Smart ForTwo car...would you buy one?

[Terry Wallace]

There is a Smart Fortwo car in my neighborhood... first time I saw it I thought WTH? A "rolling coffin" is what came to mind...and that was way before I saw the test crash videos and the Chevy Suburban going over one and destroying it completely...

I know I sure would not buy one... the 40MPG is impressive for sure...but I live in the land of SUV's and 4WD... and people who drive 75 mph! Where commutes are a minimum of 20 miles to work..some drive much further...
I don't see how anyone would survive a crash of any size or speed in a Smart ForTwo car...

I'd like to hear what you all think.... if you google "smart Fortwo" I think it will come up...

[Brigitte]

A neighbor has one too..I would be paranoid driving in a car like that. We've always owned pick ups so I'm used to big cars. I'd freak out in a tiny car like that

[Linda Y]

No.
I saw the result of a F350 meeting an S-10 headon last week. The guy in the S-10 died. The little truck looked like blue crumpled tinfoil.
Nope, wouldn't buy it. That is not nearly enough gas mileage to make it worth it.

[CarolU]

They were on the news tonight. I guess if I lived in an inner city I would, but no, the safety on the highway is bad. Saw a KIA run over by a (small) Jeep. Guess who lived and who died?

No way.

[Kerry W]

Have seen a lot of them in cities...which I think they have the best market. Speed limits are lower, and parking spaces are at a premium. They make perfect sense for those types of areas.

[Carol Nelson]

That is the UGLIEST car I have ever seen... :shock:

[reuben T]

what? only 40 mpg? that's insane! it's a guzzler! if it don't get at least 600 mpg I'm not interested.
I know i can make my ruby sue get at least 400 and it's a normal small car, 5 passenger weighs about 3500.
We always had full size vehicles, thought they were safer, till gas prices went up, and up, and up! and we started going smaller. but now with more education in drive systems I'm beginning to gravitate toward bigger again. I drive two 3/4 ton trucks and want a ton truck. That ruby sue is gonna be my brother's transportation. I'm gonna be running my truck on firewood soon. That'll help me get some land cleared. Eventually I'll work it back over to liquid fuel and it'll get from a low of 70 to a high of 150 depending on how many mods i do to it.
I think we're gonna need this, specially the farmers, it'll run on just about anything that'll burn. It'll even run a diesel engine (105 octane) but needs a small percentage of diesel fuel to aid combustion. http://www.gengas.nu/byggbes/index.shtml

[Monty]

:lol: Hubby said I should get saddle bags for Monty - or we can train Cody to be a pack animal - and I can go to the store with them !
But, since I would have to put shoes on them - due to ridining on a road for a total of 6 miles ,PLUS, the"little store " has super high prices - NOT!
I will do what I have been doing fo ryears - have certain days i run errands and shopping and make a circle route! ;-)

[motorgypsy]

I haven't seen the car you mentioned Terry. I'll have to check it out but the mileage is waaaay too low for us to consider.

I'd like to see electric golf carts in cities anyway. No internal combusion engines at all. You just drive to a "park and ride" if you live outside, put in your $10 and drive it all day and return it at night for a recharge. Sure we'd have to use some combine funds AKA taxes to support the program but it would pay off in the long run with reduced wear and tear on roads, reduced parking, reduce pollution and so on.

The Toyota Prius is rated at 60mpg but is a bit pricey. But then the one we looked at had the online navigation system and all sorts of unnecessary bells and whistles. Our 93 Saturn 5 speed will get 50mpg when driven gently on the highway so why should I pay that much for a fancy thing that has stuff I don't need. Well - safety is an issue and I'm sure the Prius is safer than the Saturn which has no passenger airbag, is so low I can drive it under some SUV's and which Consumer reports says will kill the passenger in a collision.

As far as safety is concerned there is no reason a small car cannot be constructed that can come out fine in a collision with a large car. The problem lies with the very rapid accelerations you have when something that weighs 4 times as much hits you. Think golf ball hit by golf club. the ball isn't injured but I wouldn't want to be inside that golf ball. Proper seat belts and an energy absorbing car - think jello in the body - can go a long way toward protecting you though. Race car drivers walk out of horrendous high speed crashes with walls that don't move at all and are therefore much worse than colliding with even a dump truck. The technology is there. But I do hate think of what would have happened to us if our Saturn had been rear ended by that semi instead of the Tundra - which we were able to drive away - admittedly not in wonderful shape but drivable - from the wreck which totaled the Infinity we were knocked into.

