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Smart Cars Coming to Canada and U.S.

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the golf-cart-gone-feral dept.

AgniTheSane writes "Most importantly the Smart Car looks cool. It also gets 60 mpg, is four feet smaller than a Mini Cooper (you can park two in a standard parking spot), the plastic panels are easily swappable and one color all the way through (so you can't scratch the paint), the steel frame makes it safe in an accident, and you can get it with in-dash Bluetooth (and in Europe can read and write email via the car speakers and a microphone). The Smart car is coming to the US soon, and will cost as little as $12,000. You can read about it in Wired or on MSNBC, or you can go straight to ZAP who will be selling them in the US soon, or the smart car website in the UK. "

3 of 605 comments (clear)

  1. we laugh at these in England a lot by doofusclam · · Score: 1, Troll

    They're a good idea, but let down by the execution. Add in the relatively high price (you can get a 'real' car for 50% less) and you can see why the only buyers are marketing/media types, estate agents (realtors) etc etc.

    Having seen a couple wobble their way down a dual carriageway too i'm not sure they're that safe either.

    It is cool seeing them parked sideways at the end of a parking bay though. The cool factor evaporates as soon as you're spotted in one. A friend took one for a drive from a garage he worked at - it was the 'turbo' version and I swear the engine could have fit in his girlfriends handbag. But to fit three of us in there I was wedged with my feet in the air and the engine was not happy. Never had public transport seemed so appealing.

  2. Blazing speed.. by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 0, Troll

    25MPH? Where are we supposed to drive this? The road I live on is in a 45mph zone, downtown is 35mph.. and the highway is 65mph..

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  3. death trap by binarybum · · Score: 0, Troll

    looking at the Saftey Page only proceeded to scare the crap out of me.
    "In a front collision the wheels also serve as a crumple zone."

    That's wonderful. Many times 4 feet of steel crumple zone in the hood is not enough, but here we have two little dinky wheels to take the edge off the impact.

    I did not feel like jumping through all of MSN's convoluded hoops to be able to play the crash video, but it looks to me as though it simply demonstrates that real cars have crumple zones and the "smart" car is a rigid little bubble of doom. I'd like to see the standard 30mph into a cement wall test.

    To me this car is cute the way a handgrenade is cute.

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