Got my smart car today

[Level42]

You could get it in a basement.

Could you get it in Level42's new gameroom?

Hey ! 

[ChadTower]

Those cars will always make me think of the Simpsons when Nelson HAHA's the guy in the tiny car and the guy gets out and makes him walk the street with his pants down.

[shardian]

From that crash test report:

Results from front impact crash tests, no matter how they are conducted, cannot be compared between cars of different sizes. In a real-world front crash, occupants in a smaller vehicle would experience greater crash forces when hitting a larger vehicle going in the opposite direction.

Basically, those tests don't mean crap to a real life head on crash. And as for rear-ending something at those speeds - you do realize you are eye level and 2-3' away from the ass end of most SUV's. The crumple zone fits UNDER most other cars/SUV's on the road.

I saw one of those smart cars locally a few months ago. It had 2 'larger' people in it. The first thing that popped into my mind was the Darwin Awards. 

[Cakemeister]

Basically, those tests don't mean crap to a real life head on crash. And as for rear-ending something at those speeds - you do realize you are eye level and 2-3' away from the ass end of most SUV's. The crumple zone fits UNDER most other cars/SUV's on the road.

Actually, people sit at normal height in a smart relative to passengers in other kinds of cars. Most SUVs are trucks rather than cars. So a bumper-to bumper collision with a SUV will not be pleasant for any kind of car due to the height difference, not just for a smart.

I saw one of those smart cars locally a few months ago. It had 2 'larger' people in it. The first thing that popped into my mind was the Darwin Awards. 

I have already reproduced so my genes have survived already.  But if I get killed in my smart please feel free to nominate me.

[HaRuMaN]

Snips from Consumer Reports:

... A car like this should be fun and zippy. Sadly, the Smart is neither. The ride is harsh, and broken urban pavement, this car's natural habitat, pummels occupants mercilessly. The transmission shifts strangely, with pauses and heaves between gears. Handling is not so responsive, and it takes a lot of wheel winding to coax the Smart through corners. The slow, noisy engine makes it necessary to plan ahead when merging into traffic, although once on the highway it can keep up the pace ...

CR's take: Despite its many quirks, the Smart can be rather endearing. But from a strictly practical standpoint, the Smart ForTwo is not so smart. Premium fuel eats up a good part of the savings from its excellent fuel economy. The car seats only two and provides modest cargo space. Although it won't gather a crowd of gawkers, we think a far smarter choice is the Honda Fit (due to be redesigned for 2009). The current Fit costs about the same amount, gets 32 mpg (34 with a stick shift)*, and has none of the Smart's drawbacks.

*I see 36 city, 40+ highway in mine...  YMMV

[ChadTower]

What I don't get is why 36mpg is a freakin revelation.  I get 30 in my ten year old Civic.

[HaRuMaN]

L-Series Honda engine (Fit)
D-Series Honda engine (Civic)

The new L-series features some key innovative ideas. The benchmark against which the Lseries was designed would be the well-established D-series engine, what Honda identifies as the 'conventional VTEC unit'. The Lseries was designed to be smaller in dimension and lighter than the Dseries. It is also designed to be as efficient, returning equal or better fuel economies as well as acheiving lower emission levels. Unique too is how the Lseries is designed to complement an entire platform of Honda models, the aforementioned 'Global Small Platform'. The key characteristics of this platform has already been covered in our previous article on the design concept of the Fit/Jazz. The Lseries engine is designed to help enable the realization of these characteristics. One of the most important characteristic of the GSP would be the so-called 'space efficiency', i.e. extraction of maximum interior cabin space out of the small design and the key to it is the short engine bay. Thus the Lseries is designed to fit into a short and small engine bay.

[ChadTower]

That's marketing material.  Doesn't have any real bearing on actual performance.  Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.

Is the 6mpg difference really worth the reduction in performance and safety?  If you have to be careful pulling out onto the highway because it has so little pickup you'd think the increase in efficiency would be a whole lot more than 6mpg.

[Cakemeister]

What this thread needs is a picture of Pops, Gold 5 in Star Wars Episode 4, with the caption, "Stay on topic!"

[Hoopz]

Porkins?

[Cakemeister]

No, this guy, Pops (Gold 5), with the caption changed. Porkins is Red 6 IIRC.

