"SMART" Car my ass

[murf425]

So I'm out riding last night, and I just had to share:

I love the look of realization on the face of a SMART Car driver as you pass him on the freeway and he realizes that, for $10,000 less, he could have bought a bike and gotten:
- 10 more miles per gallon
- Interstate-appropriate speed capabilities
- Fun
- Same passenger capacity
- Something that handles better than a furniture dolly on casters
- Girls  
- The ability to not look like a yuppy toolbag

[Jared]

I don't know ...they look kind of fun.....with a little tweaking...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdJ84nho3_k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOgFPOG-fsY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDU5BU_qSJU&feature=related

They've got pretty good crash ratings (Top for front and side)  and acceptable for rear (second highest rating..). Probably good for scooting around in the city... gotta be a little squirrely on the highway...

[madjak30]

To be honest, I wouldn't buy a Smart Car...their trannys suck, room for two people but not much else, under powered (unless you put a Hyabusa engine in it, but then just get the 'Busa) and RWD isn't the best for snow not to mention the price of admission...I would buy a Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit, Nissan Versa (long list, so I'm stopping now)...long before I would get the Smart Car...I need something for winter driving  ...but my work truck will do just fine, even though it uses four times the amount of fuel as my bike, okay maybe only three times...

Later.

[tt_four]

It's a status symbol thing. Bikes are too, but just for a different crowd. You're not gonna impress your rich housewife girlfriends with a gsxr as much you are with stories about how you ventured into a bad neighborhood to go to whole foods to get your groceries in your smarts car, being smart by saving gasoline as you drive an extra 20 miles past 45 different food stores. I live in the city so I don't have an issue with them, but they still look dumb, and there are much better ways to be considerate of the world around you.

The main point of selling the car is that BMW can get away with having some lower mpg cars because having the smart car in their line up brings the fuel consumption numbers down for the whole brand. Maybe it's mercedes, one ownes the smart car and one owns the mini cooper, I can't remember which is which, but they're both doing the same thing.

[The Buddha]

I wonder how the smart car is to work on. Cos I kow the blooming mini cooper is a nightmare, worse yet its also not very trouble free.
But ... I digress, you guys were crapping on the smart car ... continue please, I hate the bloody thing too.

Cool.
Buddha.

[murf425]

...you guys were crapping on the smart car ... continue please...

I was going to refer to it as the EuroToolEcodooshLibtardMobile...but I didn't want to piss off any of our resident liberals/Europeans.  

[simon79]

European here - no offence taken at all.

I agree anyway - the Smart is more of a status symbol than a real revolution in mobility.
Sure I can see many of them in large towns where the main issue is parking space - which is a luxury you cannot afford in 1000+ year-old cities and their narrow roads.
Other than there, you can see some but not many at all.

Fuel consumption-wise, sure it gets very good MPG especially in Diesel guise (which I'm pretty sure you don't get there in the US), but it's still kinda expensive for what you get IMO. My car cost just a bit more to buy (EU prices of course) but can comfortably seat four adults (five in a pinch) and some luggage, and returns (average) about 49 mpg (US). Good compromise if you ask me.
YMMV

[murf425]

Fuel consumption-wise, sure it gets very good MPG especially in Diesel guise (which I'm pretty sure you don't get there in the US)...

Correct. We only get the gasoline version, which only gets [on paper] 41mpg...probably quite a bit less IRL, like every other "estimated" mileage.

...it's still kinda expensive for what you get IMO.

Exactly. The cheapest SMART is about the same price as the cheapest Yaris; for that same price you are giving up the ability to carry 3 more people, any semblence of acceleration or highway speeds, and the ability to have comfortable handling over 50mph, while only getting an [on paper] extra 5 mpg. Not a good trade, IMO.

[simon79]

It's a status symbol thing. Bikes are too, but just for a different crowd. You're not gonna impress your rich housewife girlfriends with a gsxr as much you are with stories about how you ventured into a bad neighborhood to go to whole foods to get your groceries in your smarts car, being smart by saving gasoline as you drive an extra 20 miles past 45 different food stores. I live in the city so I don't have an issue with them, but they still look dumb, and there are much better ways to be considerate of the world around you.

The main point of selling the car is that BMW can get away with having some lower mpg cars because having the smart car in their line up brings the fuel consumption numbers down for the whole brand. Maybe it's mercedes, one ownes the smart car and one owns the mini cooper, I can't remember which is which, but they're both doing the same thing.

Smart belongs to Daimler AG (Mercedes-Benz). MINI is BMW.
And yes I smell this trick too - putting the Smart into the lineup to have overall lower fuel consumption figures.
Possibly the same Aston-Martin just did by taking the Toyota iQ, slapping some leather and heavy make-up on it - voilà, the Aston-Martin Cygnet.

[simon79]

Fuel consumption-wise, sure it gets very good MPG especially in Diesel guise (which I'm pretty sure you don't get there in the US)...

Correct. We only get the gasoline version, which only gets [on paper] 41mpg...probably quite a bit less IRL, like every other "estimated" mileage.

...it's still kinda expensive for what you get IMO.

