3 Card
Elio Addict
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2014
- Messages
- 414
- Reaction score
- 272
From a first look a rear camera may seem necessary , I'll wait and see, Always add cheaply after purchase but when I go to Okaloma in 11 days I'll sit in it and probably form an opinion..No but you can use logic. A 4 wheel Elio might be much like the 70's Vega.
Don't laugh. It was sporty looking. Useful as all get out, put the back seat down and you could haul a 4x8 sheet of plywood. You could reach down and change the spark plugs with one of those 49 cent stamped metal spark plug wrenches. and of course it got decent gas millage. I know poor sheet metal they rusted as you stood their watching, however everything else fit the concept of an affordable car that's not boring.
You would not be allowed to build that car today. A cheep camera not only increases material cost but R&D and labor as well. The cheep camera is only the tip of the iceberg and it all adds up. Emissions get way more complicated when you add that 4th wheel. I could go on and on and on but, the bottom line is the AFFORDABLE FUN concept and 4 wheels will never meet.
(Changed my mind) Actually we can prove it! Just start looking around at all the affordable fun cars that are allowed everywhere else in the wold but can't be imported to the U.S. Ever seen that 4 wheel amphibious motorcycle? I'd love to have that if there weren't an army of bureaucrats standing in the way!
I could see a scenario where Elio added a 4th wheel sort of like the Tomahawk motorcycle had (two wheels very close together in the back. They could widen the back just a little to make it a little more grocery friendly and the extra wheel would make it a car. It would have to meet safety standards officially then but may attract the portion of the population who shunned the original because it "isn't as safe as a car". The second model would be a bit later though. I could see some people wanting to be able to put a weeks worth of groceries in the thing.
I think it would be do-able with a straight azel and fenders the same width as the front..It would be an axel only, no tie rods or steering arms..However, I want a 3 wheeler.. If it needs a fourth I'll find a way to do it..I've f..ked many cars in my life trying to make cool and failing at it..Also people keep asking how Elio is making this at a third of the cost of a traditional car.. It's a third of a 21,000 buck auto.. It's about half of a Chevy Spark which sells for about 14k.. so it ain't under priced, by the pound it's right there with the rest..