Daimler brought Smart cars to Dallas today to show off. They had 5 for people to take very short drives, and 2 more for show, one of which was chopped up. I went looking to do some arguing
. And boy, I got some. They're real cagey about just exactly how much mileage the thing gets. All that the official info said was 40+ mpg. They did mention their experience with the Smart was in the neighborhood of 53 MPG. They're still waiting on EPA numbers.
I brought along a Ford Anglia manual with the gas mileage figures of 46 MPG at 50 mph, and 29 MPG at 70 mph. The Ford Anglia also has a 1.0L engine, and very nearly the same weight at about 25 pounds less, but it carries 4 people. Quite a comparable car except for being nearly 50 years older. This one representative (fellow name of Keith) immediately disputed the accuracy of those FE figures. Said the manual was probably by Ford, and therefore likely to be inflated. We pointed out that the manual was by Haynes. I related that our experience with the car bears those numbers out. He ranted on anyway about how manufacturers lie, and it wasn't until the EPA stepped in to test things themselves that anyone had any honest numbers, and that the EPA has recently changed their evaluation methods, so even old EPA numbers are no good, blah blah blah. Then we argued a bit about the changes in gasoline over the last 50 years perhaps affecting FE, that the standards used for measuring FE had changed, etc. He also mentioned speed limits used to be lower, and I told him BS, when that Anglia was first on the road, there were no speed limits at all. His entire manner was defensive and argumentative-- people get that way when they haven't facts at their command to make real arguments. In other areas, notably safety and performance, the Anglia quite obviously cannot compare-- didn't even come with seat belts let alone air bags, and takes forever to accelerate to 60 mph.
The next thing I waved around was a Scangauge II. They would not let me hook it up. Now I can understand objections about there not being time, long line, etc. But Keith really reached on that-- instead of mentioning those problems, he said it could cause the car to stop working, or even ruin it, and then it would be his butt and I'd have to pay the full price for a new Smart car to cover all the damages. He wasn't going to allow it, no way, no how. Keith said that nice and loud all 100 plus people in line could hear. He kept right on yelling, repeating those same objections I suppose because he couldn't think of any more. What a coward. Well, fight fire with fire. I told him that all cars from 1996 on are required by law to have an ODB-II connection, and that any new car that couldn't handle having a code reader hooked up to shouldn't be allowed on the road, as it was unsafe. What I didn't say, but thought very loudly, was if they were that unsure about the reliability of their cars, perhaps TX DOT should shut down their little show until such time as an independent lab could verify that their Smart cars would not self destruct if a code reader was plugged in.
It didn't matter much. Was a 2 hour wait to get a ride, and then you got all of 3 minutes behind the wheel, tooling around a parking lot, hardly a representative trip. Top speed was maybe 30 mph.
Still, I thought what they should have done was the opposite. They should have welcomed the opportunity to have their car checked out. It strikes me that they could even be going out of their way to hide the FE, the way they carried on. No exact figures, a big fat loud "NO" to the Scangauge, lots of marketing hype and very little substance.
I asked whether the American models would be heavier because of US safety regulations, and didn't get any answer except that the models being shown off today were European. They didn't seem to know whether there would be a difference. I'm thinking the Smart car isn't about FE, it's about tight urban parking. I suppose the people running the show were know-nothing loser car salesdroids sorts of people. Even after accounting for the stresses and uncertainties in trying to run a show at which the general public is invited to do the daily activity that of all daily activities is far and away the most dangerous, I thought their handling of a difficult customer (me) was poor.
. Nevertheless, that guy yelling about how I might have to pay for a new Smart if my gauge broke it, what possible justification could there be for that? I guarantee that outburst made him look to be the hysterical, overheated and stupid one. They should have been taking notes so they could have good answers ready the next time they got asked those questions. Oh well, I suppose I expect too much expecting a sales drone to actually know their products with the deep knowledge that comes only from working with and loving their products for the quality of the design and workmanship. If that was their attitude, they'd be engineers not salespeople.
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