Elio In The Mountains

[Elio Amazed]

Funny! My sound system was pretty major as well. Cost much more than the car.

I forgot to add that it was around my homestead which was 55 miles almost due south of Erie Pa.
I lived there for 54 years.

 

[CompTrex]

I forgot to add that it around my homestead which was 55 miles almost due south of Erie Pa.
I lived there for 54 years.

Mercer / Greenville area? I know it well.

 

[Elio Amazed]

Wow.
I grew up seven miles outside of Greenville.
A mile from a tiny burg named Kennard.
My first true love in high school was from Mercer.
I have a big smile on my face right now.

 

[CompTrex]

Wow.
I grew up seven miles outside of Greenville.
A mile from a tiny burg named Kennard.
My high school sweetheart was from Mercer.
I have a big smile on my face right now.

Cool! I worked at Hodge Foundry in Greenville. Had a house in Jamestown, PA just off the reservoir.

 

[outsydthebox]

I don't think I ever want to take an automatic car transmission down or up a western mountain road.

Then you are in luck! Either way you go with the Elio, you get a manual transmission. The "AMT" version (Automatic Manual Transmission) will have "computer controlled shifting mechanisms" added. And (they say) it will get better mileage that the straight shift does. Still gonna be a full manual for me & my wife.

 

[Truett Collins]

Was it a standard or automatic?
I've never driven the western mountains with a car, only the ones in the east that they call mountains.
However, I've driven the western mountains quite a bit in an 18-wheeler.
If it wasn't for engine-braking, every semi attempting to come down any decent western mountain pass would end up as a pile of scrap after the brakes caught fire and failed completely.
That said, I don't think I ever want to take an automatic car transmission down or up a western mountain road.

Having drove these western mountain roads all my life in both standard and automatic transmission cars I can tell you that if you watch what you are doing there is no problem.

 

[ehwatt]

I know, right? We had a lady driving our Van who rode the brakes coming down the mountain and heated them up so much they were smoking. She asked me to drive from there on (I was 16 and it was some kind of youth retreat). I just put it in low and let the Transmission take the heat. My F-350 has a great 4X4 Low that I used coming down Pike's Peak. The guy with the laser thermometer checked my brakes, looked at me, looked at his thermometer, and waved me on my way. There were several cars pulled over waiting on their brakes to cool. Granted, it probably wouldn't be great to have the transmission work that hard all the time but it worked then. The Elio should have a pretty long stroke and good torque which usually translates as a good ability of the engine to slow you down... Maybe.

I know, right? We had a lady driving our Van who rode the brakes coming down the mountain and heated them up so much they were smoking. She asked me to drive from there on (I was 16 and it was some kind of youth retreat). I just put it in low and let the Transmission take the heat. My F-350 has a great 4X4 Low that I used coming down Pike's Peak. The guy with the laser thermometer checked my brakes, looked at me, looked at his thermometer, and waved me on my way. There were several cars pulled over waiting on their brakes to cool. Granted, it probably wouldn't be great to have the transmission work that hard all the time but it worked then. The Elio should have a pretty long stroke and good torque which usually translates as a good ability of the engine to slow you down... Maybe.

The high compression of the Elio engine will be a big help, too.

 

[Jim H]

My first car was a 58 VW 36 horsepower, no gas gauge, crappy heater with no fan, I mean it was my dream car. As I tooled around the hill of Southeastern Ohio, I often had to shift to a lower gear to get up some hills. Of course my top speed on the flat was about 70.

No wonder I'm so easy to please, my first car was a piece of poop and I didn't even know it.

Owned 3 VW buses and loved all 3 of those gutless cold boxes on wheels.

 

[Johnapool]

Hey, I remember those VW busses- we used to pass them on the side of the road on the long uphill climbs in the Rockies....