High Mileage Elios?

[puppeto]

Good evening long time lurker and finally active poster.

I've plunked down for my reservation a few months back to hopefully retire my aging Mini Cooper from my torturous road trips. I'd rather it be the pleasure ride while I run the wheels off the Elio. The Mini is starting to get into that 150k + mileage territory where nothing that breaks is a cheap fix anymore.... so I hope the Elio is the answer.

I'm looking for freedback on how you all think the Elio will respond to long highway miles being piled up on it. To give you my use situation I run about 1500 to 2500 miles a week. Sometimes more or less depending on where I'm needed for work. Over an average of five years of doing this I've racked up between 45 to 50k miles per year. Luckily I'm reimbursed for all of that... which is another plus for the Elio. The cheaper it costs the more I pocket.

What I'm trying to weigh is if the Elio will be the kind of car that you retire at 150k miles or something that could be a true iron butt buster. It took a 344k miles to kill my Prius... could the Elio top that? Thoughts?

 

[evboy]

impossible to tell. we dont even have a car with the engine in it yet. its like asking your wife if she thinks your kid will be in the nfl, and she isnt even pregnant yet.
with that said, i look at the elio as a inflation hedge anyway. with the gas mileage it gets and the costs of gas going up, you should get a real good value out of it when you sell in 7 years. imagine what gas prices will be in 7 years and what a new elio will cost in 7 years. its like buying a honda rebel for 3800 new. it will still probably sell for 1500 to 2k in 7 years. its really hard to go wrong buying new in this case. its not like buying that tiny smart car. its a death trap, gets crappy mileage for such a small car, and cost a fortune for what you get. you will lose your shirt buying that new. you buy a safer elio that is longer, so you dont have to worry about your legs being chopped off, and inexpensive.

the one fear we all have is if the car turns out to be like the hyundai excel from the 80's. the engines were good for 60k. i think PE will do everything in his power to make sure this engine is good because if it gets a rep of being toast at 60k we will all lose our shirts and elio will no longer exist. personally, i plan on keeping the car until i can get a used electric car that gets 125 miles for about 12k. i dont know how long that will be.

 

[NSTG8R]

I believe, with that kind of miles racking up on your vehicles, you'll be the one tell us how dependable the Elio is in the long haul. I think if I were you, I'd go for the 'premium' seat, with extra padding, and definitely cruise. The key to any vehicle lasting is proper periodic maintenance...period. Welcome to the forum, and I/we look forward to your input.

 

[grampi]

I put a lot of miles on my Corolla...I average 30K-35K a year. I plan on doing a lot of those miles with the Elio (as there are other things I'd rather spend all that gas money on). Considering today's technology, and the fact that the Elio uses a lot of off-the-shelf parts that are tried and true, I believe the Elio will last as long as most vehicles today given the same level of care. Going 200K, 300K, or even more shouldn't be a problem unless the vehicle is just completely neglected maintenance wise.

 

[Jeff Porter]

Hi Puppeto, we've had a similar discussion in another thread, so trying to remember... but if you listed all the sub-compact cars on the market today, are there any in the list that would be a candidate for a 200k mile life? Maybe. For your situation, if you honestly will put 100k miles on the Elio in a year, if it lasts 2.5 yrs, I would think it did very well.

Subcompacts according to Wikipedia: Chevy Spark and Sonic, Ford Fiesta, Honda Fit, Kia Rio, Hyundai Accent, Mazda 2, Nissan Versa, etc.

When I take a look at a local online classifieds listing of used vehicles, it's AMAZING the number of cars that people are selling with 150k, 170k, 210k miles on it. But most of these cars are full-size and/or higher-end vehicles with 6 and 8-cylinder engines. That doesn't mean that a small vehicle can't last that long, what it probably means is that the small cars are easier to sell, and maybe folks hang on to them until they blow up thus there's not as many for sale. :-)

 

[imageon]

The folks designing the engine have a pretty good track record.
The "Ware & Tare" factor should be down a bit on this as it won't be prone to being driven hard.
Being all latest tech. All in its favor. I'd think it will last pretty good.
MK

 

[wizard of ahs]

It's like anything else....SOME engines will last 100, 200, 300K or more miles and others will self destruct in less than 10K. It's a mechanical device and subject to failure ..... just luck of the draw !!

