Smart Car is coming

Would you purchase and drive a Smart Car?

  • Yes, I will buy one for sure!

    Votes: 6 8.2%
  • Maybe, it depends on the cost.

    Votes: 26 35.6%
  • Probably not, maybe if gas gets to $5 a gallon.

    Votes: 8 11.0%
  • Not a chance, that thing is a death trap!

    Votes: 33 45.2%

  • Total voters
    73

EVOeight

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Dec 12, 2005
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I am curious what you guys think about the new Smart car that is coming early next year. Very small. Gets 50MPG or more. Much safer that it looks at first glance. Rear-wheel drive. Turbocharged 1.0 liter 3-cylinder. Paddle shifted transmission. Fully loaded one is about $14,000. Please vote on my poll.

http://www.smartusa.com/
 
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Diesel_Bomber

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I didn't vote, but only because the option I'd have picked wasn't available: Not a chance, but I don't think it's a deathtrap.

There are cars available now that(very lightly used) are the same cost or cheaper, get better mileage, carry five people, have more cargo room, and run on biofuels. If my wife or I were in the market for a car, the Smart lineup wouldn't even be given a first glance, much less a second.

:buddies:
 

EVOeight

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Yes, cars like the Honda Fit or the Toyota Yaris are actually cheaper and have much more room, and get only slightly worse gas mileage. I will buy a Smart as soon as they are available, but only as a second car. Just for going to work, grocery store, gym, etc. I will never get rid of my Evo. I think the Smart will be very popular with college students.
:sold:
P.S. I just paid $3.17 a gallon for gas...
 

nerdgineer

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$14 grand just seems way too high. A nice, small used Toyota, Honda, etc. can be gotten for $3K - $5 K and does fine for local trips. I really can't understand some of the new car prices given the used car market here in SoCal...
 

Biker Bear

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Nope - my next car will most likely be a Honda Fit, which as has already been mentioned has a lot more useful room and still gets excellent mileage. (Of course ... I'm hoping for a 3-door "Si" version in the mode of the old CRX, but ... ;)
 

EVOeight

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There is already a diesel version of the Smart, it sells in Canada and most other markets. It gets almost 65MPG but is dog slow.

There is also a hybrid version that is being finalized. The all-electric one is going to be out by 2009.

I really think these small cars are the future. Better fuel economy, less pollution, less parking space, etc. But the Smart is so small that it could only really be useful as a second car. It would be hard to take a road trip or go camping out of a Smart (although they do already make trailer hitches and small trailers for it).
 

Flying Turtle

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Saw one on the road around here a couple weeks ago. I guess they've let out a few to test public opinion. I thought there were still some legal roadblocks to get by before cars this size could be on the roads. Guess not.

Geoff
 

schrenz

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Mar 16, 2006
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Germany
Probably not, maybe if gas gets to $5 a gallon.

Wow, so cheap? :laughing:
I've just converted our price, it's 6,8$ per gallon!
The Smart is an excellent car for city-traffic, you are always able to find a parking slot, but as a first and only car, it's too small, for me the ideal cars are a size we call "the Golf-class" although I drive its rival :laughing: .
Schiesz
Jens
 

havand

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40mpg? That's retarded. A New Beetle gets ~ 40 mpg and is probably safer and bigger than that thing. Not too much more expensive either! I don't get it. I was expecting a value of 60-70 mpg for the hype.... :shrug:
 

Fallingwater

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Jul 11, 2005
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Trieste, Italy
We've had the damn things for a few years already here in Europe.
They are sure practical, with the ForTwo versions able to fit sideways in roadside parking lots, and they eat very little fuel, but that's it for the good points.
The gas models' performance is really bad and the turbodiesel model, while practically running on air, has no performance to speak of, taking about 20 (twenty!) seconds to get from 0 to 100 km/h (about 60 mi).
The handling is laughable, they only have two seats and a boot the size of a matchbox.
The manual transmission is actually decent, but the automatic is a nightmare, with awfully long shifting times.
The suspensions do what they can, but with wheels that small you can't help but feel all the irregularities in the road.
Also, the engines don't last long. This isn't much of a problem for the typical european Smart owner, because the things are rarely (if ever) used outside of the city, but it might be a concern to american buyers who have to travel longer distances.
To top it all off, they make a sort of rasping noise that'll leave anyone who's never heard a Smart wondering what the hell's wrong with the engine.

