4/23/15 Should New Yorkers Consider The Elio?

['lio]

Should New Yorkers Consider The Elio?
urbanautomotiveperspective.com

Elio Motors recently announced that the Elio, their $6800 3-wheeled 84 mpg autocycle, could be available for purchase as soon as first half 2016. The Elio is being marketed as a “second vehicle” for U.S. consumers, but many New Yorkers don’t own a first vehicle. Will the Elio work for our wallets? I’ll compare buying an Elio to other options for driving out of town.

Elio vs. Leasing:

The cheapest lease in Manhattan is the Fiat 500. It’s $2000 down, $99 per month over 2 years. Over 4 years, you’d pay $8750 to lease the Fiat which you would have to say “ciao” to at the end of the lease, vs. $6800 to own the Elio. The advantage goes to the Elio.



Elio vs. Renting:

Let’s say you get 2 weeks of vacation per year and during that time you rent an economy car. The car rents for $600 per week in New York City. If you rent 2 weeks per year over 5 years, you’d pay $6000 to drive 10 weeks total. Of course if you own an Elio you would have access to drive 365 days a year. Advantage Elio.

Elio vs. Car-Sharing:

Let’s say you don’t take long road-trips and you’re more of the daily getaway type. Taking out a Zipcar for 14 day trips per year (at $109 per day), over 5 years, costs $7630. It would be advantageous to purchase the Elio.



Every New Yorker likes a bargain. If you’ve ever gone to Century 21 to buy a suit, or traveled to Newark just to rent an economical car, the Elio could be for you. It will be available for purchase in time for summer 2016. Will it be accepted in the Hamptons? Only time will tell. One thing is for sure: I’ll see you in Bridgehampton in a 4-wheeled (or possibly 3-wheeled) vehicle . . .



http://urbanautomotiveperspective.com/2015/04/19/should-new-yorkers-consider-the-elio/

 

[RUCRAYZE]

Please-
Own a car in NYC?-go find a great price for off street parking garage f $600.00/ month, and it's a bargain !
Save money park on the streets? figure 5-10 hours ,per week and dancing the alternate side parking waltz.
(If you haven't tried it -either "trapped" in by a double parked car, or sitting for an hour waiting for the other side of the street to be available), then you can't appreciate the frustration- one minute to early or late, "forget" to move it-, get it towed-lol
Only a pair of the city folk fit the E, and with a few extras from Zabars someone goes home in a taxi.
Those that can afford without financial hardship, park their babys in heated garages.- less chance of break-in,theft, sideswiped, scratching, alarms going off.

Own/lease in NYC? insurance through the roof for most- public transportation, taxi/lemos/
vacations, weekends in Fire Island- Enterprise brings rental to your door.
They ain't making any more parking spots in the Big Apple.
It's a silly piece, not based in city living, and then talks about the acceptance of The Hamptons (read big money), where it's not too far-out for people to take a helicopter back and forth.
Since I KNOW EM won't have a store in NYC and Pepboys are in N.J. or Brooklyn, and with private service/repair shops almost nonexistent (as too gas stations) Sales of the E in NYC (Manhattan) will be very few. Even the Fiat has a dealership in Manhattan.

BTW the last pic is taken off the West Side Highway -not on a city street-(that's the NJ skyline in the background), there is a strip park on that side of town. To get the same view from an apartment across the street (somewhere south of the GW Bridge) read BIG bucks!
I don't know much about engines, robots, electronics, transmissions, gas cap locations, dashboards, but I have lived in the City, didn't need a daily car, and witnessed fist fights over parking spots, and arrests trying to stop cars from being towed.
In my opinion
FUGGEDABOUTIT!!!!!

 

[Gas-Powered Awesome]

Yeah, the article totally ignores the (major) costs of parking, registration, and insurance.
Renting/sharing vs. Elio, renting/sharing wins by a wide margin in the given examples. Wide like the Mississippi wide.

 

['lio]

Please-
Own a car in NYC?-go find a great price for off street parking garage f $600.00/ month, and it's a bargain !
Save money park on the streets? figure 5-10 hours ,per week and dancing the alternate side parking waltz.
(If you haven't tried it -either "trapped" in by a double parked car, or sitting for an hour waiting for the other side of the street to be available), then you can't appreciate the frustration- one minute to early or late, "forget" to move it-, get it towed-lol
Only a pair of the city folk fit the E, and with a few extras from Zabars someone goes home in a taxi.
Those that can afford without financial hardship, park their babys in heated garages.- less chance of break-in,theft, sideswiped, scratching, alarms going off.

Own/lease in NYC? insurance through the roof for most- public transportation, taxi/lemos/
vacations, weekends in Fire Island- Enterprise brings rental to your door.
They ain't making any more parking spots in the Big Apple.
It's a silly piece, not based in city living, and then talks about the acceptance of The Hamptons (read big money), where it's not too far-out for people to take a helicopter back and forth.
Since I KNOW EM won't have a store in NYC and Pepboys are in N.J. or Brooklyn, and with private service/repair shops almost nonexistent (as too gas stations) Sales of the E in NYC (Manhattan) will be very few. Even the Fiat has a dealership in Manhattan.

