the only thing they haven't worked out yet for sure is where they're gonna put your cup holder for your coffee .. and it will have an 8 gallon tank which on the highway will give you an 872 cruisin range ..( your mileage may vary )  and it comes in a rainbow of colors ( looks like a skittles commercial ) and made in the usa for a price of 6800 dollars .. the only thing they haven't been able to workout yet is if you'll have to get a motorcycle license or be able to drive it with your car license .. ( i'm bettin that a car license will be fine when all the dust settles ) and i doubt they'll make you wear a helmet either .. that would be really dumb . and it comes with either a 5 speed trans or an automatic .. ok i have to admit i like this little thing from what i've seen so far . they won't be available till next summer from what i hear but i might spring for one .. i think the 3 wheels is a good idea too .. don't let that sway you .. back in the 70's i worked in a warehouse and drove a forklift and the ones we had were made by clark .. they were called their twiggy models cause they only had three wheels and let me tell you they were very stable .. you'd think they wouldn't be but believe it or not their center of balance was much better than the 4 wheel models .. so i don't see any problems with the 3 wheels .. in fact i think they might be better in the snow too .. so let me know what you think .. would you drive one of these ? or not ?? why yes????  or why no .. the only problem i'd have is people stealin em .. they only weigh like 900 pounds .. check out the link and let me know ..

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/the-new-us-automaker-s-...  

[frenchy]

here's a pic of it in what they call creamsicle . i originally downloaded one that was in white that they called marshmellow but with a white backround it was like casper the ghost .. so this one looks better with the white backround 

[Lifesighs]

Wow, great little vehicle and price. Go for it frenchy! If I didn't already have two cars to drive and only me as a driver now I would think about it.

[ProblemAgain]

go back 60 years......bmw had the isetta..a 3 wheeled with a front opening

and messerschmitt converted to producing cars after the war...

[frenchy]

those are cool lookin little vehicles .. i was gonna say cars but .. they're not really cars per sey .. do you have any idea what the top speed on one of them was ?? and the horsepower ?? and the messerschmitt looks like a volkswagon thats malnourished .. and what was the mpg's ? maybe them vehicles were too far ahead of their time .. after all gas was like 15 cents a gallon after the war so even tho they might have thought that was high its not the same as what we spend for it in todays dollars .. now i'm not sayin that this little elio will take the place of the family van but for a guy or gal just goin to work as a second car it would be great .. and the second thing to consider is exports .. a lot of places in the world have what you call a right hand steer car .. the uk, australia , japan , .. because this has no left or right it can go on either side of the road with no modifications .. and a lot of places in the world like italy for instance have these narrow streets so they drive scooters ( because of the gas as well as size ) or fiats .. so that opens up a new market .. for a lot less than a fiat and a bit more than a scooter you can actually have a vehicle that takes less room than a fiat and gets mileage close to a scooter .. and if it rains you don't get wet .. and if you need to stop at the supermarket on the way home fold down the backseat and open the hatchback .. i probably don't see these bein sold to too many families as their main car .. but a guy like me ?? all they gotta do is figure out where i can put my cup and not make me wear a motorcycle helmet and i'm in .. 

[Lifesighs]

You could get some velcro and make your own cup holder where you want it frenchy, I have a hard rubber cup insert thing that sits in my cup holder now just put velcro around it and there you go.

[Shadowman]

Sure would get the neighbors talking about you. And I can  imagine the jokes: "Where is your other wheel?" "When do you plan on buying the rest of it?"

[frenchy]

yeah i'm sure there would be jokes shadow .. some of em pretty funny too i'm sure .. and i'd laugh too .. especially when i pass all them other guys by at the gas station ..

they say the tallest guy they got in one of these things was 6'8'' but i'm sure he mighta been a little cramped chiefy but 6'4'' would probably be ok .. and why would they explode any more than a toyota or a honda ?? i'll admit they don't seem to have much of a bumper but after a couple of years on the road they might remedy that and make one .. the first model of anything will always have a few kinks that need to be ironed out.. just think tho .. made in the usa .. 84 miles per gallon .. less arab oil .. more american jobs .. i think this will be a good thing all the way around .. or we can keep on drivin them gas guzzlers that get 22 mpg on the highway , downhill, with a tailwind behind us ..  

[blithe spirit]

These cars were quite popular in Europe after the war and right on into the 60's and 70's.
We had a Peugeo, A French one similar to one of these. As I recall they were fast enough but didn't see too many on the Autobahn where there were no speed minutes...still aren't.
Gas has always been cheap in the US compared to most other countries.
When we lived in Germany there in the 60's and 70's gas was about 1 Deutch Mark a Liter...a Mark was worth about a Quarter.... if you're interested you can do the math but way more then .15 a gallon.
Thats why cars like this never caught on in the US and we preferred the muscle car gas guzzlers.

[T2Friends]

Ya know if they get the power steering figured out and make them a bit quieter, I would definitely consider owning one of them...for getting around the city.

[dwalt]

Sorry, there is no way I would drive one of those.  I drive 100 miles a day and see way too much craziness to even think about it.

[Lifesighs]

I think they would be great for neighborhood driving, stay off the highways with big rigs and high speeders.