 

[Rickb]

impossible to tell. we dont even have a car with the engine in it yet. its like asking your wife if she thinks your kid will be in the nfl, and she isnt even pregnant yet.
with that said, i look at the elio as a inflation hedge anyway. with the gas mileage it gets and the costs of gas going up, you should get a real good value out of it when you sell in 7 years. imagine what gas prices will be in 7 years and what a new elio will cost in 7 years. its like buying a honda rebel for 3800 new. it will still probably sell for 1500 to 2k in 7 years. its really hard to go wrong buying new in this case. its not like buying that tiny smart car. its a death trap, gets crappy mileage for such a small car, and cost a fortune for what you get. you will lose your shirt buying that new. you buy a safer elio that is longer, so you dont have to worry about your legs being chopped off, and inexpensive.

the one fear we all have is if the car turns out to be like the hyundai excel from the 80's. the engines were good for 60k. i think PE will do everything in his power to make sure this engine is good because if it gets a rep of being toast at 60k we will all lose our shirts and elio will no longer exist. personally, i plan on keeping the car until i can get a used electric car that gets 125 miles for about 12k. i dont know how long that will be.

Tiny Smart car death trap? Check the IIHS ratings. I hope Elio fairs as well. What is crappy about the Smart is the Price & MPG. I believe IIHS said the safest small car on the road with it's NASCAR inspired Tridion Safety Cell supporting this 7150 lb. SUV. It also did a respectable job protecting the dummy occupant when that same SUV slammeded into it's side. 10 year 100k power train warranty. Although I wouldn't own one I do respect the smart engineering behind this vehicle. I hope people don't make the same assumptions and comments regarding Elio's safety based on it's classification/size alone...............without looking at the facts. I'm sure the naysayers already have drawn that conclusion without facts to back it up.

 

[grampi]

Hi Puppeto, we've had a similar discussion in another thread, so trying to remember... but if you listed all the sub-compact cars on the market today, are there any in the list that would be a candidate for a 200k mile life? Maybe. For your situation, if you honestly will put 100k miles on the Elio in a year, if it lasts 2.5 yrs, I would think it did very well.

Subcompacts according to Wikipedia: Chevy Spark and Sonic, Ford Fiesta, Honda Fit, Kia Rio, Hyundai Accent, Mazda 2, Nissan Versa, etc.

When I take a look at a local online classifieds listing of used vehicles, it's AMAZING the number of cars that people are selling with 150k, 170k, 210k miles on it. But most of these cars are full-size and/or higher-end vehicles with 6 and 8-cylinder engines. That doesn't mean that a small vehicle can't last that long, what it probably means is that the small cars are easier to sell, and maybe folks hang on to them until they blow up thus there's not as many for sale.

The only sub compact I've had was a Toyota Tercel and it had almost 200K on it when I sold it. But 200K on a compact is pretty much nothing these days...most any of them will do that easily, especially the Japanese makes...

 

[Jim H]

Good evening long time lurker and finally active poster.

I've plunked down for my reservation a few months back to hopefully retire my aging Mini Cooper from my torturous road trips. I'd rather it be the pleasure ride while I run the wheels off the Elio. The Mini is starting to get into that 150k + mileage territory where nothing that breaks is a cheap fix anymore.... so I hope the Elio is the answer.

I'm looking for freedback on how you all think the Elio will respond to long highway miles being piled up on it. To give you my use situation I run about 1500 to 2500 miles a week. Sometimes more or less depending on where I'm needed for work. Over an average of five years of doing this I've racked up between 45 to 50k miles per year. Luckily I'm reimbursed for all of that... which is another plus for the Elio. The cheaper it costs the more I pocket.

What I'm trying to weigh is if the Elio will be the kind of car that you retire at 150k miles or something that could be a true iron butt buster. It took a 344k miles to kill my Prius... could the Elio top that? Thoughts?

Puppeto, welcome to the forum and I hope that during your lunking around the forum you have had time to read all about the Elio. I think NSTG8R is right that with the miles you drive you may be the one to test the limits of the engine and also the 36 month warranty. Most of us feel that it should go well into the 200k+ range but only time will tell. We try to keep the forum informative and entertaining and look forward to your comments and opinions. Welcome and enjoy the journey.