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Smart Cars Coming to Canada and U.S.
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. "
These are already popular in parts of the USA.
Yanks won't give up their monstrous SUVs for these. Too insecure about their sexuality.
Provided the accident is a frontal collision with a Mercedes Benz sedan, like in the publicity video, with the Mercedes' crumple zone absorbing all the impact.
They are already here. I have seen a few driving around here already
And also it doesn't have cupholders for the giant Slurpees that you lot consume. Nor is it powerful enough to propel 250lbs of excess flab that most USians have.
I'd rather see smart drivers. Ones that could park one of those small cars in no more than one regular parking spot for example.
www.weberseite.at
"Anything that size in this country is basically SUV road kill," sneers recent New Yorker Michelle Baran.
To paraphrase Basil Fawlty, "You realise they are equipped with steering wheels?"
For all those screaming about security - this car has been specifically designed to be safe despite it's size; to achieve this, there are certain tricks involved, eg sliding the motor under the chassis in case of a crash.
It _has_ been rigourously tested.
You know, we here in Europe do make more out of less and don't need a 2 Ton SUV to have a save car.
Advantages:
Little parking space required
Coolness of especially the cabrio version
Price and costs of ownership
Disadvantages:
Speed limit of 140 km/h (although less speeding tickets is ok)
Little storage space
Jonah Hex
Horror & SciFi Erotic Nudes
Don't dismiss the MINI so quickly. Have you driven one? The thing handles like a go-kart. The supercharged Cooper S is an absolute joy to drive. Like BMW's, the MINI tends to attract the trendy crowd, but the hardware is definitely up to snuff.
I live in Switzerland and had the possibility to test drive one of the two seats model.
Positive points:
- looks cool
- each passenger has a lot of room (really)
Negative points:
- automatic shift is very slow, it is dangerous and reduces confort (it brakes the car during the shift)
- the vertical construction implies rather hard suspensions, with reduced confort (you feel every bump in the road in your spine)
- noisy inside
- pricy
In Europe you can find lots of small cars that have a comparable MPG (or better km/l), have 4 seats and are cheaper.
To sum it up, coolness factor aside, I would not reccomend it.
I'm guessing page 3 was a little too far for people to read, so I'll copy it here:
A steel frame absorbs front-end impact - no cockpit crumple. Get hit head-on, and the car collapses behind the doors near the back wheels.So there is a crumple zone, it's just behind you
There's a useful term when you need to refer to Canada and the USA together: "North America".
Canadians use this more than Americans do, and there can be confusion about whether you intend to include Mexico and the Caribbean Basin, but all in all Americans underuse the term.
org.slashdot.post.SignatureNotFoundException: ewg
They've been in Europe for a few years now, I remember seeing one about 3 years ago.
Contrary to popular belief, the UK isn't a place with a few cars, empty country roads and stuff. It has tonnes of cars, tonnes of bad drivers (not as many as the US though, our driving test is a bit more advanced) and lots of accidents.
Oddly enough, there hasn't been a revolt or outcry over SMART car accident rates being higher than average.
Of course, they are more ideal for the UK which in-town is slow to drive due to road systems developed when horses and carriages were in vogue - often narrow streets, etc. They are a good solution if you do a lot of city driving in a place like this.
On the other hand, I wouldn't be seen dead driving one. Then again, I don't do a lot of city driving.
In all seriousness, if two of these fit into a standard parking spot, can you double up at a meter? Does the first person in to the meter spot pay, and the second one piggybacks and adds on as necessary?
Zero to sixty in twenty seconds?
These things are going to need all the crash protection they can get. They're going to get flattened on any highway on-ramp.
...It is not user-serviceable without a proprietary toolset.
Jokes about comparing proprietary software to a car with the hood welded shut are very chilling if this car is the beginning of a trend.
Mart"I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
A colleague who is about your height, certainly over 6', has one and he loves it. No problems fitting in, so I'm not sure what you're basing this assessment on.
"There is nothing so simple that works so well that it can't be made to work better by making it more complicated" - ?
Still safer than a motorcycle (yes, I ride one) and better weather protection, too. Listen: no one is putting a gun to anyone's head and forcing them to buy a Smart car. I'd like to think that people are smart enough to choose the balance of safety and utility that's right for them.
That being said, I wouldn't buy a Smart. Why? Because it's too wide, and can't be used to "split" between lanes of traffic. In NYC, 9 or 10 months out of the year, a motor cycle or bicycle makes a much better "city car."
-b.
A few years later I heard things like great mileage, funky distinct design, low price, reliable, and most importantly able to park it in the tiniest of spaces.
