Re: People's Car

This would be over 70 MPG

Will this car keep me safe in an increasing crowded hiway system in a large North American suburb? Will it's brakes and crumple zones and structural beams prevent me from paying millions of dollars in possible lifetime health care costs if I were to be in an accident in this "people's car"?

If it is in the US, it will meet some minimal standards. Ever see the crash video of the Smart? Takes quite a beating.

However, the Smart cars are not $2500 cars...

Safer not to leave the house at all. !

But, seriously, if you're planning for your accident, then maybe the tractor from an 18-wheeler.

You might get a Brinks truck at auction....

....a road grader !! Nobody messes with road graders.

I would be the first to admit I don't usually look up crash ratings when I go to buy a car. However, I don't think this "people's car" is for me. The $2500 price tag is quite nice, but they always say, you get what you pay for. The only good thing about it, is if it ever broke down, I could load it into the trunk of my Bonnie and take it home.

Have you guys ever seen the Smart Roadster? I'd never heard of it until I ran into one in Amsterdam......very sexy small car. I'd drive it!

I heard they are going to make kits and you can assemble them anywhere. They are basically like bikes. The traffic will sure be safer if you only had these kind of cars, bikes and trains.

On Jan 8, 4:25 pm, "The Henchman" wrote:

Actually the discusions about big and small reminds me of the discussions about the start of the PC. Nobody and especially IBM, like GM for cars back then, thought the PC would be any threat. IBM was god in the computer business, like GM was for the car business. Look at IBM now, hardly anyone knows what they used to be. This is happening with GM now. Will be interesting to follow this new PC - People's Car - and how it will revolutionize the Car business. This kind of trend has already started long time ago. People want small mass produced cars. You order a kit, possibly several, they only cost $2500 each so who cares about the big gusslers who cost a fortune to repair. These are like bikes and cost little to buy and who cares if they get stolen or need repairs. Just get a new one. I europe this trend has started much earlier. The taxes on fuel was set so high that small cars have been produced a lot. The trains made bigger and better. You can rent small cars or bikes by the hour. The big dealerships of expensive Cars will turn into small car rentals for train riders. Unfortunately in the US this trend is only just starting and everything geared around big cars. Like in IBMs case there still are super computers - like big trains - along small computers. GM could turn into a company that makes trains or they can become a big rental system. IBM went through a phase of making small computers. They were increasingly made in china until Lenovo took it over. Sounds familiar? GM is making small cars in china. This PC - People's Car - has been predicted for a long time. It actually starts tomorrow. So hold your breath and watch the start of the new PC revolution. I bet many of you di not think 20 - 30 years ago that you would ever buy a personal PC. Similar bet is that most of you already own at least if not several PCs. So it is not a question of if it is more of a when you get one or more new PCs - People's Cars. So look for the announcements tomorrow.

Wow, that is sharp looking. My last rental in Italy was a Smart ForFour. While not as smooth as my regular car, it was decent handling and 42 mpg (gas was $6.42, higher now). It had the automatic clutch. Convenient if you don't know how to drive with a clutch, but a real kludge performance wise when it shifted.

There is a Mercedes version of the Smart; I wonder if they will have the sports version also?