[Hoopz]

I knew who you meant.  I like Porkins better.  Poor, fat slob who gets obliterated while fiddling with his controls.  Plus, throwing the picture up was easy. 

I should have said how about Porkins instead...

[Level42]

The most important factor in safety is never the car, but the person behind the wheel. All the other things are trying to minimize damage, but it's better to prevent it.

And we all know the US doesn't have the toughest driving license demands in the world.

[Cakemeister]

I knew who you meant.  I like Porkins better.  Poor, fat slob who gets obliterated while fiddling with his controls.  Plus, throwing the picture up was easy. 

I should have said how about Porkins instead...

What I don't get is how Porkins is supposed to eject, as Biggs suggested, without wearing a full spacesuit.

[HaRuMaN]

That's marketing material.  Doesn't have any real bearing on actual performance.  Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.

Is the 6mpg difference really worth the reduction in performance and safety?  If you have to be careful pulling out onto the highway because it has so little pickup you'd think the increase in efficiency would be a whole lot more than 6mpg.

Are you talking about the Fit or the Smart?

[ChadTower]

Are you talking about the Fit or the Smart?

Could be applied to either, really, but I'm more disappointed in the Fit than I am the Smart.  I thought Honda's next gen efficient car would be better than the Fit.

Level42 is right, of course, but even Michael Knight can get blindsided by an idiot driver going 50 in an Escalade.

[patrickl]

*I see 36 city, 40+ highway in mine...  YMMV

The European site for Smart rates it at 48mpg (mixed). I checked an average mileage site and the Smart (with actual fuel consumption stats from people who own the 2 seaters) average around 47mpg (range between 44mpg and 50mpg)

How come the US version is so much more thirsty?

[HaRuMaN]

@ patickl - I think that may have to do with the new EPA methods for calculating mileage.

@ Chad - there is no loss of performance or safety with the Fit.  Granted, there isn't a huge increase in MPG's...

[patrickl]

@ patickl - I think that may have to do with the new EPA methods for calculating mileage.

Well there are fuel reports where people actually do get only 36mpg from their Smart. Although that site mentiones 15 cases between 28mg and 49mpg. That sounds bizarre on it's own. The same car getting half the mileage compared to other drivers.

[mpm32]

The US versions had to add a bunch of safety features that are not required in the EU.  These added weight to the US version hence the mileage disparity.

[HaRuMaN]

Well, depending on how I drive my car, I can get anywhere between ~25and 36 mpg in the city.  Getting 25 requires a lot of jackrabbit starts and high RPM's (shifting gears in the 6000 RPM range).

I imagine the driver has a large effect on the Smart's economy as well.  Some of that variation will be because of engine to engine variation, but how much, who knows...

[shardian]

The driver's weight would have a large effect in that smart car. The difference between 1 skinny chic and 2 pudgy dudes can be 200-500 lbs!

And as for me, I wouldn't step foot in that tiny thing unless it got 60-70+ mpg. And does it really require premium gas?

[HaRuMaN]

Now this is interesting:

Other companies modify the Smart to use motorcycle engines, such as the Suzuki Hayabusa 1340 cc inline four-cylinder. These cars are known as Smartuki. The most powerful models can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 100 km/h) in less than 3.5 seconds.

[ChadTower]

I bet it still bumps its ass when it hops, though.

[patrickl]

The US versions had to add a bunch of safety features that are no required in the EU.  These added weight to the US version hence the mileage disparity.

Safety features? Like having the lights visible from the sides and a bigger airbag since seat belts are not always required in the US? I don't think the added "safety features" add much weight, but they did have to make it 2 inches longer in the back to fit the regulations.

With that, the US version is 75kg/165lbs heavier than the European version (1852lbs vs 1687lbs). That's only a 10% weight increase so I don't think it explains a 33% drop in mileage.

[DrumAnBass]

This thread is the first I had heard of the Suzuki engine mod for Smart Cars... Insane!!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi_CgGGDglY[/youtube]

Someone who lives near me has one pimped out with rims, limo tint, graphics etc... My thought is, why not just get a Mini Cooper if you want a little car?

[SithMaster]

I knew who you meant.  I like Porkins better.  Poor, fat slob who gets obliterated while fiddling with his controls.  Plus, throwing the picture up was easy. 

