Talk about a sweet daily driver!
40+ MPG for only 12 grand brand new. I personally think these are really cool looking too!
It's like an updated Mr. Bean! hahaha
I am seriously considering getting one.
http://www.smartusa.com/index.aspx
here is a link to some pics
http://media.daimlerchrysler.com/dcmedia/0-921-614239-1-829809-1-0-1-0-0-1-13466-854934-0-3842-0-0-0-0-0.html?TS=1190799664593&REF=921%2Fen%2FMercedes%20Car%20Group%2Fsmart%2F.Newsroom%20%28smart%29%2F%23XCID%3D859881%20%7C%20XPID%3D0%20%7C%20XCTY%3D3897%20%7C%20XAID%3D
We've had them in Canada now for, it must be three or four years now. There is one in the nearest two counties. :P
lol..
I have been in the south for a while :hick:
Yeah ive actually seen one or two around my area in the last year. Dunno how theyre on the road but it certainly caught me off guard...very uh interesting looking vehicle.
I got 45 MPG with my 1984 Ford EXP, and it was free. What's the big deal?
I always liked the Ford EXP. I was actually considering that for my daily a while back. I dunno I guess just the benefit of having a brand new car with a warranty and new interior engine trans etc..
:]
I like the idea that if that POS ever failed me I could abandon it without feeling guilty. Never let me down though. I sold it to a friend's family who really needed a car and were in a bad spot for $50. Still running great for them too.
It's RWD and doesn't look like a car trying to be something it's not (an Escort in a Mustang suit). :hick: And it's boosted. Boosted by the smallest turbo known to man, but boosted all the same.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/oldraven/junk/turbine.jpg)
Yeah I see those cars around here on a daily basis.
Do people that drive those enjoy the smell of their own farts? Definitely the gayest looking thing on the road.
Why not just pick up a nice used TDI for that price and have a more practical car that gets better mileage?
Sorry, that prize has already been won.
(http://www.silose.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/micra-barbie.jpg)
Why not just ride around in a coffin? That is all that hunk of plastic is. If it got 60 mpg I still wouldn't drive it. A geo metro would prolly crush it.
I stand corrected :wtf:
I have actually seen vids of the crash tests and it does pretty good.
4 star crash rating in the US
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6t-yyoU8s
It takes a dead stop from 70MPH surprisingly well. Better than one of our cars, I'd bet.
I honestly think we would have a better chance of surviving that in one of are cars.
The smart car has been driving around up here for 3 years now, tons of people own them in White Rock and Vancouver, I see way to many ignorant people take them out on the freeway everyday to drive 40miles to Vancouver and back.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=E6nYJwsNjC0 (http://"http://youtube.com/watch?v=E6nYJwsNjC0")
The Canadian Smart Cars ARE TDI, and DO get 60 MPG - at least they
were TDI and
did get 60MPG. Of course they also cost about $25 grand. I wonder if the price will be coming down since they're so cheap in the USA and our dollar is so high?
I think the 2008 models sold here will be gasoline as well. I see the frickin' things all over the place around here - in fact the Halifax munil government has a few on the road. My father wants one in the worst way, and he's 6'2 and weighs 300 pounds...
My conclusion from watching the crash video: DEAD DRIVER.
1. The necessarily rapid deceleration from such a short crumple zone will kill you. Your heart, lungs, etc. will smash into your ribcage. You're dead, mate.
2. If, by some miracle, #1 doesn't kill you, your legs have been shattered into a million pieces. Forget about setting those bones, they're done. You'll bleed to death from lacerated femoral arteries inside 2 minutes.
My lesson: don't drive one of those small cars with nonexistent front-ends. Let the eco-freaks be the Darwin Award winners instead. I'm sticking with my American supertanker and they can whine all they want about it.
FORD FESTIVA around 50mpg and don't pay much for one
Ford escort ZX2 around 35mpg
but if you can't afford gas don't drive
Amarillo, TEXAS has the highest prices in the state takes me 2.5 miles to get to work in back but i still end up driving like 500-750miles a month or more because i like to drive my car.
Stay home and play Halo 3 if you don't wanna pay for gas. Why drive something that looks like just so you can drive longer and look stupid and pay good money to do it.
they took one of those and put a bike engine in it and it screwed!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPQIizRp9ck
found it
why pay 22,000 dollars for a Hayabusa to rip it apart and put it in this Babbling Butt Muppet of a vehicle. No thanks smart cars can be tipped by 3 people of medium strength and some of the crosswinds in the midwest would probably tip one of those things, not to mention its backed by Benz i believe.
If i had a wreaked GSXr Id use it for a golf cart or something, I know what you mean. But it still looks fun
Ok I have seen bunches of these things they maybe ok in the city but forget the interstate with them. Seen a few that were wrecked pretty bad. They maybe great for the European market where large cars and SUVs are rare. Here in the states with all the soccer mom SUVs cell phone talking, putting on makeup, reading the paper drivers we have here about the only one I would buy one for is my ex wife. The European's have a saying about the drivers in the states. Here in the States we live in our vehicles the europeans drive their vehicles. Big difference in driver responsibility and additudes. I will post pics later that were taken on a European highway of a smart car and a truck. Not a pretty site.
