This is what I should drive

Looks like a Honda 50 step through mated with a Ccab Jeff

"8Njim" wrote..

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Very cute but where is the seat belts and the seat for the helper ??Is it good on gas as well...?

Lans>Looks like a Honda 50 step through mated with a Ccab

I wprked for a company for a short time that was working on an EPA grant at one end of an industrial park and on their own, similar, project at the other end.

We had something like this to run back and forth carrying tools, parts, and IDEAS from the EPA side to the $$$ side.

Karl

I don't know if they have hit the US market yet, but the Smart car has been sold here in Canada since the end of 2004. Right now, they seem to have a bit of a novelty value, but they predict sales of them for practical reasons will start to increase with $75-a-barrel oil prices as of late.

Craig

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Everyone I have spoken to who has a Smart just adores them, even after a year or so, and winter driving etc. To put it in perspective, people on PEI have nothing closer than a dealer in Saint John NB, or Halifax NS, each a good hard three hour drive away--the Saint John dealer sends over a service truck monthly to attend to their customers. One fellow in my area regularly drives to Halifax--gets 78 mpg (4/5 of that gives the US gallon equivalent) even at speed on the 4 lanes and through the hills, and has obtained about

83 mpg on tankfuls at times. Another fellow is 6 foot 5, and is very comfortable in his convertible Smart. Its the cheapest convertible on the market here--starting at about $Can19,500 to about $22,500 plus freight and taxes etc, and the coupe is exactly $3,000 less than the convertible, model for model. ($Can = $0.90+ US) They come incredibly well equipped for these prices, too, power windows, good CD, stability and traction control etc, even A/C. Gas here is about $5.40 gallon, diesel $5.00 gallon (US $/Gallon equivalent is about $3.90/$3.60). They may be small outside but even plus-size guys like me, 6'1", 42" waist) are comfortable. they can carry two of me with enough luggage for a week trip.

Of course, the new ultra low emission clean burning ULSD diesel-electric hybrids are the real economy answer, like the VW Blu Motion, Citroen-Peugeots, International D-E school buses etc. Too bad they aren't available in North America yet due to our sulphur laden diesel. The VW Golf D-E gets 118 MPG highway (so there, Prius!) Maybe after September 06 when ULSD finally will be generally available everywhere in Canada and the US...

George,

Would you really want to be on the highway in one though? They look like stand-up coffins.

Best, JoeH.

Yep, they do look a little "rolly-poly" unstable, but according to all the tests done on them, they have a high safety rating, much higher than some of the minivans out on the market. After looking at the construction of a Smart car, which has a steel cage that utilizes some of Buckminster Fuller's 'tensegrity' design principles to eliminate crumpling in the passenger area, I would suspect the key to survival in one is to be properly strapped inside should an accident happen.

Craig

I've seen them on Autoroute 20 in Québec zipping along at 120 kph/75 mph in heavy traffic. Rear (under the floor) 3 cyl turbo diesel over drivewheels, with a 6 speed auto or semi-automatic. Looks are VERY deceiving. One of the safer cars you can get. It has a 5 star, I believe, with a rollcage construction you have to see to believe. Traction control, stability control, just like their big Mercedes cousins (who owns SMART). In fact, they tested them for crash survivability head-on etc with full size Mercedes. Of course its very hard to believe, but they are very safe. Even the wheels/tires are specifically designed in as part of the crush/crumple zone. They are really nice. I thinking of getting one myself. The convertible is cute and surprisingly well designed to work well as a convertible, but for my money, the electric sunroof model-bigger than any sunroof I've seen in the last 30 years--is unbeatable.

Other advantages, plastic panels like a Saturn, but if you grow tired of the colour, you take it in to a dealer and they will change them. Takes a few hours, and costs much less than a grand to get a "paint job".

Jim Bartley on PEI--plus, they are very roomy for one or two people, even very large ones. Feels like a much larger car, oddly.

I've seen a video of one (Top Gear, British TV show) where they hit a solid 20 ton concrete barier with one at 70 MPH at almost head on and the car survived remarkably well. Here are a coupe of vids, the first is the concrete one

Watch the lower left of the vid when the car hits the wall, you CAN see the concrete shift a little... ?docid=-5529941528977657566&q=smart

Only thing is if you listen to the end of the video the commentator is saying that the likelihood of the driver and passenger surviving is small.

JoeH.

The driver 'is' the airbag for the passenger...

"JoeH" wrote...

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Top Gear used to be a great show, but fell off in quality after a while. The piece on the Avanti* may have been the apex!

To see what is closest to the old Top Gear, watch Fifth Gear on Speedvision around 4:30 AM somedays.

Karl

• I got a call on Tuesday that they needed an Avanti and background info for a shoot the following Monday. Very high quality.

Oh? I'm not trying to be a smarta** here, but the premise of that video-sight unseen- is a bit disingeneous, it ain't real life of hitting another vehicle. Simple physics. I just wonder how many regular production affordable price vehicles would let you walk after hitting a *solid concrete wall* at almost head-on at *70 MPH*?? Not many, I betcha, and certainly not a Studebaker, so don't try it . Two cars hitting head on, each going 35 mph (p mph), is a different proposition, due to energy absorbed in crumple zones of each. Hitting another car even head on is different from hitting a bridge abutement or a mountain wall. That concrete wall had no crumple zone, and neither was it able to move (much) in relation to the inertia/energy input of the car hitting it. Now, it they redid the video of a the SMART hitting a stationary vehicle, even a Mercedes or a Lada Niva, and the shock shifted the Merc or the Lada X number of yards to (help) dissipate the force, then I might consider it a valid commentary. The point I was making is that they are remarkably safe in spite of their "stand-up coffin" looks. Five star crash rating is five star. Jim Bartley on PEI

"JoeH" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@golden.net...

5th Gear???? That's right after the Keegle commercials and the Girls Gone Wild Commercials, isn't it? Jeff (Sleepless in Ocala...) Rice

Top Gear used to be a great show, but fell off in quality after a while. The piece on the Avanti* may have been the apex! To see what is closest to the old Top Gear, watch Fifth Gear on Speedvision around 4:30 AM somedays.