Is Elio Worth It To Buy Vs Just Keeping A Paid-off Car?

[OldAFGuy]

Hi All,

Did some calculations on gas savings ROI for the Elio vs my 2005 Mercury Montego daily driver.

Merc mpg= 25 mixed highway-city this is a long-term average via the on-board computer.

So at 12,000 miles per year (which is close) and $2.85/gal gas. I save $960 per year compared to a 84mpg Elio.

Right at 7 yrs to save the $6800 target price of the Elio.

If the Elio comes in at say 70mpg and $7600 then the yearly savings is $879 and the payoff is 8.6 yrs vs the Montego.

If I drive my '05 Toyota Matrix XR AWD the mpg is right at 30mpg. The payoff is 9.2yrs (target) or 11.6yrs (likely specs)

I don't know what the insurance rate difference will be. Nor do I know the maintenance cost difference. Perhaps someone with both car and motorcycle insurance rate experience can give some data on that.

Thoughts?

OldAFGuy

 

[slinches]

I came up with similar numbers compared with driving my '04 Chevy Colorado (22mpg). Although, for me there's an added bonus in that buying an Elio means I can sell the Colorado (price difference is nearly a wash) and just use the old Ford F-100 I'm fixing up whenever I need a truck.

Also, I doubt gas prices will stay under $3/gal for long.

 

[Sol Beach]

Does the Elio become an "AND" car?
If you sell one of the 2 cars mentioned, it shortens the break even point somewhat.

My plan is to sell my 2003 Dakota PU & replace it with the Elio.

 

[bowers baldwin]

You could always sell the Elio, I'm sure there will be a demand for those who don't have one reserved.

 

[Rickb]

The Elio doesn't replace a PU if you need and use a functional PU truck other than as a commuter. Also, the Elio is a new vehicle, compared to an '03 which may be in need of major and/or minor repairs sooner than later (depending on mileage and/or condition of the PU). Perhaps the Elio will be more fun to drive as well. The affordable fun factor is the main reason for my interest in the Elio.

 

[JEBar]

some excellent responses have pointed out that when it comes to trying to compute the financial wisdom of buying an Elio can be easier to quantify than others .... savings on fuel cost are pretty easy to estimate .... insurance cost differences can be calculated .... if a person replaces a vehicle, whatever is made by selling it can be used to help offset the cost .... when a person plans to keep their current vehicles, it can be much harder to come up with a number for the value of being able to extend the life of those vehicles .... another item that is hard to quantify is, I simply want an Elio .... our reality is, an Elio can't tow/haul the weight, accommodate the numbers of people, and/or meet other uses we have for our vehicles .... the in the end, I gave up trying to fit it into neat formula

 

[RUCRAYZE]

Does the Elio become an "AND" car?
If you sell one of the 2 cars mentioned, it shortens the break even point somewhat.

My plan is to sell my 2003 Dakota PU & replace it with the Elio.

Good point about the "and" designation. A while back (I think it was Paul Elio) suggested "&" as possible designation

 

[slinches]

I think the Elio still works as an "&" car. If I ignore that I have a second truck it would still be cheaper for me to buy an Elio in addition to my Colorado than continue to drive it every day. The numbers I've run on the gas savings, insurance and maintenance differences would probably only end up close to a wash, but the real advantage is being able to delay the next new vehicle purchase by a decade or two. If the Elio just pays for itself in its life and driving your more expensive utility vehicle 1/5 as much expands its life by 2x, you just cut your lifetime vehicle purchase costs nearly in half.

 

[Ekh]

I just did a detailed analysis piece on this in another thread., you can read it here: #12

My Subaru 09 forester cost me roughly 7,200 per year to buy and operate. It's now paid for and the maintenance costs are escalating. The Elio would cost me about 10K with everything done, and the cost to buy and operate is about $3K per year. The big difference isn't fuel cost, which is significant. Mostly it's interest, insurance, and maintenance.

When you want to do an "is it worth it to keep the Hulk" comparison, you have to look at the total cost to own and operate -- those are numerical costs. Since my Subaru is paid for, it will cost me $3,100 to own and operate per year EXCEPT that the maintenance costs are rising sharply.

Oddly, my new Elio will cost almost exactly the same -- and it won't have significant maintenance costs for (in my case) two years.

As for the intangible costs, the Elio wins hands-down. I will be able to trust it, enjoy driving it, have fun with it, and NOT WASTE FOSSIL FUEL.

So for 95% of my driving, it's not only the smart thing to buy the Elio, but the right thing as well.

Voila.

 

[slinches]

Yeah, that is impressive. To simplify it even further, based on those numbers, if you were to just give someone your Forester as a gift that it would be cheaper for them to buy a brand new Elio than to insure, maintain and fuel their "free" Subaru.