Elio In Indianapolis From June 3-5

[JEBar]

comments appreciated ..

 

[Ian442]

I just got back home from a great day at Greenwood Park Mall

We met with our very own board member AJMaxey and his lovely wife. My bride and I had lunch with them at BJ's Brewhouse and then we were off to the Elio display

Being early Friday afternoon, there was NO crowd and we were able to get some "hands (and butts ) on time" and talk with Ty, Jermaine and the rest of the Elio team.

I was VERY impressed with the fit and finish over the P4. I have had seat time in the P3, P4 and now the P5 and this is by far the best !

As I've mentioned before, in other threads, I'm an old, arthritic geezer ()...."big boned and fluffy"

I'm 6'4", with a 36" inseam. I "easily" fit in the driver's seat AND in the rear seat !!! It was actually the first time I got in the back, and with the extra 1 3/4" head room made by dropping the seat, I was AMAZED at how much room there is back there !!!!

I got to talk to the crew for a couple of hours and there are going to be LOTS of options available in the future !!!

The one thing I will share is that for those of us that would like the "automatic" (for whatever reason) there WILL be a paddle shifter option (that's all I'm allowed to say on that subject )

All in all it was an exciting time and even though we are taking "baby steps" towards production....we ARE moving forward. I'm looking to have my Elio by next summer

Thank you to AJMaxey, his wife and the entire Elio team ............... see you all on the flip side !!!

I'll post some pics tomorrow

The Missus 07 mini Cooper S has paddle shifters...I have not really tested it yet...but that thing is FUN to drive.

 

[Ekh]

Arrived a little before 10:00 am, Sat. just as the crew was removing the cover. There were eight or so people already there. First let me say I Really, Really Do Not Like Red cars. The Elio is absolutely STRIKING, STUNNING. Pictures of it are a total injustice. When this hits the market they will have a hard time meeting demand for a couple of years at least, just on looks alone. I am not over stating this.

The crew was top notch, just like the Elio. Talked to Jermaine the most. Thankfully he was ever so patient and never hesitated with an answer or to say he didn't know. The Elio is much quieter than the norm with one wheel "inside" the body vs four, the cruise control will be in the steering wheel as usual; rear brake is disc; rear speakers with upgrade, wheel are 4 bolt but didn't know diameter. So many details are still "liquid" at this point like rear dome/map light, how the rear cover will come off / open up for tire access or where, exactly, the rear frame (bumper) was and I Really tried to finagle that one. When asked about a Roush "S" (be still my beating heart!) and the lateral traction of 0.89g, he corrected that to 0.85g and said he "personally" couldn't imagine Roush won't consider it; that the computer says 1.09g (I'm pretty sure that's right) is where the Elio could roll, but it would not have the power to do it on it's own (nor the tire traction either - my opinion). He also said the engine in the P5 was the same as seen on the dyno footage and was well under 55hp as it was the proof-of-concept (baseline) and not yet managed for power; and, he said (kinda proudly) that, coupled with the fact the Elio was several hundred pounds heavy from the fiberglas panels etc. it still managed to top out at 88mph.

Complaints? Not really. I'm 6' and fluffy too, as one fella puts it and getting in and out of the back seat is about like any coupe, a handle could be handy but not necessary and the seat belt was no real hindrance. The rear seat might get a little skimpy on headroom (for the shortness-impaired) once better cushioning is addressed - my opinion. Visibility is better (again just me) in the back seat cause both windows are right there. I guess isolation will be on par with any rear seat, still researching an intercom-thru-speaker device though. With front seat all the way back it just touched my spouses knees (5' 7").

I needed to scoot the front up 3" or so from full aft to be at my driving position. The front seat was very, very comfortable and hope it stays. Hands and feet fell to all controls very much like our Honda Fit but perhaps with a bit more elbow room. The right A-Pillar will take some adaptation as it is "right there" in the Elio and not "over" there. I was relieved to be able to see the rear 1/3 or so of the fenders to know where they are to avoid hitting something, especially being used to the left wheel sitting just ahead of my left foot and not 20" farther out but then again the right is in closer. Side mirrors will need the small convex mirrors added to provide better rear view / side (blind spot) view.

