Posted: 3/9/2010 8:57:18 AM EDT
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Why do they cost so much? For the same price you could buy a Toyota Yaris with the same MPGs and alot more room inside. I like the idea of the Smart Car but they need to either get better fuel economy or drop the price. this was taken when I was in Frankfurt last year on R&R 
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Why do they cost so much? For the same price you could buy a Toyota Yaris with the same MPGs and alot more room inside. I like the idea of the Smart Car but they need to either get better fuel economy or drop the price. this was taken when I was in Frankfurt last year on R&R http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q295/Stylensky/Part3GermanyHolland165.jpg Yeah, I never understood the appeal of these either. They don't get great mileage for how small they are. I have a 2000 Saturn SL with a SOHC 1.9L, 5 speed, 113,000 miles on it, and I get 42.5 highway and 37 city mpg. |
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Why do they cost so much? For the same price you could buy a Toyota Yaris with the same MPGs and alot more room inside. I like the idea of the Smart Car but they need to either get better fuel economy or drop the price. this was taken when I was in Frankfurt last year on R&R http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q295/Stylensky/Part3GermanyHolland165.jpg Yeah, I never understood the appeal of these either. They don't get great mileage for how small they are. I have a 2000 Saturn SL with a SOHC 1.9L, 5 speed, 113,000 miles on it, and I get 42.5 highway and 37 city mpg. See if the Top Gear test of the smart car is up still. They did a crash test and the smart spun like a top. Very fun to watch. |
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Why do they cost so much? For the same price you could buy a Toyota Yaris with the same MPGs and alot more room inside. I like the idea of the Smart Car but they need to either get better fuel economy or drop the price. this was taken when I was in Frankfurt last year on R&R http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q295/Stylensky/Part3GermanyHolland165.jpg Yeah, I never understood the appeal of these either. They don't get great mileage for how small they are. I have a 2000 Saturn SL with a SOHC 1.9L, 5 speed, 113,000 miles on it, and I get 42.5 highway and 37 city mpg. And your Saturn is a hell of a lot safer. I don't think the 'smart car' is very smart. I am not at all impressed. |
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I'll play.............. http://i813.photobucket.com/albums/zz55/ma96782/smartcar2.jpg Aloha, Mark Isn't that the same picture that's been posted 100 times and every time someone points out it's not a Smart? |
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There's a diesel version you can't get here that gets way better mileage.
They don't make much sense outside of a big city. There, they do make some sense because of ease of parking and maneuvering, as others have said. If there were more of them, some enterprising soul could probably make good money with a cheaper parking garage containing more spaces. Other than that, I guess it's a marketing ploy for the smug "green" types and/or the "want to be like Europe" crowd. |
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Quoted: Quoted: I'll play.............. http://i813.photobucket.com/albums/zz55/ma96782/smartcar2.jpg Aloha, Mark Isn't that the same picture that's been posted 100 times and every time someone points out it's not a Smart? yes.  |
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I guess it all depends on how much of a risk taker you are. Theres not much metal there. Even at city speed, thats not much protection. I saw these things on the Autobahn in Germany. We laughed at the girl who was renting us a car when she asked if we wanted a Smart Car. We rented a Benz with a back seat and a large trunk  . There were several different types of Smart Cars over there.
Heres a "sports" Smart Car I saw in Germany. 
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I guess it all depends on how much of a risk taker you are. Theres not much metal there. Even at city speed, thats not much protection. I saw these things on the Autobahn in Germany. We laughed at the girl who was renting us a car when she asked if we wanted a Smart Car. We rented a Benz with a back seat and a large trunk . There were several different types of Smart Cars over there.
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x81/bobbyjack0220_photo/smart-car-9a.jpg Heres a "sports" Smart Car I saw in Germany. http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q295/Stylensky/Part2IraqGermanyHolland167.jpg The Smart roadster was a pretty interesting little car. I think Smart sold the design to a British company. IIRC, they were going to try to bring it back as the new MG B or something. |
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Quoted: Quoted: I'll play.............. http://i813.photobucket.com/albums/zz55/ma96782/smartcar2.jpg Aloha, Mark Isn't that the same picture that's been posted 100 times and every time someone points out it's not a Smart? it's not a SMART |
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I'll play.............. http://i813.photobucket.com/albums/zz55/ma96782/smartcar2.jpg Aloha, Mark oops |
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I'll play.............. http://i813.photobucket.com/albums/zz55/ma96782/smartcar2.jpg Aloha, Mark As has been discussed, that, based on the wheels, appears to have been a Chevy Malibu. Had it been an F250, in between a stopped 80,000 lb dump truck, and a moving 80,000 dump truck, the 5,000 lb F250 would have ended up looking about the same. |
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It was designed for those tiny european cities where the roads are not as optimized for cars as they are here... Parking. Smarts are built so 2 can be put in 1 conventional pariking space. Since parking is scarce in many European cities, paying to park is very costly. |
| The only interesting use I have seen for the so far in Austin is for fleet pool use. A company is renting them to State/City/Company's. The kicker is that they have software/hardware to keep track of who drove where (for billing). They park them 2 to a space when in the pool - not sure if it is a common pool (like the yellow bike project) or per entity. |