wow a car i can even afford

[KC2IXE]

That will never come to America, It is too fuel efficient and idiot BUSH and his OIL buddies will lose money. but I WANT ONE!:wave:

The cost of the mandated crash safety gear, and epa gear would easily be 2x the cost of that car. Picture - fornt seat airbags alone, with their sensor systems adds a couple of K to the price of a car. We now mandate stability control systems - by law. Catalytic converter? $400 or so, etc etc.

So yes, it has something to do with Bush - But also Clinton, Bush the Elder, Carter, Ford and all the Presidents back to the time Ralph Nader published his "Unsafe at any speed" - and the EPA and the Car safety folks - where many of the rules are just "published" and automaticlly become law

 

[ledlurker]

The cost of the mandated crash safety gear, and epa gear would easily be 2x the cost of that car. Picture - fornt seat airbags alone, with their sensor systems adds a couple of K to the price of a car. We now mandate stability control systems - by law. Catalytic converter? $400 or so, etc etc.

So yes, it has something to do with Bush - But also Clinton, Bush the Elder, Carter, Ford and all the Presidents back to the time Ralph Nader published his "Unsafe at any speed" - and the EPA and the Car safety folks - where many of the rules are just "published" and automaticlly become law

What I would like to see is how much the average vehicular weight has increased in the last 25 years based on required safety regulations. Then I would like to see it broken down by passenger cars, light truck, full size trucks and SUVs.

In the early nineties about 91 and 92 I had read that just front passenger airbag system weight ranged from 50 to 75 lbs. Now vehicles are coming with rear passenger airbags and side curtain airbags.

The Smart Car that is going to sell in the US will be longer and heavier than the Canadian version, and have a slightly more powerful engine. It makes be wonder if a little extra design was needed to meet crash test requirements or extra airbags re being installed. This is one of the things I would like to research on the net.

 

[RA40]

My overall view...it comes with good and bad points. If/when these become widely accepted, perhaps it will also bring other infrastructure changes. I apply that all the countries that begin this "improvement".

That aside, I wonder what this will do to the atmosphere with all these new combustion engines running on dino. Oil is already increasing in price and this will surly increase demand and hopefully motivate alternate fuel/power sources for vehicles of the future.

 

[raggie33]

well when clinton gets elected or obama i may have to move to india to find out lol

 

[Uncle Bob]

The Smart Car that is going to sell in the US will be longer and heavier than the Canadian version, and have a slightly more powerful engine. It makes be wonder if a little extra design was needed to meet crash test requirements or extra airbags re being installed. This is one of the things I would like to research on the net.

What's so "smart" about a car that doesn't have a spare tire? :thinking:

 

[ledlurker]

What's so "smart" about a car that doesn't have a spare tire? :thinking:

yep, for twice the price and twice the weight you can buy the Toyota Prius that can carry 5 People instead of the Smart Cars 2 and still get 1 or 2 more miles per gallon. go figure.

 

[woodrow]

$2500 cars, $100 laptops, crank radios and flashlights. I am excited about all of it. Sure, more cars will cause more problems... but 5 people on a scooter is not without problems either.

I like it when the "poor" catch any kind of a break.

 

[jzmtl]

yep, for twice the price and twice the weight you can buy the Toyota Prius that can carry 5 People instead of the Smart Cars 2 and still get 1 or 2 more miles per gallon. go figure.

Try park a smart vs. a prius downtown Montreal.

 

[ledlurker]

Try park a smart vs. a prius downtown Montreal.

thus, the reason for that car to exist, but if one person is still driving that car to down town Montreal, then it is still a waste.

I just wonder what its benefit will be besides the abilty to park in cramped areas would be. The units sold here in the US will be longer, heavier and have a larger engine with boosted Horsepower from 40 to 70.

Now the electric mods that one company in Canada is planning to produce would be perfect for a single person or a couple with no kids or as a commuter car.

yes, I am biased, with two kids to haul around the Smart Car is not an option. Throw in weekend stuff with the whole family and the mother in-law and I have to have at least seating for five.

I have driven both the Prius and the SMART, even if I was single I would still prefer the Prius, because after all in Consumer Reports Magazine it still get better mileage than the 40 Hp Smart, and is quieter, smoother and much more comfortable for me.

 

[jzmtl]

Well you are comparing apple to oranges there, they are aimed at entirely different market. At least in my opinion one's a replacement for primary family car, the other is secondary commuter car. First one's a hybrid one's a gas engine. Second like you said, twice the price. This is not cheap toys we are talking about here, twice the price means $15k more not $15. I have my fun driver with craptacular gas mileage, if I were to look for commuter car I'm definately picking the one that's $15k cheaper. Obvisouly if I had to pick my only car, it won't be a smart, that's where prius comes in.

I don't know about the US version, but if you see a smart car up in person, the thing is TINY, even shorter than some golf cart.