I should have said how about Porkins instead...

What I don't get is how Porkins is supposed to eject, as Biggs suggested, without wearing a full spacesuit.

Gah I can't find a link to the Gamespy Jek Porkins vs the Terminator Grudge Match.

I think the problem was he had his inertial compensators or something so he didn't know how low he was flying.  So my advice is to make sure you keep your sensors in working order while driving so as not to get struck by a lucky turbolaser emplacement.

Now this is interesting:

Other companies modify the Smart to use motorcycle engines, such as the Suzuki Hayabusa 1340 cc inline four-cylinder. These cars are known as Smartuki. The most powerful models can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 100 km/h) in less than 3.5 seconds.

So its useless for CTF then?

[ChadTower]

Someone who lives near me has one pimped out with rims, limo tint, graphics etc... My thought is, why not just get a Mini Cooper if you want a little car?

Why do people build MAME machines instead of just slapping a 48-1 in an ugly jamma cab?

[Hoopz]

I knew who you meant.  I like Porkins better.  Poor, fat slob who gets obliterated while fiddling with his controls.  Plus, throwing the picture up was easy. 

I should have said how about Porkins instead...

What I don't get is how Porkins is supposed to eject, as Biggs suggested, without wearing a full spacesuit.

Gah I can't find a link to the Gamespy Jek Porkins vs the Terminator Grudge Match.

I think the problem was he had his inertial compensators or something so he didn't know how low he was flying.  So my advice is to make sure you keep your sensors in working order while driving so as not to get struck by a lucky turbolaser emplacement.

I bet Biggs was trying to get the insurance money after Porkins ejects and dies.  They were a couple....   

[richms]

@ patickl - I think that may have to do with the new EPA methods for calculating mileage.

@ Chad - there is no loss of performance or safety with the Fit.  Granted, there isn't a huge increase in MPG's...

It will be the difference in gallons between the UK and the US that gives the different figures - 4.5 litres vs 3.8 litres.

[patrickl]

@ patickl - I think that may have to do with the new EPA methods for calculating mileage.

@ Chad - there is no loss of performance or safety with the Fit.  Granted, there isn't a huge increase in MPG's...

It will be the difference in gallons between the UK and the US that gives the different figures - 4.5 litres vs 3.8 litres.

In UK gallons the mileage (of the 3cil 1l 71bhp micro hybrid drive engine) is quoted as 64.2mpg

[Paul Olson]

I finally saw one of the smart cars last month. My Scion xA was huge next to that thing! 
A average 36 mph and I drive it like it is a go cart, so I have been pretty happy with it. My car is actually really fun to drive, and it is not really slow at all. How underpowered is the smart car?

[RayB]

What's with you guys driving only 35 and 36 miles per HOUR ? That's SO SLOW! 

[CheffoJeffo]

Someone who lives near me has one pimped out with rims, limo tint, graphics etc... My thought is, why not just get a Mini Cooper if you want a little car?

Why do people build MAME machines instead of just slapping a 48-1 in an ugly jamma cab?

'Coz they don't care about resale value ?

 

[koolmoecraig]

I repeat from the first page of this post...



That's what i would do

[RayB]

But did you see how easily that "Diablo" spins out?

[ark_ader]

After 15 months of waiting, my smart car arrived the day before Thanksgiving. I went to pick it up today.

I haven't driven it yet. The wife and daughter are hogging it. 

The attached picture is not my car, but it shows the color scheme.

Do you like the feel of the suspension?

[DrumAnBass]

What's with you guys driving only 35 and 36 miles per HOUR ? That's SO SLOW! 

Here in LA I commute 25 miles each way on the freeway and average 31mph. That is off peak hours - I leave at 9 and drive home around 7... That is life in overpopulated areas that have next to useless public transportation...

[TOK]

Do you like the feel of the suspension?

I've never been in one, but short wheelbases and smooth rides are tough to pull off. If its sprung stiffly enough not to bottom out all the time, I bet the ride is kind of choppy on rough pavement.

It is small enough to try to weave around the roughness I guess. 

[Cakemeister]

I think the ride is a bit rough.

But, a good bit of my commute was just repaved, so I'm in good shape there.

In January I'm planning to drive to Austin, about 2.5 hours one way, if the wife lets me. We'll see how the car performs on the highway.