smart car: What's the point?

[JulesMaximus]

That is probably the harshest review I have read for any product.

Well, what do you expect? These auto rags have been pounding the more performance is better mantra for decades.

I was watching the Car Show last night and looking at the Nissan Leaf they were bashing the hell out of that car, except for the automotive journalist guy (I forget his name) but then I saw the estimated operating costs compared to a gasoline powered car and the gas powered car was like $2200 a year vs less than $400 for the Leaf. Makes this kind of car look a lot more attractive for a commuter vehicle and with a 100 mile range I could easily commute to work and back with it.

 

[NutBucket]

The only advantage the SMART has over a Leaf is range. Aside from that, you'd be a fool to get a SMART over a Leaf.

As you say, a Leaf would be a perfect commuter car for at least 50% of the population. And, if your employer provided charging hookups it could probably work for 70% of the population.

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

yes yes yes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDEoMwHHtk0&feature=related
with a Kawasaki ZX10R Engine

Now that is Smart!

 

[HAL9000]

Oh God no, the Smart Fortwo Electric Drive is coming to America. You gotta alove the Car and Driver review. Holy shit, 0 to 60 in 23.4 seconds :biggrin:

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/11q3/2011_smart_fortwo_electric_drive-short_take_road_test

"Highs: Quiet enough at stoplights to actually hear your regret."

"Lows: Not enough interior room for your pride."

Just sold my car and it did 0-60 in 38 seconds

 

[jmarti445]

Just sold my car and it did 0-60 in 38 seconds

Volkswagen Beetle or Karman Ghia?

 

[jmarti445]

A couple people at work have these. They're tiny in person, like a golf cart with doors. That doesn't bother me though, I have no problem with small cars.

Looking at the EPA mileage report for the car though, low 30s in town is the expected rate. There are larger and, uh, safer cars which meet or exceed that number.

Also... I saw a Fiat 500 parked at the grocery store today. That car was NICE as small cars go. Bigger than a smart but smaller than a new Mini.

The Smart car while it is an awful car is ingenious in the fact that you can pull head first into a parallel parking spot. What I critizise about it is the fact that it is so poorly engineered and the fact it gets poor gas mileage.

 

[Uhtrinity]

Oh God no, the Smart Fortwo Electric Drive is coming to America. You gotta alove the Car and Driver review. Holy shit, 0 to 60 in 23.4 seconds :biggrin:

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/11q3/2011_smart_fortwo_electric_drive-short_take_road_test

"Highs: Quiet enough at stoplights to actually hear your regret."

"Lows: Not enough interior room for your pride."

Wow, that almost reads like an Onion article, but it isn't

I want to see more EV's, but that is a pathetic attempt at mass marketing one.

 

[ShawnD1]

Wow, that almost reads like an Onion article, but it isn't

I want to see more EV's, but that is a pathetic attempt at mass marketing one.

They need to stop fucking around with electric cars and start building some good ones. If they make something like an electric Honda Civic, it should be at least as powerful as a gasoline Civic.

 

[bobdole369]

Have you seen the crash tests on youtube? Good lord.

These are crash em and replace em cars. They look utterly ridiculous traveling on the freeway at 65mph, and I can just see the driver with his foot slammed to the carpet to get it moving that fast.

I keep picturing one just losing its shit and tumbling end over end down the freeway.

 

[HAL9000]

Volkswagen Beetle or Karman Ghia?

LTI Fairway Driver

 

[JCH13]

They need to stop fucking around with electric cars and start building some good ones. If they make something like an electric Honda Civic, it should be at least as powerful as a gasoline Civic.

Why don't you show us all how it should be done then?

 

[ShawnD1]

Why don't you show us all how it should be done then?

Done deal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5RCyCz8Sjc

 

[JCH13]

Done deal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5RCyCz8Sjc

Because a car that costs $139k that is not even being sold yet is a done deal...