BTW the last pic is taken off the West Side Highway -not on a city street-(that's the NJ skyline in the background), there is a strip park on that side of town. To get the same view from an apartment across the street (somewhere south of the GW Bridge) read BIG bucks!
I don't know much about engines, robots, electronics, transmissions, gas cap locations, dashboards, but I have lived in the City, didn't need a daily car, and witnessed fist fights over parking spots, and arrests trying to stop cars from being towed.
In my opinion
FUGGEDABOUTIT!!!!!

Well, I've been there done that.

If you live in Manhattan, where the average rent currently is North of $4,000 a month (and we are not talking multiple bedrooms here), chances are that you can pay for a parking space somehow, if not necessarily close to where you live. If you live in any of the other boroughs, parking is less of a hassle. There are neighborhoods were you only have to move your car street-cleaning wise once a week for example. True, having a car in NYC is borderline insane with the limited use you might get out of it, or such niceties as people constantly slamming doors into the sides of your parked car or backing into you with speed (someone totalled my car like that). I had a car go to shreds within a couple of years just by parking it on the street. Well, it still ran good, but I had to buy many mirrors and the outside looked like a crushed beer can in some places.

That being said, there are many people with cars in the Big Apple/Mango and New Yorkers do like to leave the city at times. A car share is around a hundred dollars or more a day, but getting cars over the weekend at a rental place can be like pulling teeth and often there's a two day minimum rental. So if you live in NYC and want to get out, rentals aren't exactly cheap. Also quite a number of New Yorkers depend on their cars to go to work or retrieve children from school etc. In all of these cases an Elio makes a lot of sense. I use the subway, and rent cars (since I don't have one of my own right now), but I don't really have the best of options for road trips and leaving the city by public transit outside of rush hours often is inconvenient and then you'll need a car at your destination.

People do drive in cities, just less and I am looking forward to do so in an Elio.

 

['lio]

Yeah, the article totally ignores the (major) costs of parking, registration, and insurance.
Renting/sharing vs. Elio, renting/sharing wins by a wide margin in the given examples. Wide like the Mississippi wide.

I just used car sharing the other day, was delayed and paid $70 for an extra 45 minutes (rental was about $11 an hour plus about 18% tax, including gas). In an Elio that would not have been the case. I do love public transport and rentals, they all have their use, but then there are times when it is cheaper and better with your own transportation.

Living in a city allows you to have a mix and adding an Elio to that would be terrific. Elio as an and-car for city living, I'm all in!

 

['lio]

...BTW the last pic is taken off the West Side Highway -not on a city street-(that's the NJ skyline in the background), there is a strip park on that side of town. ...

That is not New Jersey in that picture! At least not as viewed from Manhattan, the Hudson is a lot wider and there isn't a bridge like that. Also the West Side Highway has a bike path: that pic was taken somewhere else...

 

[BlioKart]

I don't care about NY as long as they buy Elio's they can park them on their egos

 

[NSTG8R]

That is not New Jersey in that picture! At least not as viewed from Manhattan, the Hudson is a lot wider and there isn't a bridge like that. Also the West Side Highway has a bike path: that pic was taken somewhere else...

That was one of a series of pics taken up in Detroit this last summer. Had it for my wallpaper for a while.

 

[RUCRAYZE]

That is not New Jersey in that picture! At least not as viewed from Manhattan, the Hudson is a lot wider and there isn't a bridge like that. Also the West Side Highway has a bike path: that pic was taken somewhere else...

like your comments and seem to agree on most points, and I'm cool we agree to disagree, they are getting ready to have a complete bike path from FtTryon, to the Battery, (maybe completed) already, there are multiple parking areas west of the highway uptown 90's and above that have large parking lots, I think if you look closely that's Newark, it would have been easier to figure had the coffee sign in Hoboken had not been replaced with Condos. Old Blue eyes would spin in his grave to see the gentrification in his home town! Wherever , I hope your Elio is spared. Do they still use "cushions" hooked thru the trunk to cover your rear? Enjoy!

 

['lio]

like your comments and seem to agree on most points, and I'm cool we agree to disagree, they are getting ready to have a complete bike path from FtTryon, to the Battery, (maybe completed) already, there are multiple parking areas west of the highway uptown 90's and above that have large parking lots, I think if you look closely that's Newark, it would have been easier to figure had the coffee sign in Hoboken had not been replaced with Condos. Old Blue eyes would spin in his grave to see the gentrification in his home town! Wherever , I hope your Elio is spared. Do they still use "cushions" hooked thru the trunk to cover your rear? Enjoy!

Well, I definitely don't disagree that owning a car in New York City is trying at times, on the other hand, many of neighbors and friends do and for a reason. It is not as expensive as you might think, especially if you price it against other options. Also keep in mind that new luxury buildings are sprouting everywhere and usually come with parking spots. And with an Elio there would be much less time wasted lining up for a shrinking number of gas stations.

I don't know how far that bike-path along the Hudson has progressed, like most things in Manhattan, it's way to crowded. Yes, people in New York still use "car-cushions" to protect the rear of their vehicles, though that does nothing for the sides or the front (I have no idea how one rests at night while parking an expensive leased car on mean New York City streets).

As NSTG8R writes above, the picture is from the Detroit skyline. Looking forward to my own photos of my Elio in front of a New Jersey skyline (or preferably that of NYC)...