I don't think that the SMART will ever be the cross country driving car of choice, but as a second car in the city for the 2 parent working family I think its a brilliant idea . . . Why drive a 4000 pound SUV to pick up a gallon of milk at the supermarket if you don't have to?
Here's the crash test results for MCC Smarts.
Go figure for yourself if that's safe(enough) for your. Generally -at least here in Germany- the cars are considered safe, but we don't have that many 5000lbs SUVs to crash against either...
euroncap.com
I would expect that the majority of the US and Canada will continue to buy more 'full on gas guzzzlers' as opposed to these not so smart cars. We've had them in Europe for a while and they really haven't made a big impact here, even with the more green and liberal thinking that we have.
Why? welll like i say, they really arent that smart. Selling cars that reduce the amount of co2 is always a worthwhile thing however you cannot substitute sensible, flexible and economically sound public transport policy for the automotive industry's equivalent of the 'light/lite' cigarette. Not that most of the tax payers in the western hemisphere care anyway, that's why we still buy and love the freedom of our cars.
Make no mistake, car sharing and long distance travel is pretty much unviable in these things so understandably they only really get bought in urban areas. Mostly smart cars are seen and viewed as a posher and wankier version of the scooter. Mercedes would be thrilled if everyone in the city bought one; I'm not so sure our planet would be
Cool? not...
Disclaimer: I'm not a 'manc', I'm Scottish
my other sig is written in brainfuck
The moms love the SUVs coz they feel safe - problem is, when they hit a Smart even slighly, they kill the occupant. Then they get a fine :)
This is not a signature.
The American 'aesthetic' sense rears its ugly head again.
How I miss my Subaru Justy, not quite as efficient as this, but a great little car. I would get 50mpg+ if I drove on the interstate and occassionally got behind a semi.
meh
The smart has been engineered to reduce g-forces, teh seats deform, the ridgid metal structure buckles at points, the drive-train slides under the car. Seat-belts are equipted with automatic tighteners than limit motion and release it slowly to reduce g-forces. It emparts g-forces on the passengers at the rate equal to a vehicle twice its size.
Also it can hit 80mph without too much of a problem, plus the electronic limiter can be removed by a hack.
As for the 19 sec 0-60mph that is due to the automatic transmission that is considered crap. It pauses for a second or two while changing gears. If you have the manuel version, (which the automatic can be turned into with the push of a button) the delay can be greatly reduced.
This is due to there being no clutch, it is computer controlled.
Keep the box it came in.
qntm.org
To complain about people not understanding Linux or open source would be entirely hypocritical of this community, with all the posts about the lack of safety of Smart Cars posted here! This is one of the safest vehicles in the world.
Lighter = safer
Everything else aside, this vehicle is safer because it's lighter. There is no substitute for a lack of mass when your vehicle becomes a ball of plastic and metal momentum; the more weight, the more force is required to curb that momentum, so to speak. Force, in this case, typically translates into rolling, or crumpling. Modern vehicles do lots of both, particuarly SUV's. So bear in mind, mass is an inherent evil in vehicle safety.
Solid cage = safer
Second, this little critter has a solid cage that can withstand the problem I just mentioned - its own mass. Most vehicles will crumple under their own mass at moderate speeds. At 65 km/h, head-on this car will walk away mostly unscathed, and the passenger will only have minor injuries.
Lateral weakness = myth
From the side, the risk of being "T-boned", or laterally impaled, is highly overrated. The solid beam connecting the rear wheels, the axle, and the similarly reinforced front wheels, in such close proximity pretty much insure that if you are hit, unless it's a motorcycle, two of your strongest and most reinforced points of impact (the tires) are involved in the crash. Furthermore, there is a metal cage surrounding you that can easily withstand substantial impact.
Run-over = myth
The risk that it will be "run over" are also highly overrated. If a big vehicle hits a smart car, it becomes a wedge, pushing the larger vehicle into the air so that the larger vehicle can dissipate its energy on other things, like concrete, pavement and telephone poles.
See, eg. Smart and Tough, The National Post, 6/11/04
Arguing that this car isn't safe is being on the wrong side of competence, akin to arguing the superiority of Microsoft Windows' security. There may be valid points, but for the most part, you're just wrong.
(Not to sound too cynicial, but I think it's a valid point, and hypocricy is a peeve)
Smart cars are one thing, but how about smart drivers?
Drivers seem to be getting dumber, and ruder, by the day.
So, I'd like smart cars that pull over to the curb and turn themselves off when the driver does something stupid, like turning right across three lanes of traffic from the far left lane, or speeding along the right shoulder on an Interstate to pass, or speeding up to go through a yellow light, or....
