Vehicle Options While Waiting For Your Elio

[CompTrex]

Currently my 2001 Solara is my 'and' vehicle. It's my commuter. When the Elio comes, we will sell / donate / salvage my son's '97 Mustang and he will get the Solara to take to college with him. My 2nd son will still be in high school so the Elio will also be used to pick him up from school every day. (They charge xtra for buses!)
We will also keep my wife's Oddessy and my Tundra for as long as the wheels go 'round.
This needs to come as 'scheduled' in December, as I don't think the Mustang will last through his freshman year at Cedarville!

 

[Mike W]

Currently my 2001 Solara is my 'and' vehicle. It's my commuter. When the Elio comes, we will sell / donate / salvage my son's '97 Mustang and he will get the Solara to take to college with him. My 2nd son will still be in high school so the Elio will also be used to pick him up from school every day. (They charge xtra for buses!)
We will also keep my wife's Oddessy and my Tundra for as long as the wheels go 'round.
This needs to come as 'scheduled' in December, as I don't think the Mustang will last through his freshman year at Cedarville!

I know what you mean. I want to put as little as I safely can into the Ford, but I'm not sure how little that will be in a year's time. Of course, the truck only gets 18 miles or so on the average of weekly use, sometimes double that so we are making sure it will be able to hang around for the duration. We've decided that if something disasterous should happen to the Elio project we will put in $2-3k to keep it going for a good while more. It's cheaper than spending $6-7k on a used car we know nothing about! I'm not even going to mention the mpg, that's another reason we use it so little.

 

[Jeff Porter]

An important consideration is that any "meanwhile" vehicle must pay for itself. The answer for me was a 2005 Honda Insight. It was $3000 and will pay for itself in gas savings alone by the time the Elio arrives. Given that the first generation Insight is very rare and increasingly collectible, I'll probably be able to sell it for more than I bought it for too. The insight is extremely reliable and there is a well-established enthusiast community at insightcentral.net.

I'm getting over 60 MPG in the Insight with a 42 mile daily commute.

Hey GPA, I went on to cars.com, looked within 500 miles of my rural location, found a 2010 Insight here: http://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/616283204/overview/

And here's an '05 with low miles:
http://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/618273440/overview/

Let me know that you think, what are the not-usual things to think of with a high mileage hybrid, etc.

 

[samwichse]

I've got a 2000 Insight, which I'll agree is probably the closest analog to an Elio you can get right now.

Great cars if you can find one. You can get one with a dead hybrid battery cheap and run it gas only, but the fun factor is significantly reduced.

Fun fact: over the six years it was produced, Honda only sold about half the number of insights worldwide that there are currently Elio preorders. But I suspect the Elio would be just as unpopular if it sold for $27k (inflation adjusted). And Honda still lost at least $8k on each one sold!

 

[ElioDigger]

I will drive my smart till my Elio is here. Then, the smart goes to one o my sons. I have 77k on my smart so still have no rush to get anything right now. driving a paid off car is cool with me.

 

[Chris F]

I'm nursing my '95 GEO Prizm with 186K miles, which I use as my commuter car, until the Elio gets built. I bought it in '98 with 13K miles on it.

 

[RKing]

Just saw a posiability today. A 95 Sonoma with the 2.2?? and a 5 speed . 198000 miles for 2300$.. Anybody know what kind of actual MPG these get in and 80% highway envronment?? Might roll the dice , was purchased by a "car guy" for his grandson. Grandson did'nt like the manual, go figure on that one ! Gonna go drive it tomorrow.

 

[JEBar]

in our part of the country 90's vintage Buick Park Avenue and Century lines are plentiful .... I just sold a '92 with a 3.8L V6 that had 120,000 miles and got 34+ mpg highway .... we still have an '00 Park Avenue 101,000 miles with a 3.8 that rides like a dream and gets 31 highway .... those old Buicks were really well built

Jim

 

[Gas-Powered Awesome]

Just saw a posiability today. A 95 Sonoma with the 2.2?? and a 5 speed . 198000 miles for 2300$.. Anybody know what kind of actual MPG these get in and 80% highway envronment??

Try here:
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/PowerSearch.do?action=noform&path=1&year1=1995&year2=1995&make=GMC&model=Sonoma 2WD&srchtyp=ymm

You'll likely get 25 MPG or less which I don't think is very good. Definitely won't pay for itself in any practical time scale unless you are driving something that gets low single-digit MPG now.

 

[RKing]

Hey JEBar, thanks, I am replacing a Regal I bought for 4000$ with 50000 miles and 8000$ in hail damage. Put another 200000 miles on it and now it has a coolant leak, needs a wheel bearing and the heater dosent work. AC quit several years ago. Just not worh fixing .. but the 3800 still runs like a top! the Sonoma is a small pickup that is "supposed" o be able to see 28 mpg on he road and would be nice for fishing trips with the poke boat. Should get me over till Elio time