Exactly. The cheapest SMART is about the same price as the cheapest Yaris; for that same price you are giving up the ability to carry 3 more people, any semblence of acceleration or highway speeds, and the ability to have comfortable handling over 50mph, while only getting an [on paper] extra 5 mpg. Not a good trade, IMO.

Luckily here we get both petrol and Diesel version "Luckily" cause here (differently from the US, from what I can gather) Diesel fuel is sensibly (7 to 10%) actually cheaper and Diesel-powered engines get better MPG figures. Over 50% of new registered cars here are oil-burners and have been like that for some 10-15 years now.

Coincidentally I have a '07 1.0L petrol Yaris in my family so I can speak by 1st hand experience.
I may not love it to death, but sure I'd take it over a Smart any day.

[ohgood]

while we're thinking environmentally n stuff... i wonder how much fuel (total, as in making the steel, mixing the paint, keeping the lights on in the factory, etc) is consumed to produce any new 'smart' or 'environmentally friendly' car vs:

just driving a 10-20 year old crapbox ?

a 40 (where the f%$k are those wonderful 80mpg rides we've been promised ?) mpg smart car is going to take a long, long time to offset all that waste in manufacturing vs a 25 mpg crapbox that's been paid for for a decade or two.

hmmmm

[madjak30]

It has always been smarter to maintain than to buy new, but that doesn't keep the economy going the way being a consumer nation does...why do you think cars are not made to last?  Or anything for that matter...jeans, shirts, socks...nothing is made to last...we have become accustomed to buying the cheap shiny crap as opposed to shelling out more for something that will last more than a decade...

Later.

[Toogoofy317]

We have tons of Smart cars around because of Celebration. The town that has forgotten we are in a recession. It was quite funny one day I had a thug wanna be teenager in one had the big stereo system. He literally started reving that pathetic engine at me trying to egg on a race! I was laughing so hard I think a got a 3 sec start on me I didn't even WOT Promptly flew by him since it was three lanes he was in the center me in the right got in the left lane slowed down waved at him and left him sitting there.  The one day Flick looked like a monster LOL!

Mary

[madjak30]

Not to say that Flick isn't a beast, but a 50cc scooter would give a Smart Car a run...you never got the diesels like we did...they were even slower, but used alot less fuel...

In the fall, I had a kid in his daddy's Escalade do the rev at the lights...I had him until about 60ish mph, then he started to pull away...I'm sure he went and told his buddies that he beat a sport bike...I had a good laugh, since I though he would just walk away from me...power to weight is pretty low with me on the bike...

Later.

[adidasguy]

It has always been smarter to maintain than to buy new, but that doesn't keep the economy going the way being a consumer nation does...why do you think cars are not made to last?  Or anything for that matter...jeans, shirts, socks...nothing is made to last...

We pay more for jeans that are already worn out - oh, I mean "distressed".
Here's what we do to help everyone: give brand new Levi's to the homeless. Let them wear them for a couple months so they are now "distressed". Take them back and give them brand new jeans again. Wash and sell the "distressed" jeans at 5 times the regular price. Homeless get new jeans and we get to buy high priced already worn out jeans for that "fashionable" look.

[madjak30]

We pay more for jeans that are already worn out - oh, I mean "distressed".
Here's what we do to help everyone: give brand new Levi's to the homeless. Let them wear them for a couple months so they are now "distressed". Take them back and give them brand new jeans again. Wash and sell the "distressed" jeans at 5 times the regular price. Homeless get new jeans and we get to buy high priced already worn out jeans for that "fashionable" look.

Yeah, my daughter drives me nuts with that...jeans with holes and worn patches...$80...non-damaged/warn jeans $30...go figure...I won't buy them, but the wife takes her shopping and I give her the gears about her not taking care of her cloths...

I get the "oh Dad, you don't get it..." speach alot...I don't think she realizes I am giving her a hard time...oh well, inside joke I guess...

Later.

[yamahonkawazuki]

easier to work on a mini by removing the hood. easily done. smart however its rear engined/driven kinda tight unless you figoure out how to uncover more of it or drop teh engine if need be

ive been able to remove hood from a mini s in 20 minutes. dropped engine in a smart in 35. tbh easier that way to work on them. ( friends car lot got one in with blown head gasket, dropped engine, replaced gasket, and reinstalled it before lunch time. hell that thing is slow. my leg with left foot with hole in it almost. and rigid, can outrun that thing from a stop. ive got to admit tho. neat to look at, but still i do not trust them. have to drive it PERFECTLY to get mpg higher than 35

[bigbuckdown777]

Get on youtube and check out the smart cars with hayabusa engines and transmissions in the passenger seat.. them are some mean mamajamas!!!

[Cal Price]

A mate of mine who has a Lexus, so does his wife, bought a smart car about a year ago to do his daily commute. So far he has saved about 3000 GBP - seems pretty smart to me!

[BaltimoreGS]

Coming to a US Toyota dealer near you:  http://www.scion.com/#/iQ?gclid=CLPfidC-8qcCFcZw5QoduB9mbA

-Jessie