Okay, the Elgin: It's fine. The best? No, but the last Good instrument panel I had was in a 1974 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe. Full set of "needle" gauges with additional idiot lights for oil and gas. The Elgin will serve my purposes well enough. Please, don't hate me for this I am just a simple man with simple needs.

Well that's all I got.

Excllent report! EM knows
About rear seat padding. Great job!

 

[KD]

Lot's of good info from the Indy group. Thank you for all your insights, it is good to hear more perspectives.

When I went to the Dallas show, it was quite a mixed and varied crowd from what I saw, "ORB's" included! Ha ha

 

[wizard of ahs]

To those of us who were fortunate enough to attend the Greenwood Park Mall Event this weekend: I was there Friday morning, and it seemed to my wife and I that the vast majority of folks who were drawn to the display area were (I'll try to put this nicely) of an older persuasion. I'd venture to say 55-70+ was the age group my wife and I observed from 10:30AM- noon. My wife (jokingly I hope) referred to the Elio as an "ORB Magnet". ORB in her verbiage an acronym for "old retired bastard" - not meant as a negative - just an observation on her end. I guess I will sooner than later fall into that category....
My question is, to those who attended at a later time or on the weekend, was the crowd's age demographic again on the older scale or were more young whippersnappers enthusiastically drinking the Elio in? I mean, Elio will benefit EVERY age group. I hope it was simply a timing thing. My wife, on the other hand explained "kids want a car that's fast, one they can impress their friends with, haul them all around and (get this...) have a backseat for whoopee"!
I guess I forgot about that last one....must be getting old....

I too noticed many ORBs !! (I love that one ).
There was a pretty good cross section of people but the majority were ORBs !
We were there from 3:00 - 6:00pm

As far as the Elgin dash.....it's not THAT bad.....at the very least though... I'll be painting the brushed metal black !

 

[afearlesshunter]

I went to see and sit in the elio on Saturday night. I was truly impressed with the space that the seating actually provided, both front and rear. Although I did not pay enough attention to it, If I remember correctly, the shifter (or whatever you want to call it) seemed kind of far from reach. Another thing I noted was that with the elio being made possible for the average joe to work on their own car, the alternator and other parts that will fail are in slightly difficult to reach spots. The representative that I discussed this with also informed me that the current side panels are not removable... so have fun wiggling that alt out of there..

 

[W. WIllie]

Probably easier to remove from below the vehicle.

 

[skygazer6033]

Unfortunately with any transverse FWD engine installation there's going to be accessories on the firewall side that are going to be hard to get to. The water pump looks accessible from the top but alternator and a/c compressor looks like must come out from below. There always seems to be any expensive knock sensor on the backside of the head that is easily broken when trying to finesse parts out the bottom.

 

[Injunjoe]

I noticed one of you mention passenger side and then correct yourself. The way we solved that when I was a Patriot missile officer was to call one side the curbside and the other the roadside.

 

[jessemck]

To those of us who were fortunate enough to attend the Greenwood Park Mall Event this weekend: I was there Friday morning, and it seemed to my wife and I that the vast majority of folks who were drawn to the display area were (I'll try to put this nicely) of an older persuasion. I'd venture to say 55-70+ was the age group my wife and I observed from 10:30AM- noon. My wife (jokingly I hope) referred to the Elio as an "ORB Magnet". ORB in her verbiage an acronym for "old retired bastard" - not meant as a negative - just an observation on her end. I guess I will sooner than later fall into that category....
My question is, to those who attended at a later time or on the weekend, was the crowd's age demographic again on the older scale or were more young whippersnappers enthusiastically drinking the Elio in? I mean, Elio will benefit EVERY age group. I hope it was simply a timing thing. My wife, on the other hand explained "kids want a car that's fast, one they can impress their friends with, haul them all around and (get this...) have a backseat for whoopee"!
I guess I forgot about that last one....must be getting old....

I was there on Saturday from about 11 am till about 12:30pm. I saw a varied crowd during this time frame including several collage age kids looking, sitting and talking very positive about it.

Two of the reps did tell me the standard radio would have bluetooth, aux and usb. Jermaine said they will be adding padding to the backseat, it was a little hard and also a handle to aid in getting out of the back.