Minneapolis Mn 5/29-5/31

[CheeseheadEarl]

Location and time info posted in the MN section by Jeff Miller. I'll try to quote his post here:

They finally posted the venue and the hours:

May 29, 2015 - May 31, 2015 Minneapolis, MN
Southdale Center - 10 Southdale Center, Edina, MN 55435

Fri - 10am-9pm
Sat - 10am-9pm
Sun 11am-6pm

This is on the south side of the city of Minneapolis and there are a number of large highways to get you there.

Google map

There has been a lot of road construction around the city but I don't see the weekend closures for the 29th yet. I'll update if/when MN DOT provides them.

Hope everyone can get there. 3 days seems like lots of opportunities.

 

[JEBar]

another question that it would be nice if someone going to see the tour in Minneapolis would ask ....

1. what is the current projected production date

(last I've heard it was given as by mid 2016)

2. why has all mention of a projected date been removed from the website

 

[Jeff Miller]

MNDOT updated their weekend traffic nightmare for the twin cities: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/weekendtrafficimpacts/

If you are coming into town the north of south than 35W to 494 or 62 look to be rather unimpacted but avoid 494 on the west side of the city.

If you are coming from the south up 169 be aware that road work in Jordan will slow you down. All work is at one signaled intersection and the impact is mostly narrowing lanes so any delay shouldn't be too large.

From the east, 94 looks to be largely free with the exception of bridge work at Snelling in St. Paul. I haven't been that way for a few weeks so I'm not sure what impact it will have but it certainly shouldn't be as significant as 2 weeks ago when they shut it down.

Have fun at the tour.

 

[Jeff Miller]

The booth is in the mall across from the apple store. The closet door is probably the mall entrance next to the theater.

For those coming from the north I'd recommend 62 to France and south to southdale. Going north on France from 494 works but you have to deal with a lot more shopping traffic.

My general impression was good and although the wife isn't as passionate about elio as I am she is looking forward to a creamsicle in her garage next year. Although roomy inside it is a LARGE change from driving a large cab truck. Using the 1971 VW bug analogy from another post I made the elio looks a lot longer and sleeker than the bug but the bug looks a lot taller. Inside there is a ton more room both in the elio. Sure the bug has side by side seating but all in I'd bet that the bug is only 1/2 seat wider than the elio. Getting in and out of the front wasn't bad but it was a bit more challenging from the back. The trunk is pretty darn small - DANG, I should have seen what it looked like with the back seat down but I forgot.

Some of the things I learned:

• The production date has not changed and when I asked about it not being on the web site Pam said she wasn't aware of that.
• Of the 30 pre-production vehicles 1/2 will be for safety testing and 1/2 for the engineers to tune and tweak. I suspect engineer vehicles will become the test drive vehicles.
• They have about 1/2 the money needed to start the 30 pre-production vehicles
• Currently all tires are the same but that may change based on tweaking. For example the fronts might get narrower to reduce rolling resistance if necessary to get to 84 mpg.
• There is discussion of a locking hood but I forgot to ask if it would be standard or an option.
• Gull wing windows in the back will be an option.
• No update on DOE loan or other investors.
• Upcoming but not yet advertised tour events:
  • Iola raceway in July
  • 9 days following the great race
  • These are not on the website as they are subject to change. Big reason for changes are when the elio needs to be someplace else to woo a prospective investor
• The power door locks only work remotely via the skyz system
• Skyz appears to be quit embedded with Apple so there may be some question as to if/when it might work with android phones
• The back seat will be padded more than what is in the P4.
• Mirrors will be bigger

Things I wanted to ask but forgot:

• Where is the P3
• Engine information about torque and HP

Jerome was off doing an interview when I was there but Pam and the rest of the crew are certainly as gracious as everybody says. They do sound tired from the grueling pace so be sure to thank them for there efforts.

 

[Elio Amazed]

"SNIP"

Outstanding!
Thanks Jeff.

No big deal for me on the power locks or Skyzmatic.

PE went into a lot of detail in NYC about the reasons for the "new" Cooper in 135 fronts and a 175 rear.
The bottom line of that announcement was that the Elio would pick up about 3mpg with that configuration.
He said, "The Cooper parnership was critical to hitting 84 miles per gallon." @ around 22:30 on the video.

Do you think that they'll aim for that configuration since it may still be critical to hitting the mark?

You know the old saying, 'Some ask, "Why?", we ask, "Why not?"'...
If the thing does hit 84mpg with 175s all the way around, why not go for an 87mpg 'shock and awe' 135mm option?

If there's not a significant price difference, why not give everyone their choice.
A number of people have expressed that they'd accept a few mpgs less for the wider fronts.

Once again, it's more encouragement than we've gotten for a while.
Nice work and thanks again.

 

[CheeseheadEarl]

Thanks for the report, Jeff. I just plugged in Southdale in the GPS. Sounds like 62 will be my route. I'll be there sometime tomorrow late morning, will update when I leave here.

Any questions Jeff missed I should ask?
I will check on the motor and P3.

Is Iola Speedway a typo for Iowa?

 

[Jeff Miller]

Do you think that they'll aim for that configuration because it may still be critical to hitting the mark?

You know the old saying, 'Some ask, "Why?", we ask, "Why not?"...
If the thing does hit 84mpg with 175s all the way around, why not go for a 87mpg 'shock and awe' 135mm option?

If there's not a significant price difference, why not give everyone their choice.
A number of people have expressed that they'd accept a few mpgs less for the wider fronts.

My opinions on tire configuration are entirely speculative but I'd bet that if they can hit 84 mpg with all the same tires that they would do that. The big value would be fewer parts to buy and stock which I'm sure could become a significant reduction in cost to manufacture which in turn will help enable $6800 and/or put more money in EM's pocket.

 

[Elio Amazed]

My opinions on tire configuration are entirely speculative but I'd bet that if they can hit 84 mpg with all the same tires that they would do that. The big value would be fewer parts to buy and stock which I'm sure could become a significant reduction in cost to manufacture which in turn will help enable $6800 and/or put more money in EM's pocket.

I agree with that rationale.

 

[Jeff Miller]

Thanks for the report, Jeff. I just plugged in Southdale in the GPS. Sounds like 62 will be my route. I'll be there sometime tomorrow late morning, will update when I leave here.

Any questions Jeff missed I should ask?
I will check on the motor and P3.

Is Iola Speedway a typo for Iowa?

Nope. Iola is a town in WI that has a speedway.

I keep offering my services to help in any way possible for promoting elio in this area and took the opportunity to say it to Pam as well. I expressed my concern that in my opinion there is very little marketing in Minneapolis and the surrounding states. She was quite frank that there aren't a lot of reservations here and I guess that means they want to spend resources elsewhere where they can get more reservations.

It left me wondering if the lower number of reservations might be directly related to the lack of elio efforts here - chicken and the egg? I'm hopeful that with this stop and the upcoming Iowa and WI stops that this market will become more promising.

 

[Jeff Miller]

I had an interesting observation while driving my truck home from seeing the elio. I normally have a bit of disdain for the small car owners that pull up close the rear of the truck and largely disappear behind the tailgate. Some day I'm convinced I'k going to back over one of them.

Well after seeing how short the elio is it will certainly fall into the category of being hiding behind my tailgate if it comes in too close. However, with the bulk of the elio being much narrower I suspect the chance of seeing it in my trucks side mirrors will also diminish.

So I guess this is a reminder to myself and others that when we drive our elios to make sure that we can see the driver in the vehicle either through their rear window or in their mirrors. If you are to close to do that then be ready to become road kill.