 

[Monocrom]

Hope this doesn't come off like a stupid question, but doesn't Montreal have a public transportation system? If one big advantage of the SMART car is parking in very crowded city streets, I'm thinking that using public transportation would be better. I drive everywhere, except Manhattan. Finding even a cramped parking spot is a miracle, and Paid parking lots can be expensive. When it comes to Manhattan, I just hop on the bus, then the subway.

 

[jzmtl]

Yeah we do, one that sucks balls. Just right now the drivers are planning to go on strike for more money (they do it every year, and they already get paid pretty damn well).

I'm not familiar with Manhattan, but montreal is BIG island that encompass many suburbs, and suburbs that's off the island (which I live in). When you live and work in downtown yes it's fast and convinient, but if you live in one of the suburbs, or heading to any other direction besides downtown, good luck. When I used to live in one of the suburbs on northern tip of island, and going to school on western tip, driving would takes me 30 minutes whereas bus/metro would take two hours each way, because I had to take metro all the way to south, then hop on bus west.

 

[jtr1962]

I'm not familiar with Manhattan, but montreal is BIG island that encompass many suburbs, and suburbs that's off the island (which I live in). When you live and work in downtown yes it's fast and convinient, but if you live in one of the suburbs, or heading to any other direction besides downtown, good luck. When I used to live in one of the suburbs on northern tip of island, and going to school on western tip, driving would takes me 30 minutes whereas bus/metro would take two hours each way, because I had to take metro all the way to south, then hop on bus west.

Quite a bit of difference looking at subway maps of Montreal and New York. While our system is Manhattan-centric, there's much redundancy and many connections built-in so that it's also fairly useful on trips within or between boroughs. Not shown on the map is the comprehiensive bus system which basically has a line within walking distance of almost anywhere worth going to. Despite all that, parts of Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island could use more subway lines. There's no direct subway route to Staten Island, for example. Where I live in Queens, I still have to take a feeder bus route to the subway. On a good day that wastes 15 minutes plus waiting time to go 2.7 miles. On a bad one the ride can take 25 minutes. The subway ride into Manhattan is only about 17 minutes (to go three times the distance the bus goes). There's talk of a spur which would put a branch line near me, but I'll probably be dead by the time it happens. It would cut my trip time by a good 10 minutes on average each way. And I wouldn't have to wait outdoors like I do for the bus.

 

[jzmtl]

Wow. So you guys complaining about NY system, quit it, your system is way better than ours.


As for the $2500 car, I just read an interesting article about it, read it yourself and see if you still want one.

http://www.baileycar.com/TATA_cheap-car.html

A few highlights:

including a hollowed out steering-wheel shaft, a trunk with space for a briefcase

their guiding philosophy was: Do we really need that?

Tata's engineers, who in an earlier project questioned whether their trucks really needed all four brake pads or could make do with three

The model appearing on Thursday has no radio, no power steering, no power windows, no air-conditioning and one windshield wiper instead of two

Tata chose wheel bearings that are strong enough to drive the car up to 45 miles an hour, but they will wear quickly above that speed, reducing the car's life span

 

[Monocrom]

Wow. So you guys complaining about NY system, quit it, your system is way better than ours.

If you're right, that's pretty darn sad.... It's not really our subway system itself that's the problem. It's more about the Homeless who turn subway cars into their personal toilets, and the fact that the system is horribly mismanaged. If you need directions, you're better off asking a total stranger, rather than a token booth clerk. Some are indeed helpful. But in my experience, those are as rare as a hooker with a heart of gold. Many are about as useful as shampoo for a bald man.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To: jtr1962 -

It only takes you 17 minutes by subway to get into Manhattan from Flushing? On the 7 train? That doesn't seem quite right. :thinking:

 

[jtr1962]

To: jtr1962 -

It only takes you 17 minutes by subway to get into Manhattan from Flushing? On the 7 train? That doesn't seem quite right. :thinking:

No, that's on the E train. I take the Q64 (formerly Q65A) bus to Forest Hills/Continental Avenue. From there I get the E (or F, depending upon where I'm going) to Manhattan. Forest Hills to Queens Plaza is ~12 to 14 minutes, depending upon the driver, with only one stop at Roosevelt Avenue as you probably know. After that it's 1.5 minutes to Ely Avenue, then another 2 going under the East River tunnel into Manhattan. BTW, the trip used to be a few minutes faster before the TA in its infinite wisdom took out the weak field shunting, plus added a bunch of 30 or 35 mph timers. Now the expresses are lucky to make much over 40 mph over most of their run, whereas before (mid-1990s or earlier) they would go 50+.

I can also take the Q65 bus to Flushing Main Street and the 7 to Times Square. However, that's easily 10 minutes longer, even more if the 7 express isn't running. Oh, and the TA added 3 or 4 minutes to the 7 express schedule compared to ten years ago, again due to timers and no weak field shunting nonsense. The R36 Redbirds would often crack 55 mph, especially right right before coming into Junction Blvd northbound. The few minutes extra trip time was worth it just for that roller coaster ride. Now all I ever see on the R62 speedos is 41 to 44. The MTA took the rapid out of rapid transit. Now it's leisurely transit. :sigh: