{"id":4384,"date":"2014-09-01T07:36:32","date_gmt":"2014-08-31T21:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.privatefleet.com.au\/?p=4384"},"modified":"2020-06-20T01:20:23","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T15:20:23","slug":"this-is-not-a-dinky-toy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/makes-models\/this-is-not-a-dinky-toy\/","title":{"rendered":"This Is Not A Dinky Toy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sour_Apple_Elio_Revised_CAD.28-591x406\"<\/a>There\u2019s been a bit of trend towards downsizing for a lot of folks, especially given petrol prices, concerns about peak oil and attempts to reduce carbon footprints.\u00a0 Small cars are no longer the preserve of little old ladies but are often the choice of the smart commuter, with hatchbacks being seen as fun, zippy and classy.\u00a0 However, how small is too small?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a stupid question, as an American designer has come up with an extremely small commuter vehicle known as the Elio.\u00a0 It\u2019s an attempt to keep the prices down, both of buying a car and of running a car.\u00a0 And, given the diminutive size of the vehicle, it\u2019s probably going to keep the cost of parking down, too.<\/p>\n

So what has the Elio got to offer (or, more correctly, what will it have to offer)?\u00a0 For a start off, it\u2019s got a price tag to match its size, with the estimated starting price of US$6,800 for a new car.\u00a0 Not bad value, really, but what do you get for the money?\u00a0 It has a teeny weeny engine (0.9 L) with single overhead cams and three cylinders. Presumably that is one cylinder for each wheel, as this is going to be a three-wheeled vehicle.\u00a0 The maximum power is 55 kW so it\u2019s not exactly going to be a heavy-duty workhorse, but that\u2019s not what the designers had in mind. It\u2019s supposed to be thrifty and thrifty it is: it has a fuel economy figure of 84 mpg (about 3 L\/100 km) on the open road and 49 mpg (4.8 L\/100 km) around town.<\/p>\n

The Elio is going to be a three-wheeled vehicle and although it can seat two passengers, they\u2019re sitting one behind the other, if the pics of the vehicle are anything to go by.\u00a0 Each of them will have an airbag, and the body style does have a reinforced roll cage for protection.\u00a0 Good to know, as this vehicle is knee-high to most other vehicles.\u00a0 Because of its three wheel designs, it\u2019s also technically a motorbike, according to US law, which probably affects the licence you need to drive one.<\/p>\n

\"Yes,<\/a>

Yes, you can fit something into the boot.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Elio isn\u2019t in production quite yet. Right now, orders are being taken and the maker is proposing to manufacture the Elio in an ex-MG plant in Louisiana.<\/p>\n

Call me cynical, but I won\u2019t be signing up for my Elio just yet, even if I was interested in importing one Down Under (which I\u2019m not, as I\u2019ve got teenagers to cart about the place).\u00a0 You see, this isn\u2019t the first time that a three-wheeled car with amazing fuel economy has been trumpeted around and orders taken ahead of actual production.\u00a0 It happened about 40 years ago with the Dale (see my earlier post on the Dale Debacle<\/a>). Now, it could well be that the makers of the Elio are above board and are genuinely trying to come up with a solution to the issues of congestion and pollution.\u00a0 The Elio could be something along the same lines as the Smart <\/a>or, looking further back in history, the Ford <\/a>Model T in the US or the VW Beetle <\/a>in Germany.\u00a0 And good on them if this is the case.\u00a0 But personally, I\u2019d like to see a bit more of the Elio in action, and not just on the manufacturer\u2019s website.\u00a0 (OK, OK, I am cynical!)<\/p>\n

However, you never know.\u00a0 It could prove to be a big hit and it might even make it over here.\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0 Have a look at the official Elio website <\/a>and see what you think.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>

This should give you an idea of the size of the Elio.<\/p><\/div> http:\/\/credit-n.ru\/blog-single-tg.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s been a bit of trend towards downsizing for a lot of folks, especially given petrol prices, concerns about peak oil and attempts to reduce carbon footprints.\u00a0 Small cars are no longer the preserve of little old ladies but are often the choice of the smart commuter, with hatchbacks being seen as fun, zippy and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-makes-models"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4384"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11900,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4384\/revisions\/11900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}