Would I buy one?

Some time ago, I would have laughed at the very idea. I thought that any car with less than 100 horsepower wasn't worthy of being called such.

However, my interests have shifted to the world of two-wheeled vehicles recently, due to both practical reasons and personal enthusiasm.
As a result, I now see cars in a much more utilitarian fashion than I used to: what point is there in owning a sporty car if it'll spend most of its time idling the engine, waiting in line in the horrendous traffic of today's big cities?

(Especially when for significantly less money one can get a motorbike that'll cream all but the fastest supercars on a drag strip?)

So, considering my recent decline of interest in cars, would I buy a smart if I absolutely needed a car (bad weather, extreme cold, whatever)?
After some thought, the answer is "no".

The smart is small and economical, but it isn't sufficiently more so than the next step in the small-car world (a Toyota Yaris/Aygo, a Suzuki Swift, maybe even a BMW Mini if you've got the money and don't hate its retro look as much as I do) to make enduring its many shortcomings worthwhile.

Seriously, how strapped for space do you have to be for a metre or so (rather less in case of the Aygo) to make any difference at all?
 
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knot

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The car may be smart but I'm not dumb. $14,000 would buy a lot of gas for the car I already own.
 
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Xrunner

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No go for me, it may not be a deathtrap (think Pinto) but I drive on the interstate a lot and have seen more than my fair share of bad crashes. To me size does matter and I'll stick to my tradition cars, which are still at a disadvantage if you get in it with something larger. A 4-cyl isn't that bad on gas.

Probably what instilled the dislike of small cars in me was a crash between a VW Bug and a Semi on my evening commute back from work. The semi had nudge the bug into the concrete guardrail causing the bug to be lifted off the ground and sandwiched between the cab, trailer, and rail complete (with no part of the bug touching the ground). From the opposite side all you could see was the semi on the left and right and the undercariage of the bug in the middle. That mental image is something I don't think I will ever forget.
 

ikendu

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Jun 30, 2001
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Iowa
The one I would want is the diesel so I could run biodiesel.

High mileage is great, but high mileage on gasoline is still using lots of imported petroleum.

If there truly is an electric one in the works ...now that's the car for me!

Our "main vehicle" already is a "Golf class" (its a Golf TDI) and runs now on biodiesel (44 mpg). An electric SMART would make a great second car. I think we'd use it for almost all of our driving. It is just my wife and I these days and it would work well for my wife's commute, our drives for shopping and what not.

We'd keep the Golf as our "big car". :)

Our addiction to imported oil is killing our beautiful country; every gallon we import continues our dangerous addiction that has warped our foreign policy and kept us supporting repressive foreign regimes (like Saddam right up to the time he invaded Kuwait and threatened the Saudis and our oil supply).

This is serious business folks. Our oil addiction (and the way it warps our foreign policy) is one of two very big roots of terrorism. Because of our oil addiction, we've kept the Royal Saudi family in power. For the Royal Saudi Family to keep themselves in power, they've supported an entire system of radical Islamic education. It is no accident that Al Queda is trying to target Saudi oil production facilities or that 15 of the 9-11 high jackers were Saudis.

If you are interested, read "Sleeping with the Devil, How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude". ...very interesting and eye opening book.
 
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EVOeight

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Dec 12, 2005
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The article about the electric version mentioned an optional car port you could purchase that was covered in solar panels. That would be nice. The only problem I have with an all electric version is the air conditioning. Gotta have A/C in Texas. A hybrid would appeal more to me. Maybe a bio-diesel hybrid...
 

Fallingwater

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ikendu said:
The one I would want is the diesel so I could run biodiesel.
I remind you that the diesel model is really pitifully slow.
Now, speed may not count for you, and you may not enjoy the feeling of acceleration either, but the ability to get yourself out of a bad situation quickly is a good thing to have in a car.

When you're at a crossroads and you see a big SUV lose control, swerve and come your way (I'm just saying), and you need power RIGHT NOW DAMMIT so you can get yourself out of its path, a Smart car isn't going to give it to you.

I'm not saying everyone should get Ferraris so they can get out of hairy situations more quickly, but something with more grunt than a hamster-powered Smart is still a very good idea.
 
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