Reuben I'm with you on using wood and all sorts of other things to run an internal combustion engine but I really don't see why solar can't be used to boil water and use a steam engine. This would not add to the greenhouse gases. No there aren't always simple solutions to complex problems but then again there are far too many people who think a solution has to be complex when it isn't necessarily. I figure at this rate I'll be hooking my horses to my truck to go to town.

But then the best possible way to get rid of CO2 is to plant trees. They turn it into oxygen. But instead we are cutting them down at a very rapid rate. DUMB!!!

Right now I'm mulling over plans for an off the road three or four wheel electric bicycle that will allow the rider to go along with horses on trail rides and hikers on reasonably well groomed trails like rails to trails. Our older generation does not want to be left home when the kids hike but most of us can't do 10 mile hikes in the mountains any more. This "bike" would be light weight, have regenerative braking, allow the rider to pedal it to both recharge the battery and just for exercise, have a spare battery pack and be light enough to move over small obstacles like downed trees and no wider than a horse and can be carried on a bike rack and recharged using your car generator. There is one out there now that probably could be adapted. Why 4 wheel? A lot of older people have balance problems so I'm think closer to the recumbent bike in style but with larger wheels so the person sits higher. The stuff out there now for handicapped people is just too big, heavy, and does not allow the rider to get any exercise at all. A baby walker design would be better for my handicapped friends because they would still be walking but would have a good portion of their weight support and the stability of the outside frame. There really is very little for the person who can walk but just not very far or very fast to allow them to keep up with an active younger person.

Sorry - got on a roll there!!! ;-) ;-) ;-)

[Terri]

Bet it can't pull a horse trailer, so what good is it? I think for a just commute to and from work within the same town it would be fine, Kinda like a glorified moped. But if I was commuting on the highway, uh, NO.

[Palomino_Lover]

There is a sports car model that I might consider.

[Terry Wallace]

Bet it can't pull a horse trailer, so what good is it

hehehe...we think alike!

The crash test on the Smart ForTwo at I think it was 35 MPH... in an offset head-on position against a compact car (like a Honda or Toyota) smashed the front of the compact, the occupants survived... BUT....the "Smart" hit, endo-ed around and then flipped at least two times... very scary.

They are so light weight it was like a strofoam block hitting a dozer blade! Too scary for me... I'll stick to my Chrysler "PT"... at least there are good crumple zones and some actual metal around me! JMO.....

They did redesign the crumple zone somewhat on the Smart...but ... no big car maker wants to introduce it as they feel it is doomed for failure, and don't want to face the liability...
That doesn't sit well with me either..... ;-) JMO

[PasoSis]

Okay. . . what good is this post without pics - for those that haven't seen it. . or at least a link - since I can't figure out how to post the pic. ;-)

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=fortwo&gbv=2

[Beth Worden]

I'd buy one in a heart beat. My husband travels to Canada at least once a week and has was wondering when we would get them in the US. I have my truck to pull my trailer, but for commuting 14 miles one way each day to work - you bettcha.

[Mellifluous]

This is better.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=109981

[Pasogirlz]

where would I put my saddle?

[motorgypsy]

Lori on your bike or ski rack of course!!! :roll: :roll: :roll: Every ecocar must have one of each!!

[Barbwire]

Lori, I think you should get one next time you are looking for a rental. Just think, if you locked yourself in it, all you would have to do is get it rocking enough so it flips on it's side and breaks a window. Then, you could flip it back and climb out. Piece of cake.

[Terry Wallace]

There is a UTube video of a crash test on this page...
http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/354/C8232/

[PasoSis]

but for commuting 14 miles one way each day to work - you bettcha.

HEHEHE I travel about 35 mile each way every day, and never leave the city. . . not even close. I don't know if I could drive something that small though.

[Palomino_Lover]

This is the roadster:
http://archive.cardesignnews.com/autoshows/2002/paris/highlights/h15-smart-roadster.html