Quote:
Originally Posted by sendler
I went to see the Elio. Talked to a couple nice kids, er, representatives, who had been with the company for two weeks and knew nothing about fuel economy. There was a decent crowd though. It seems any passerby was drawn over for a look and the mall was fairly busy. The car is "going to be" this and going to be that, and going to have a different dash, and going to be 2 inches taller, and going to get 84 mpg and going to sell for $6,800. I mentioned that I didn't think he could hit that price point with air bags, a/c, audio, ect. He must have heard that question before and quickly asked me what I though it would cost as if taking a survey. I said add a 1 in front of the price.
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In it's current state, which I doubt the one we were looking at even ran, it is only a little more production ready than some of the better projects I see coming out of someones back yard.
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Thanks for the first impressions Sendler.
A couple of questions though: Does this show model have the donor Metro engine or the IAV designed engine (would probably say IAV on it)? Was the interior roomy enough?
I think the question they should be asking is "What SHOULD it cost", not what WOULD it cost. Or maybe "What is the maximum you would pay for this".
It looks like they are integrating several suggestions by those on the forums into the design. Sort of like forum based focus groups I suppose. The design seems to continue to evolve.
The engine looks to be little more than an updated Metro engine. From what I gather it has nikasil lined bores, so an aluminum block, 2 valve head arranged like the metro, and an updated port injected EFI. I'm sure its quite "value engineered" to keep the cost down. I don't see evidence of any cam phasers unless it's all internal. It sounds like the .9L engine is a low speed motor so it could have good swirl and possibly lean burn potential. It doesn't look like any Atkinson potential as it's an SOHC head.
If these go into production, the Ford 1L ecoboost motors would be a fabulous hot rod swap.