Daimler to Sell Smart Cars in USA

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

The Canadian version of Smart car may be a better comparison than the UK version, but I still agree that it's way too little value for the bucks.

Space for parking convenience is the issue here. Can't argue with that. Other than price, everything else about this vehicle doesn't make sense most places here in the USA.

Might see it differently if I lived in a totally urban world with severe parking chaos and never took it on the highway.

My car gets 55-60mpg on my mixed commute. It's midized with most of the bells and whistles, air bags, standard length and width, 5 seater if a bit cramped with 3 in back. Cost about twice what the smart car costs but I really like it.

 

[Indexter]

Is it really that much better when parking is a problem? I mean, normally there's either a full space available or no space. Once in a while you might squeeze in if someone happened to leave too much space.

The only time the car is an advantage is when you find a spot with another smart car taking half the spot, and you get the other half. Right?

 

[ladelfina]

there were some other threads about this..
http://early-retirement.org/forums/index.php?topic=6645.0
http://early-retirement.org/forums/index.php?topic=7682.msg137791#msg137791

There is something to be said for consuming 50% of the gas you currently consume. If you are in a crowded city it also makes sense:

In Italy, and in much of Europe I imagine, they don't draw individual spaces for each car on the street or have individual metered spaces; there's a parking "zone" along the street and you pay by buying time from a ticket kiosk and displaying it on your dash..

The Smart car you can park head on to the sidewalk if you find a gap:

http://tinyurl.com/lzzzb

Inner-city developers may finally get their wish of offering a free micro car with inner-city apartments, saving them providing expensive garage space.

The egg-shaped Smart micro car is the latest weapon in the city apartment war. One Docklands developer is offering the "free" car for those willing to spend $25,000 for a half-sized parking space for it at the Condor development.

According to Condor developments general manager Rod McDonald, the 2.5-metre-long Smart is an ideal way to use otherwise useless garage space while offering a unique incentive in an apartment market that has softened over the past year.

 

[Texas Proud]

I would not want the one coming over here.... but would be interested in the convertable if priced right... but it is not going to be offered...

 

[JB]

I hope this is the start of a new trend toward smaller more fuel efficient cars. Does anyone know what the expected mileage is? It's a turbo-diesel, so that should help too. Plus, it'll run on biodiesel. My old Honda civic had 92 hp which was plenty powerful for my needs.

 

[mickeyd]

It's a gay friendly car.

It is a queer looking car, thats for sure.

 

[eridanus]

The Smart car you can park head on to the sidewalk if you find a gap:

In Paris, they just park it on the sidewalk.

 

[AltaRed]

Yes, you would be surprised how Smart cars get parked in Europe. Seen them in just about every situation, from right angles..like the pic in this thread, to the sidewalk, to the median, etc. Especially in Rome. They seem to get away with it too... as if it is socially acceptable to be driving this car. Having said that, Daimler has yet to make a profit on that division.

 

[bpp]

Someone at my workplace drives one of those things. Looks like an overpriced gimmick to me -- conspicuous consumption for the eco-minded. There are much cheaper micro-cars available if one truly yearns to become road-kill.

 

[mickeyd]

One of the worst films of the year IMHO was The Pink Panther with Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau. He drove a Smart car in that movie (I'm sure, for comic relief) and viewing that car was the funniest thing in this entire lame flick.

 

[riskadverse]

This sounds very much like the conversations I heard as a child about VW's. I don't think Detroit ever did wake up and see the trend. "Those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it"

 

[bpp]

This sounds very much like the conversations I heard as a child about VW's. I don't think Detroit ever did wake up and see the trend. "Those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it"

Except that the VWs were genuinely cheap at the time. The Smart car isn't. Cheaper alternatives exist for those who are truly budget- or ecologically-minded, and don't care about safety.

 

[Texas Proud]

Except that the VWs were genuinely cheap at the time. The Smart car isn't. Cheaper alternatives exist for those who are truly budget- or ecologically-minded, and don't care about safety.

Bpp...

I do not think it has been tested by the Insurance Institute, but I have read that this car is a lot safer than bigger cars... something to do with their shell... it is NOT as unsafe as some much bigger Hundai's or Suzukis or other unsafe cars... and some bigger SUVs are much more unsafe as they roll over easier..

I do agree that there are alternatives that are better at the same price... but for some reason people keep buying the Mini and I think that is way overpriced..

 

[Bimmerbill]

That isn't great fuel mileage. I get 42-44 mpg with the diesel Jetta I drive. It's small, but has a back seat and a huge trunk.

Fun to drive too!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Two plusses to small cars is that they usually have lower rollover risk and they tend to get pushed rather than hold their ground. Its a bit better to take out some of that (mass x inertia) on the tires and road rather than have a heavier vehicle stand its ground and absorb it in the vehicles frame.

Miata's have pretty good crash ratings. Big hairy metal beams in the key crash zones, almost no chance of rollover and something striking it will probably just push it somewhere. Hopefully somewhere good and not a wall, another vehicle or a pond.

That having been said, I dont think I'd like being in one when a hummer or a yukon or a jacked up pickup truck hit it and rode over the crash bars like a speedbump.

 

[Telly]

A while ago D/C had said that they were NOT bringing the SMART concept to the US. Now they have changed their minds... somewhat.

I read that they are not dealing them directly from C-D-J dealers, but instead are setting up a separate entity with Roger Penske.  Makes me think that they (D/C) are insulating themselves from the market and the public that way.  Maybe that keeps D/C's assets out of a SMART-car liability case?

The problem with a low-mass car that gets knocked out of the way by a high-mass car, is abrupt deceleration becomes abrupt acceleration in the negative direction.

To wit:
A large-mass car and a small-mass car hit head-on.
The large-mass car decelerates abruptly. The small-mass car decelarates even more abruptly. Then the small mass car accelerates rearward abruptly. The large-mass car pushes the small-mass car behind the point of original impact. The stresses on the occupants of the small-mass car are much larger than those of the large-mass car.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Thats if its a head on or oblique head on.

If the large car hits the small car from behind, it just feels like you found the other four cylinders...

 

[Michael Moore]

The "Smart" car seems an odd way to go when Japan already has a long history of a competitive market of keijidōsha or "Kei" cars. I think the first Honda 600s, the Subaru 360s etc that were brought over in the 1960s were kei cars.

The modern ones are quite sophisticated and I'd be quite happy having one for most of my day to day driving. They are RH drive, so that is an issue, but swapping that over is a lot more trivial than designing a whole new car.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keicar

cheers,
Michael