Is anyone impressed by these 'smart' cars?

[kamesama980]

not at 40 mpg.

I've got a 87 4 banger S10 pickup that gets 30mpg highway unmodified with enough balls to haul an engine, transmission, and all my tools up a 30* hill in the highest gear (that means at capacity counting me). With massive aero, a 5th gear (current is 4 speed manual) and beefier rear springs I could probably put a smart car in the bed and get 40 mpg @ 70mph

[GasSavers_Rotareneg]

Originally Posted by Randy

The smart pure starts at $11.6k. That's dirt cheap for a new car... the Aveo starts at only $1k less, and it's a freaking Aveo.

However, my Aveo5 SVM can carry both a passenger and groceries, and laundry, AND still have room left over.

[brucepick]

Small is part of the formula for high FE. Unfortunately Smart is "small and tall". Contradictory but true.

Tall increases the frontal area so the total drag or air resistance is considerably higher than if it were low to the ground.

OK, tall seems to be a trend for many tiny cars. It's part of the "SUV's everywhere" curse we're living under. Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris and Nissan Versa are kinda tall. Not much taller than the typical mid size car, but not shortened to reduce drag. Make the car so the roof only comes up to my chest instead of my chin. Drag will go down (all other things being equal) and FE will go up. Wind stability will improve too.

[GasSavers_Dust]

It's funny I saw this thread. I just checked the price on smart cars here in Japan, in my area, and they are selling for about $5000. Still don't know if I would want a smart car on the highway. For most of the time, it would be a good car

[DarbyWalters]

I think the "tall look" is partially an optical illusion caused by the thinner shorter wheelbase.

[baddog671]

My metro is bigger, heavier, and 13 years behind in technology and still is rated at 44mpg, so no, im not impressed.

How about a hybrid/diesel smart car? Id be interested to see that..

[GasSavers_Scott]

At first I fell in love with the car, for years it had to be grey marketed in, now that the Americanized version is here the first thing that put me off was the price. For some reason in my head I believed that half a car should be half the price. The Smart was supposed to be tiny, so you could fit 2 in a standard parking space, a city car with highway manners, I was sold. The thing I wanted was the il fated Yugo GTC, the last year Yugo was in production they made a convertible econo box. So when they announced the car was to be sold in America I wen't on line to get on the 500 waiting list, with just $1000 down.

Now the stuff that wetted my appetite was the fact that you could unbolt the body panels and change the color of your car, so naturally I wanted to go Harlequin. Then I found they make a convertable, the roof slides back and you stow it in the trunk. I was sold hook line and sinker, then I saw the price. The base model is $11,000, then comes the alloy wheels, air conditioning, AM/FM radio, and the gotta have fold back roof, which put me to a grand total of $17,000. That blew the candle out on my birthday cake, I'm sorry its too much.

So like any person who used to sell used cars, I'm like, well I'll wait 3 years and get a used one. Now that I find they only get 40, the novelty has really worn off.

[VetteOwner]

Originally Posted by kamesama980

not at 40 mpg.

I've got a 87 4 banger S10 pickup that gets 30mpg highway unmodified with enough balls to haul an engine, transmission, and all my tools up a 30* hill in the highest gear (that means at capacity counting me). With massive aero, a 5th gear (current is 4 speed manual) and beefier rear springs I could probably put a smart car in the bed and get 40 mpg @ 70mph

haha amazing trucks, GM made a bad move to cancel the S-10 line and go with the colorado (still dunno whats up with that I5 engine, havent heard much other than its not that much of an advatage over the 4 banger version except uses more gas ) ya gotta admit it had a VERY good run. 1983-2003

this just came to me, the aveo is like the modern day chevette! looks tiny yet when ya have a buncha crap to take somehwere it all fits with tons of room!

to me the smart seems like a huge novelty toy, add custom pannels, change pannel colors, etc yet when it all comes down to it it doesnt offer anything over if not less than a small econo car...

[Hockey4mnhs]

if it can change the mind set of America then will be impressed. I think if it can get people out of there suvs and big trucks then it did its job.

[GasSavers_TomO]

I'm one of the hard people to sway to a smart car. I currently have a 94 Civic VX. I can fit my family of four into the VX and still get 50MPG. During the warm months I get nearly 60MPG on the highways and during winter I still beat out the Smart's gasser mileage. I would also like to add that I did this all with less than $3000 invested into my VX including purchase of said vehicle and upgrades.

This doesn't mean that this car isn't great for someone else that doesn't need a lot of room and only commutes in the city though.