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
>>problem is, when they hit a Smart even slighly, they kill the occupant.
There's an upside, however. In the event of a collision, the Smart folds conveniently into the shape of a coffin.
so you should see a dramatic decrease in SUV fatalities
Oh well, it was nice whilel it lasted
I used to own a Smart, I'm 5'11" and had about 8" of room above my head. Passanger and driver have heaps of room, it's only when you look over your shoulder to find the rear window that you relalise how small the car is :-)
Not actually 'free', but subsidised. Either your employer, your bank, the mall, or your town paid for the land, paid to have it paved, pays to have it maintained and striped routinely. Unless vast expanses of asphalt just appear by magic, someone is paying for it. And that someone is almost always us, either directly or indirectly.
Money that could go elsewhere.
Motorcycle versus "Smart Car" -> Smart Car wins
Bicycle versus "Smart Car" -> Smart Car wins
Human versus "Smart Car" -> Smart Car wins.
Just because the Smart Car may be lower on the survivability totem pole doesn't intrinsically make them "unsafe". I rode my bicycle in rush hour traffic in Washington, D.C. and nearby suburbs for over 20 years without a single accident with another vehicle (I did hit a few potholes that dismounted me abruptly).
Since I knew I was more at risk I didn't fall into a false sense of security. I religiously indicated my intentions to other traffic, made eye contact with other drivers, didn't brazenly run red lights/stop signs, weave in and out of stopped traffic, or any of the multitude of wantonly perilous activities other cyclists seemed bent on practicing.
Same in many respects with SUVs. People get this totally false idea that they are "safe" and thus drive like morons and end up killing themselves and others.
Smart Cars coming to the US and UK? WOOHOO! No more bad Southern drivers!
Not only does it get only slightly better mpg than a 1980 VW diesel rabbit, it's slow enough in getting upto highway speed to pose an actual safety threat.
"Only" 50hp and it's that speed impaired? Something is else wrong.
I have a feeling that the manufacturer hasn't seen the state of the roads in Detroit. One of these could seriously fall into a pot hole and be gone forever. I have a Nissan Sentra and a Sierra, and driving the car around Detroit is like commuting through an obstacle course every day. The SMART car is half the size of that. I don't care how well it performs in an accident, I'd rather not BE in an accident.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
Also, you might want to check out this: http://www.insidercarsecrets.com/women.html
Or the stats a bit further down the page:
So it's a "chick car". So what? That's what people said about the new Mini - but I see guys snapping them up, and their girlfriends love 'em.A woman isn't going to get all gushy over you 'cause you have a 454 under the hood. She'll just think you're another one of those "horsepower substitutes for penis" idiots.
It requires no parking (space, effort or cost), zero maintenance, it's extremely environment-friendly and it's very silent.
Other advantages: no need for a garage, no problem starting it up in winter and, best of all, it steers itself to destination.
It's only used in urban areas, but so are the SMARTs.
This wonder of modern technology is our rock-solid public transportation network. My visit to Dallas a couple of years ago has convinced me that Americans have no clue of this concept. Heck, I'm not even sure you guys ever heard of bycile lanes or walkways.
Sigged!
Perhaps, but if the professional hired by a magazine to test-drive the SUV fucked up, what about the soccer-mom who drives the SUV day to day?
My point was that an SUV is much more likely to kill its driver than a small car. In a head-on crash between an SUV and a small car, perhaps the SUV driver is safer. But what about all other accidents? A small car, no matter how skilled its driver is, will have a greater chance to avoid accidents. In a real emergency, you may not be able to "drift" an SUV enough to avoid a crash, a small car is nimbler. And not everything is small cars, there are also other SUV's, 18-wheelers, rocks, trees, you name it, so many obstacles that a small car will drive around but the SUV will hit head-on.
There's unquestionably room in the market, especially in highly urbanised countries where fuel is expensive, for tiny funky city cars like these. I'd buy one. But the Smarts, despite being a Mercedes co-production (which would lead you to think it'd be nice but have lousy quality control...), are just lousy to drive and too expensive, according to all reports. The reviews (Review 1, Review 2) have been so lousy that I ruled out even ever test driving one; if the things cost $AU5000 then that'd be another matter, but they're really quite expensive here, and the US pricing would seem to be similarly inflated, compared with the lower pricing of regular cars in the States.
Here in Sydney, Australia, I see a Smart tooling around every now and then, but every single one I've seen has been a corporate promotional vehicle, not a private car. There's no reason at all for a private citizen to buy one of these expensive, annoying little things, when perfectly good four-seat Japanese subcompacts are available for the same money. Korean ones cost rather less.