Can you identify this car?

[bbbamI]

This is the Smart Car. Now, I love small cars, but this one might be too small! There's a black and yellow one in our area, looks like a large bumblebee.

DH keeps saying he's going to get one of these cars for my use. I think he's trying to get rid of me.

 

[brewer12345]

DH keeps saying he's going to get one of these cars for my use. I think he's trying to get rid of me.

Yeah. Give me 3000+# of steel and plastic around me or I will just stay home.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

DH keeps saying he's going to get one of these cars for my use. I think he's trying to get rid of me.

Well you two ride a motorcycle. Not much difference Just wear a helmet.

 

[Sue J]

Is this the guy that's been stalking you Sue?

No, no, no. It's a mom taking her kid to the elementary school 2 blocks away. I'm the school crossing guard and I watch cars while I wait for kids who are walking.

I may just have to approach her at the stop sign and ask her what the car is.

I'm just stumped because there is no model nameplate. It just looks too small to be a Sportage, but if older ones were a lot smaller, maybe that's what it is.

 

[harley]

I do wish that SOME language was mandatory to get a high school diploma. Way back when, I had to demonstrate competency in a foreign language to get a bachelor's degree (it was sufficient for me to pass one semester of junior level French), and I had to pass the GSFLT (foreign language standardized test) to complete a graduate degree. Now, it seems that foreign language requirements have vanished.

DD had to have a couple of years of foreign language to graduate HS in 2004. I, OTOH, got all the way through HS and college back in '78 without a foreign language at all. I think it has to do with the local school system, and more than likely is influenced by available budget. We may be seeing quite a few curricula fading away in a few years.

Now, I regret not learning a language before. I'm trying to learn Spanish now, but it's tough. Especially self paced computer based. I have no discipline.

 

[NW-Bound]

I took French all the way through school.

Surely, you would have a favorite French song to share?

Shall I post another youtube song here by Sylvie Vartan and risk being called a worse thread hijacker than I already am?

 

[Buckeye]

The side view looks like my old Ford Festiva.

 

[mickeyd]

I'm the school crossing guard

Thank you for your service Sue.

 

[Telly]

The side view looks like my old Ford Festiva.

I thought so too at first glance. The Festiva, imported by Ford, was made by Kia in Korea. But the Festiva, IIRC, had only two pieces of glass per side, right? The fuzzy cellphone pic looks like three, if not four, pieces of glass per side, at least to me.

I was almost repeatedly run over by a first-gen Sportage when I was out for my daily walks a year or two ago. It was driven by a wild house cleaning person in a hurry to get on to the next job, safety be damned. I never got a good look at the side view, I was just trying to avoid getting a close-up of the front view!

 

[F4mandolin]

Thought about the smart car myself (live in the UK). But for the price it just doesn't make sense. You can buy another small car that gets as good or better gas mileage, more room, 4 doors, dependable.....Toyota Aygo. Couple thousand pounds less. I drive a Honda Jazz (Fit in the US) and would buy another one....likely will when I retire back to the US in a couple of years.

 

[Sue J]

Yes, three pieces of glass per side.

I saw it again this morning and I agree, I think it's a Sportage. There is no spare tire on a bracket on the back like most Sportages have. I looked carefully today and there is also no hinge to support the bracket that you'd expect to be there. That's why it didn't look like a Sportage to me.

Thanks for playing along.

 

[Meadbh]

This is an aside, but is it mandatory that Canadians from Anglophone provinces learn French in school? Are you taught by Canadian Francophones, or anybody off the street, or speakers hired from France?

Since I didn't grow up here, I'll take a stab at this but don't quote me. In Canada, French and English are both official languages and people have a right to services in the official language of their choice. Education is governed at the provincial level, so the details vary from province to province. Basically, most schoolchildren in Anglophone areas have access to French classes, often starting about grade 4. There are also French immersion schools which are quite popular, as being bilingual is a definite asset (e.g. for government jobs). There is no shortage of French speaking teachers and there are several Francophone universities.

New Brunswick is officially a bilingual province and has school systems in both official languages. Quebec, of course, has French culture as a raison d'etre and favours French. There are Anglophone schools, but only children whose parents went to Anglophone schools are entitled to be enrolled. All other children in Quebec, including children of immigrant families, must attend Francophone schools. Most well educated Anglophones in Quebec are bilingual. Most children of immigrants in Quebec are Allophones (i.e. they speak French and their mother tongue). Most Francophones in other provinces are bilingual. Most Anglophones outside Quebec tend not to be bilingual though of course this country is a cornucopia of languages from Arabic to Ukranian! In addition, there are several Aboriginal and Inuit languages which are unfortunately declining.

BTW, I grew up in Ireland and learned French from two excellent teachers (one Irish, one French) in high school. It was compulsory to study Irish, English and at least one other language. I studied French and Latin. French would be my second most comfortable language and I am conversant but not fluent in it. If I lived in Quebec I could become fluent in French within a year.

Here's an interesting article on bilingualism in Canada: http://www.clo-ocol.gc.ca/html/jedwab_biling_e.php

 

[TromboneAl]

Here's yours and a 2001 sportage: