OT-Smart Cars

Dave in GA · Jun 3, 2011

Smart Cars- Are they safe? One passed me on the highway a few days ago doing about 80 if not more. Those tires can't be much larger than those on my Simplicity riding mower. It appeared to me that if that car hit a pothole or a piece of debris, it wouldn't be a pretty sight. I don't know anything about Smart Cars but I see lots of them around. They look like suicide cars to me.

ericlb · Jun 3, 2011

they are suicide cars, imagine being in one hit by almost anything larger, there is no hope for survival, they may get giant mpg's but it wont do them any good if they get hit by anything, theres more to life than gas milage

Billy Shafer · Jun 3, 2011

I wouldn't drive anything. Where my knees are in the dash and my butt is on the fuel tank. You get hit in one of those things and no seatbelt is gonna save your butt.

John S-B · Jun 3, 2011

Haven't seen one that's been hit yet, but the result is a forgone conclusion. The mileage ain't that great either, for the size. A Prius gets much better mileage, for not too much more. Prius' are just too small for a tall guy and the styling is kinda butt-ugly, especially the back. Smart cars are cheap for the base model, and I could see having one if you were someplace like New York, Chicago or Tokyo with no place to park a car. Other than that, I don't think smart car owners are that smart. The old Ford Fiestas got better mileage and had more room.

big fred · Jun 3, 2011

My old '75 VW Rabbit got 38-40 mpg, and that was with a carburetor. The Smart cars are just a little better, only seat 2 instead of 4 and have almost no luggage/cargo space.

Ken Macfarlane · Jun 3, 2011

They are actually pretty safe, and got great mileage with the diesel in them like they have up here. Guy at work had one, great car in town. He used it to drive on dirt roads a lot to go hiking, he said with the motor in the back it had no trouble getting down rough and washed out roads. Did well in the winter too. Theres another guy with one at work here and he can get around the unplowed parking lot better than my front wheel drive or my truck in 2wd.

Another way to look at it, a lot safer than a motorbike.

BCnT · Jun 3, 2011

i came close to havin one of them dumba$$ mobiles for a hood ornament few years back...had 22 REAL round bales on the gooseneck...was runnin about 65 into a pretty stiff wind...topped a rise and there was that oversize golf cart runnin about 35 on the hiway...just lucky there wasnt anything in the oncoming lane and i passed it...wind from me goin by almost blew it in the ditch tho.

Gun guru · Jun 3, 2011

They look very unsafe and they have a 800 CC gas engine in them. 3 cylinder I think.
My Compact diesel Deere tractor has an 1100 cc engine in it.

I would like to see some crash tests on it, at 35mph. I couldnt imagine anyone alive after a crash.

Ken Macfarlane · Jun 3, 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnVNUvixWUQ

just another old geezer · Jun 3, 2011

I don't think the diesel option is aviable in the states, at least not yet.

just another old geezer · Jun 3, 2011

on the up side, after a crash, what's left of them can be used for a casket. lol

Dick L · Jun 3, 2011

Probly as safe as a Honda three wheeler. I have been seeing more of them lately also.

snoop-nc · Jun 3, 2011

After my 1.5 million mile trucking career, I can say #1 that my wife's MINI "frightens" me and #2 I would be absolutely TERRIFIED to be in a SMART CAR.

We saw (couple years ago) a SMART Sport Coupe in Britain. Nice looking little critter and appeared...to me, at least...to be a much safer looking vehicle.

RICK

bradk · Jun 3, 2011

Got this in an email a while back.The Smart Car is between the dumptrucks..........
here

641Dave · Jun 3, 2011

If I didn't have to get on the highway and commute across the dfw metroplex I wouldn't mind driving one. I've been considering buying a small gas sipper up until last Thursday. Driving into work a few of us got rear ended by a semi going the speed limit as we were all stopped due to backed up traffic on our off ramp. I was the 4th in line and it totaled my old buick, the guy that was first in line to get hit was in a new ford fiesta. I didn't think he was going to live through it but I just found out he is. Broken ribs, arm, punctured lung, ruptured spleen, liver damage....

needless to say, I'm in the truck today.

Rst277 · Jun 3, 2011

I have a '92 Hijet pickup with a 660cc gas engine and 5spd tranny. I can snap along the highway at 55-60mph and get 30mpg, I get about 40 mpg in town. I have seen tests is Japan where these are built and they are very well designed and safe, just like a Smart car. Lets face it we are all going to be driving smaller and smaller vehicles as the supply of fossil fuels continues to shrink. I miss my old F150, but not filling up two 15 gallon tanks @ $6 a gallon!

mkirsch · Jun 3, 2011

The reason driving smaller cars is unsafe is because people insist on driving large trucks and SUVs because it makes them *feel* safer on the road.

Most of the accidents on the road are passenger vehicle vs. passenger vehicle, and the larger vehicle usually "wins."