In 1991 I purchased a Geo Metro brand new for $6,108 and it got 50mpg in town. The gas gauge was not the best (showed empty at 1/3 tank) so I just drove it 400 miles without worries. Always took about 8 gallons of gas to fill up again. You can pick one of these up pretty cheap if you just want good gas mileage.
The car makers have been a sleep for the last 20 years.
I really do not see where smart cars are all that smart. They cannot sell the TDI here because they will not pass emissions. Even though about a 1/3 of the cars in Europe are diesels.
The whole thing does not make sense to me.
TED
(http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/567970/fullsize/p1011439.jpg)
For those that DON'T have weak a stomach here is all of them of the wreck.
http://www.supermotors.net/vehicles/registry/16195/59851-2
holy freaking shiznit. If i was his family id sue for everything!!
Canada has a Ford Focus TDI. If i could get my hands on one.:headbang:
And, it's still a Ford.
Those pics are a good enough reason for me to not ever drive a smart car.
No, we don't. The only diesel Fords you can buy in Canada are Super Duties and Econolines.
Hillbilly: If I still had it, I could show you a pic of a Pontiac Grand Am wedged under a garbage truck that is worse that that Smart car - I only know it was a Grand Am because I knew the driver. She was arguing with her boyfriend on the cell phone and drifted into the lane of the oncoming garbage truck. The car was literally obliterated - rescue workers couldn't even FIND it until they tipped the garbage truck onto its side.
Physics is physics, and if you're going to stuff your vehicle into the front end of a semi it doesn't really matter what you're driving - Smart Car, Town Car, or Suburban.
*EDIT* That is not a smart car in that wreck photo anyway. Smart cars have three-bolt wheels (not five) and Smart car wheels don't have what appears to be VW logos on 'em. They also don't have tailgate mounted spare tire carriers. That wrecked thing is a small SUV of some sort, not a Smart. Which kinda proves my "when you hit a semi it doesn't really matter what you're driving" point...
Kinda looks like a toyota Rav 4, none the less the smart car is for some, and not others me i dont believe i could even fit in one (not that i would want to be in one in the first place i have a problem with german cars).
Well, I thought I read an article (Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics?) about the Focus tdi in Canada and not the U.S. due to emmisions. I know the U.K. has'em.
And yer probably right, that's not a smart car, which a smart car is even smaller, so.... With deer jumping out on a daily basis, I need an armored car, lol.
Like I said, coffin on wheels. Yeah, they got a great frame, but as some have pointed out, your dead when you get in an accident. Thank you for playing.
Brian
A lot of people are missing the point that the Smart car is a City car. The thing was designed for Frankfurt, not the Autobaun. For an Urban environment, this car is Spy Doo.
I have seen many accidents in the city of Colorado Springs, and I wouldn't want to be in that car in any of them. City or Autobaun, I just don't think it is a very safe car. But that is just my:2c: .
Theres a guy with one out in my old town. Im guessing he imported it or something. Its really out of place in a hicktown where everyones driving beat chevy pickups with backyard body lifts and super swamper boggers.
ehh screw getting one of those things now.
I am just going to stick with my earlier plan of getting a TC or XR7 for my daily.
If you like the car you like the car. You don't have to bend to the will of these US only die-hards (Ford fanboys, call them what you will). I'd probably have to kill myself if all I ever saw on the road was Crown Vic after Crown Vic. If you live in a city, this little two seater is far more sensible than a land yacht will ever be.
Here's a plain fact for everyone. Big does not equate to safe. Just big.
And to back track a little, to the guy who posted the 'Smug' video, Smart's aren't Hybrids.
ehh I dunno after seeing that dude in the wreck I am having second thoughts not because of what anyone here said.
I may still get one if I like it when I go look at one though.
Well, that dude was driving a VW, so don't put too much stock in ignorant posts.
These would be perfect (even more so if the diesel was available and it STILL MIGHT get released in the upcoming years due to new emissions systems) if you only used it to commute in 10mph stop and go traffic as it would get great mileage in such driving. On the open road, I'd just stick with my car's 35mpg highway though for 1) safety purposes and 2) the light weight doesn't help the thing one bit when it has that wind resistance without a motor to back it up.
For commuting though, as long as the batteries can easily be changed out when worn out, a modified prius works perfectly for slow commutes when setup to run aggressively on pure electricity at low speeds. Then again, its also double the price of the smart cars which are prices at 12k, 14k, and 17k (the imported ones right now, which have to be modified, go for 25k)
I guess its at least safer than a motorcycle lol
heh not the one with the hayabusa engine in it its pretty much a 4 wheel motor cycle at that point. I wish i could afford a hayabusa.