 

[sdifox]

aahahahahaaha

"And drive it does, in a manner. It hums to 60 mph in 23.4 seconds, by which point it has already covered more than a quarter-mile of perfectly good pavement. The Smart ED is nearly as quick as a 1981 Chevrolet Chevette diesel (21.2 seconds). And that car had the word “vette” right in its name. The Smart does not. Like the Chevette, though, the Smart ED is rear-wheel drive."

"Did you know that the new Smart ED was created from a human baby’s first laugh? It’s true."

 

[MetalMat]

I would rather drive my old 92 honda accord that I bought for a thousand bucks than a smart car

 

[IlllI]

just a small update. from my observation it seems as though nearly the entire outside body is made up of plastic. i tried sticking a magnet on several areas and none would stick

however this might be something good depending on how you look at it. because it seems as though you can buy user replaceable kits which would allow you to change nearly the entire color of your smart car.

example: http://smartcar-skins.com/assets/images/PoolLanes3PanelsXl.jpg

 

[BoberFett]

Hopefully things like the Smart ED will quiet the silly conspiracy theorists about the EV1.

Nothing killed the electric car other than the fact that they still kinda suck. The technology will get their eventually, but it's not there yet, and it certainly wasn't there 15 years ago.

 

[Meghan54]

Because a car that costs $139k that is not even being sold yet is a done deal...

Damn dude, don't you know ShawnD just KNOWS everything, is always right, never wrong, and is fleabag's alter ego.

 

[ShawnD1]

Damn dude, don't you know ShawnD just KNOWS everything, is always right, never wrong, and is fleabag's alter ego.

Yep, there's no way to make an affordable electric vehicle. This is why all trains use gasoline and.....

 

[JCH13]

Yep, there's no way to make an affordable electric vehicle. This is why all trains use gasoline and.....

Trains run on diesel-electric hybrids for the most part, or pull electricity from a 3rd rail. They DO NOT use batteries as primary energy storage the way an electric car does.

If an auto manufacturer could make a reliable and affordable electric vehicle, they would.Nissan does. Batteries are the problem. Batteries are the reason why no one has combined affordable, powerful, and long-range yet. You know why? One reason is that cheap batteries are too heavy to be practical, and light ones are too expensive. Also, not too many people have the faintest idea what really goes on in a battery cell, that's why my company gets hired by battery manufacturers to model their own batteries for them!

 

[sdifox]

Trains run on diesel-electric hybrids for the most part, or pull electricity from a 3rd rail. They DO NOT use batteries as primary energy storage the way an electric car does.

If an auto manufacturer could make a reliable and affordable electric vehicle, they would.Nissan does. Batteries are the problem. Batteries are the reason why no one has combined affordable, powerful, and long-range yet. You know why? One reason is that cheap batteries are too heavy to be practical, and light ones are too expensive. Also, not too many people have the faintest idea what really goes on in a battery cell, that's why my company gets hired by battery manufacturers to model their own batteries for them!

You are wrong, it's the shitty Aisin tranny preventing us from uber electric cars that can carry rocks up hills.

 

[CaptnKirk]

It saves the separate cost of having to buy a casket.

 

[HAL9000]

I like the sporty one... Not sure what it's called. It makes good sense in Europe (where it was made)

 

[slothfish]

You guys aren't looking hard enough

http://www.codaautomotive.com/

220 lb/ft of torque, 150+ mile range, 6 hours to FULL charge, 4 hours or less for 100 mile range, handles incredibly for it's class (extremely well balanced, fully independent suspension, sport tires stock), twice as much trunk space as the Nissan Leaf, MUCH better battery design than anything on the market...

Coda is on the right track. If they continue innovating with their battery designs, they will remain the best company in it's class with future releases.

If you live in SoCal I urge you to test drive one at the Westfield mall in Century City (next to Beverly Hills).

 

[A5]

That car starts at $46K and looks like an old Hyundai Accent.

I also really doubt this thing has "sport" tires on it. That makes no sense for this kind of car.