If everybody drove Smart cars, then most vehicle accidents would be Smart vs. Smart. Of course a Ford Excursion is going to obliterate a Smart car, but two Smarts in an accident would fare no worse than any other two similarly-sized cars. In fact everyone might fare better, because of the reduced mass involved in the collision.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no vehicle on the road that is going to protect you from a big commercial truck. On the business end of an 80,000lb 18-wheeler doing 65MPH, your Excursion is going to look very much like any other passenger vehicle in the same situation. The difference in mass and potential energy is just that great. 4 tons vs. 40 doesn't give you much better odds than 1 ton vs. 40. In other words 4 times nothing still means they bury you in a toothpaste tube.

DaveK(IN) · Jun 3, 2011

I had to drive on for a job last year. What everyone says about crashworthiness is true. They are scary to drive in traffic.

I also found it to get only fair gas mileage, be incomfortable to drive and they are very noisy. Lots better to spend the money on a Honda Accord or a Camry (both made in the USA usually) and get some change to boot.

Old Roy · Jun 3, 2011

This is a 70 Mph crash.
You decide

MarkB_MI · Jun 3, 2011

It's safer than any motorcycle. And it has passed current crashworthiness requirements, making it safer than any car made in the '50s, '60s or '70s. See how a '57 Chevy fares when you crash it into concrete like Roy's video shows; that same crash in the Chevy would have killed everyone aboard, even with seat belts.

I'm not going to run out and buy a Smart, but it's an almost ideal car for its target market, the urban commuter. If everyone who works in the city drove a Smart Car, it would make three times as much parking available and the streets could handle two or three times as many cars.

It's easy to say you'll "never" own something like the Smart, but wait until gas hits twenty dollars a gallon. And believe me, it WILL.

Brian Jasper co. Ia · Jun 3, 2011

Coffin on wheels!!!

SJ · Jun 3, 2011

Funny you should mention Smart Cars.Coming home tonight I saw a women in heavy city traffic talking on a cell phone in a "Smart" car.
oooookkkkkkaaaaayyy!!!
Also seen a guy while back in one had a personalized license plate said"NOTDUMB"

Gun guru · Jun 3, 2011

The smart car only gets 40 mpg I think, not very good compared to the Diesel VW rabbit or even a Geo Metro that gets 40MPG I think, a buddy of mine had one.
The smart car is a 800cc gas engine that you think would get better then 40mpg.

Ken Macfarlane · Jun 3, 2011

This man knows what he is talking about. Also to note, hitting
immovable objects like concrete abutments etc, pickups and full
frame suv's are notoriously bad at killing their occupants. Only
in the last 10 years or so have they put a lot of work into the
energy absorbing structures. Problem is you still can't fully do
that on the HD pickups or you can't run snowplows etc. So for
example my F350 might obliterate a smart car in a head on, but
the smart driver may be better off hitting a concrete wall.

This poo-pooing small cars happened in the 60's when the first
small cars sold in Canada and US, I didn't expect so many old
farts to still be complaining!

David G · Jun 3, 2011

I had one convoy with me last winter coming back from Florida. He was holding with me at 85 just fine. I think that they would be an excellent commuter car, but I would not have the b$$$$ to drive on on the interstate.

Inno · Jun 3, 2011

Not opposed to small cars but the gas mileage is nothing special! The Pontiac Firefly got better mileage as far as I know.

Anonymous-0 · Jun 3, 2011

I always get a laugh out of those misplaced golf carts. How can you call it smart, when even with orca winfrey sitting inside, it don't weigh enough to set off the traffic light sensor?

IndianaRed · Jun 4, 2011

"The reason driving smaller cars is unsafe is because people insist on driving large trucks and SUVs because it makes them *feel* safer on the road.".

Really, you're a mind reader? You know why it is that every person in this country that owns a truck choose to do so? You are very insightful and indeed enlightened.

And just how did you come to your conclusion? Is it based some scientific study, or facts that the rest of us are not aware of? Or is it really just your opinion? Sounds good to you so it must be true?

So no one has ever purchased a 3/4 pickup because they need it for work? No one has ever purchased an SUV because they need room and power to take their families on vacation pulling the boat or camper? Nope, according to you they've all made these purchases based on their misunderstanding of reality. You must be the smartest guy I know. Far too smart for me to even comprehend. Next to you we are all simpletons. How does it feel to be so vastly superior to the rest of humanity? And just where is it that you received your doctorate in sociology? Are you currently tenured and instructing at the university level?

No, you're just Joe-Flippin-Blow mouthing off about something you know nothing about. Another abundant kook who would be happy dictating to the rest of us what we should drive, how much we can earn, where we can go, and basically just running our lives for us because we are incapable of making these decisions ourselves. About right?

From me to you slick: Shut the hell up and let me live my life the way I choose.

omahagreg · Jun 4, 2011

Fellow at church has one-he is a large man-6' 4" and 300 pounds! Says he loves it, plenty of room. I don't believe him! LOL

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