Easy In/easy Out?

[BADBOY]

Not a problem and I know we all make them and I thought you may have know about some earlier posts that I may have missed. What's great about this forum it that most members try to help each other get the correct information rather than being critical about someone's response.

Cannot help but chuckle as the thread I just read before your post were folks cursing and criticizing each other..of course you did say most.

 

[UCF'73]

My simple comment that in future models Elio might want to consider cutting a rear door on the opposite side of the driver door seems to have struck a nerve.

 

[Jay3wheel]

My simple comment that in future models Elio might want to consider cutting a rear door on the opposite side of the driver door seems to have struck a nerve.

Just offering a simple reason why it isn't happening now.

 

[goofyone]

Just offering a simple reason why it isn't happening now.

Yes, that's what I was doing as well.

I believe many of us would agree that making it easier to climb in and out is a good thing to do if possible. It just looks like it is something that is not easy to do with the current model. I believe many of us also hope EM does indeed get to design many future models with all kinds of innovations for a thee wheel vehicle platform.

 

[Ekh]

Upon looking at pictures of the Elio, I am concerned about one thing in particular: How TALL is the car overall? Low cars are not easily seen in front of taller/higher vehicles. I'd be afraid for instance, of someone trying to pass on a two lane highway only to find an Elio in front of the car/truck/trailer they are trying to pass. Might make for some white knuckled terror. Does anyone know the actual height of the Elio?

54.2 inches tall

 

[Ekh]

and weight and cost

Costs about $250 to add a door. It also adds weight, and screws up the safety cage design. You can't simply cut a hole in the tubing and stick a door in the hole.

Integrated design means that various elements interact, and changing one thing often means changing a bunch of others. It can be done, but it's a costly process to make such changes and expensive to implement them. For example, you couldn't make a second door an option on the Elio. You'd have to have an entirely different model. And you'd have to re-do the crash tests for the second, 2-door model. See where this leads? There are lots of things we would LIKE to have, but some of them are plain impossible, some are unfeasible, and some just too costly.

When we ask for a feature, we really ought to think a bit about what getting that feature would mean in terms of design time, manufacturing changes (and difficulty), impact on weight (thus fuel economy), aerodynamics (mpg down the road), etc. A rear window is an example. Great idea in some respects, but expensive and heavy. The rear hatch hinge points would need to be reinforced to carry the extra weight, the surrounding panel would need to beefed up, the locking mechanism would need to be changed, gas shocks would be needed to support the window while up (and help to open it). You can't just cut a hole in the existing panel and stick some glass in it without causing significant other problems.

It would be nice if more of us considered the implications before getting too invested in asking for hard-to-implement features.

 

[Ekh]

I feel this is one case where the outrigger wheels are going to be an advantage. I have the same problem in my Camry so if some idiot is trying to pass a truck on a two lane road I will be invisible until they reach a point where they can see my entire car. With the Elio the outrigger wheels will be a warning that there is more ahead than they thought. Of course that is, as always, my very biased and totally not the least bit humble opinion. I will be able to tell you more next year when I am actually driivng my Elio. Z

I'm planning on putting a few small pieces of highly reflective tape on the wheel covers just so people can see how wide the vehicle is at night and pass safely.

 

[corvairbob]

has anyone really asked paul elio why he has put some of these features into the car? most say for cost but during the design most of this could have been incorporated during the first stages and the cost kept the same. it is not hard to incorporate a second door in this car like one said it just has plastic for panels between you and the road. so just how hard would it be? my guess is that when paul was thinking of the car he just figured on door is plenty after all it was designed for really one person driving/commuting. the back seat is just by chance as they have the room, can't make it to short or the dynamics get thrown off.

 

[zelio]

I'm planning on putting a few small pieces of highly reflective tape on the wheel covers just so people can see how wide the vehicle is at night and pass safely.

So am I. I made that decision based on my many night time trips home from Medford each year. I really appreciate the trucks that have reflective tape and/or lights. They are so much easier to see on a very dark night in the mountains. :-) Z

 

[RUCRAYZE]

I have driven manual transmissions for 50 years, on the floor and on the steering column. Please, tell me the name of a car that has had a manual shifter on the dash?

Citron (SP?) 2CV- came right out of the dash