A Smartcar versus a Truck (insurance, 2009, German, buy)
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My smartCar got 44.2 mpg the last time I filled it up.
But there is a lot more to having a smartCar than the mileage (although, that is why I bought it.)
For one, it is safer than any other small car on the road thanks to it's superior design and tridion shell. Secondly, it is incredibly easy to park and finally, it is so much FUN to drive. No matter where I go, people stop and ask me questions about it. Because there aren't 20 million of them on the road (at least not in this country), they are still very unique and draw a lot of attention.
I have had many cars including Hondas, and I can tell you that I have NEVER had this much fun driving a car in my life!
Let the haters hate. Until you have had one, you have no idea how incredibly wonderful they are.
20yrsinBranson
You've had a Honda but i'm guessing you have never owned a Honda CRX.A 1991 Honda CRX looks and performs better than the Dumbcar. It's fun as heck! You can get the HF model that will give you high 40's MPG, DX gets you high 30's, and the sporty Si gets you mid to high 30's.
Ok, so I'm at a festival this weekend and they have a smartcar on display and so I eyeball the sticker in the window and for the low low price of 20k it gets something like 33/42 for mileage.
My friend bought a Smart Car in Canada and imported it. He spent another $10k or so to retrofit it. He was getting over 50 mpg. Most of the people who bought the US version get about 40 mpg which is disappointing to say the least.
The ONLY reason to buy a micro car is the cost of operations. You are paying a tremendous premium for a car and not getting much for the effort.
As long as small cars are a novelty to the American market, the automakers will charge premiums for them. Smart, Mini, Fiat, Scion iQ, heck even the Ford Fiesta are all examples of this.
The American version is silly, and our driving climate is not friendly to such small cars. In Europe, they don't have to contend with as many SUV's driven by half-wits.
I think people buy it to make a statement. Such a dangerous car to own.
For one, it is safer than any other small car on the road thanks to it's superior design and tridion shell.
I totally agree that - pound for pound - it's one of the safest cars in the world. They really over-engineered it in that sense. It should perform very well in single-car crashes, where its low weight is actually beneficial.
But that also ignores some very basic physics. The lighter car almost always loses against a heavier car. At that point, the safety cage being intruded or not has nothing to do with survival. It's all in rapid deceleration - which can kill on its own. That's the biggest threat in these cars. I wouldn't want to be hit by anything bigger than a Corolla. That's one reason why I sold my Lotus Elise.
I am from Europe and this is the 2nd generation of Smart that came out. In fact they also had a bigger Smart for 4 passengers bt it was discontinued years ago as it was extremely unpopular.
I have driven in Smarts and yes they're fun to drive but cars to commute in a city and NOT meant to go grocery shopping. Many roadsters aren't meant to go grocery shopping either and are not the safest. Btw the Euro-Smart's max speed is limited at 130KMH for safety reasons! That would be almost 75mph.
Smart was invented by the Swatch inventor Hayek and is produced by Mercedes. That explains a good engineering and quality but also overpricing. In fact nothing is really Mercrdes but some parts of the dash.
I totally agree that - pound for pound - it's one of the safest cars in the world. They really over-engineered it in that sense. It should perform very well in single-car crashes, where its low weight is actually beneficial.
But that also ignores some very basic physics. The lighter car almost always loses against a heavier car. At that point, the safety cage being intruded or not has nothing to do with survival. It's all in rapid deceleration - which can kill on its own. That's the biggest threat in these cars. I wouldn't want to be hit by anything bigger than a Corolla. That's one reason why I sold my Lotus Elise.
Actually it's been proven to work quite well against bigger cars, too.
When are we going to stop with the "I won't own anything smaller than the largest car/truck on the market becaeu I'm scared to death of getting hit by the bigggest car/truck on the market?" It's very rare and you CAN avoid it by simply paying attention to your surroundings, even T bones and drunks CAN be avoided if you're paying attention. I've done it my self and I'm not that special.
Iv'e also driven older cars and older smaller cars like my Fiat 124 Spider and my current MGB out there in the real world. Both of which are vastly less "safe" than a Smart.
Bottom line, if someone came on here and showed off theri Porsche 356 restoration that they daily drive (lieka frined of mine does), enthusiasts would be tempted to say "nice car, hope you enjoy it." You show a Smart and those same enthsuaists only mention how unsafe they are vs a larger car.
Now pull that out of there and try to fit 20 bags of groceries, a couple of cases of pop and some Gatorade and see how well it fits. My neighbor was a family of 5 and she couldn't do it.. Like I said. A SBC is heavy but it doesn't take up much space.
grab a Miata and try the same things. Grab a Miata and try to tow a 4 horse trailer, can't do it. WHY do we think that every car has to be perfect for every person to be viable? There are 200 million cars in the US alone. All a car has to be good for is 1% of the population and it's already good for 2 million people.
99.9% of the time we commute one person per car with NO OTHER CRAP WITH US.
You've had a Honda but i'm guessing you have never owned a Honda CRX.A 1991 Honda CRX looks and performs better than the Dumbcar. It's fun as heck! You can get the HF model that will give you high 40's MPG, DX gets you high 30's, and the sporty Si gets you mid to high 30's.
I had a CRX Si. and yeah, it's about what the Smart could be. But no one MAKES a CRX anymore, and if you're talking safety, sorry, but a Smart is safer than a '91 CRX HF by a MILE.
Edmunds says the Smart (Passion coupe) has a 5 year cost of ownership of $29,597.
A Ford Fiesta hatchback has a 5 year cost of $29,244.
Five year fuel costs for both are about the same because the Smart needs premium.
The Smart is about the slowest car sold today. 0-60 of 13 seconds or slow. Much slower than a Prius or other subcompacts like the Yaris.
As a metro car - maybe. For other general use - not for me. It isn't cheap to buy, cheap to run, and it is ridiculously slow.
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