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A Civic isn't particularly close, but the Fit comes pretty close, and the Fit is basically the new Civic since the Civic bloated itself out of its original target market.
Hey Drover, thanks for the chuckle!
I've noticed that pretty much every car gets larger with each new redesign. Remember how much smaller the first generation Prius' were?
Now Toyota is talking about releasing a smaller hybrid about the size of the Yaris.
I agree that in a city like San Francisco, having one of these is extremely handy from a parking standpoint. Parking is very difficult and hence expensive around here (actually, the hipsters in this town don't drive smart cars; they drive Mini Coopers).
But I would not want to be the guy who gets into even just a side street accident in one of those things with a pickup or an SUV...or any other normal-sized car, for that matter...
I agree that in a city like San Francisco, having one of these is extremely handy from a parking standpoint. Parking is very difficult and hence expensive around here (actually, the hipsters in this town don't drive smart cars; they drive Mini Coopers).
But I would not want to be the guy who gets into even just a side street accident in one of those things with a pickup or an SUV...or any other normal-sized car, for that matter...
Apparently you, like many others, are ignorant to its safety ratings.
The SmartCar is more popular in major European cities because of the narrow streets. Also, people there are already used to driving smaller cars than in the US. The good mass-transit system and higher gas prices encourages Europeans to purchase a smaller or more fuel efficient car.
I've noticed that pretty much every car gets larger with each new redesign. Remember how much smaller the first generation Prius' were?
Now Toyota is talking about releasing a smaller hybrid about the size of the Yaris.
Yep. Look at the first gen Insight compared to the current one. The old ones appear to be slightly smaller than a CRX! The new ones look more like a current Civic, which looks bigger than an early 90s Accord.
Apparently you, like many others, are ignorant to its safety ratings.
Apparently you, like many others, don't realize that safety rating are based on vehicles in the SAME CLASS. In other words, that high rating the Smart Car has, is just in case you get in an accident with a 12 year old on roller skates, or a bicycle. Against even a mediocre rated full sized vehicle, the Smart will come out in much worse shape. Against a pick-up or large SUV, I don't even want to think about.
According to the IIHC which conducts these safety rating tests, they say the following in regard to the Smart: (small samples taken from the report)
Small car safety: While small cars are safer now than before, so are large cars. In every category of passenger vehicle (car, SUV, or pickup truck), the risk of death is higher in crashes of smaller, lighter models. For vehicles 1-3 years old during 2006, minicars experienced 106 driver deaths per million registered vehicles compared with 69 driver deaths in large cars.
The big question from consumers is, ‘How safe is it?'", says Institute president Adrian Lund. "All things being equal in safety, bigger and heavier is always better. But among the smallest cars, the engineers of the Smart did their homework and designed a high level of safety into a very small package."
The Institute's test results generally demonstrate how well vehicles stack up against others of similar size and weight. Frontal ratings can't be compared across weight classes, meaning a small car that earns a good rating isn't safer than a large car that's rated less than good.
People often choose very light cars for fuel economy, but "you don't have to buy the smallest, lightest car to get one that's easy on fuel consumption," Lund points out. "The Toyota Prius, for example, earns good front and side crash test ratings. It gets better fuel economy than a microcar, but it's bigger and weighs more so we would expect it would be more protective in serious crashes."
The part of the report that stood out to me was that there are NO front crumple zones in the Smart, and that they recorded high acceleration levels in the dummies head when it hit the steering wheel through the airbag. Sounds real safe to me... NOT.
Last edited by Bydand; 12-31-2009 at 08:10 AM..
Reason: added link to IIHS report
they new chevy cobalt XFE get just 3 mpg less seats 4 people and has a trunk
The main benefit of the Cobalt XFE is derived from its engine. The recent Cobalt sold at the market has an improved fuel rating of 9%. This enables the vehicle to provide an m.p.g of 26 for city driving conditions and 36 for highway driving conditions and a MSRP: Starting at $14,990 and it looks alot beeter than the smart IMO
Wow, thats a VERY nice looking car in my opinion. I'll be looking to buy a daily driver/commuter car within the next year (keep my Duramax for towing and weekends), and I'll have to keep that in mind for sure. Still thinking about a TDI jetta, but I'd like to try to buy American.
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