Letters to the Editor
-
MO-RONS
"Besides, we're not Europeans. We don't drive cars that resemble toy poodles."
Don't forget to add to this list a lot of other stupid ideas that Americans believe.
-
We have one
My other half is about to leave for work 230km away. On that drive she will obtain just over 60mpg average. We used to live in a city where most driving time is spent sitting at the lights - 45 mpg average. Those are real world numbers from someone who has done over 50,000km in the car.
On highways alone it is very snappy - ours is a 62hp version. It isn't so much fun with a passenger. It is confortable on smooth roads.
We are getting rid of ours for a 55mpg diesel - gasolene is $1.97 per litre, diesel $1.71.
-
Canadian experience
Here in Edmonton Alberta (the Texas of Canada) the Smart car is very popular. Folks I know who drive them say they do just great in the snow (only arterial roads get ploughed in this town).
-
I was T-boned last June
and if I hadn't been in an Audi TT (or a car with an equivalent safety factor,) I'd be dead or a parapelegic. The car was totalled but all I have is some back pain. AND, All I was doing was waiting at a light, it turned green for me, I looked left, saw a guy running the light, continued staying still, he hit the car coming the opposite way to me and richoched off of it into my door. So, if you want to buy a rollerskate and take your chances, that's your call. I know I certainly wouldn't.
Oh, and I replaced my TOTALLED 2004 Audi with a 2007. It's nowhere near as pretty,(To me, everyone I know loves it.) but I know I'm in safe hands.
-
Why Only 40 MPG?
In 1980, my father was a salesman. His franchised territory was Southern California. Gas prices had gone up a great deal, so he got the most economical car her could find, a VW Rabbit diesel, in which he achieved 45-50 miles per gallon. And that was 27 years ago, without the advantage of an onboard computer like cars today.
Today, in 2007, Chrysler sells a PT Cruiser in Europe that is advertised as achieving over 40 MPG. And MINI is selling a version of Cooper that gets 60 MPG. Yes, they're diesels. And at the prices we'll be paying for fuel for a while, what's wrong with that?
So the Smart car really doesn't rock my world too much. I'm wondering why a car so small doesn't get better mileage? And I wonder why I can't buy a PT Cruiser or Mini Cooper D that gets the same or better mileage then the Smart car?
-
Caw, Caw!
It looks like a very nice car but I will be unable to drive it with my talons and beak, because I am a crow. Guess I'll be flyin'.
-
D Robert
Canada, which has distances which even Americans can't imagine. Driving from Montreal to Toronto...
What a bunch of fools...
-- D Robert
Canada has distances Americns can't imagine? Have you ever driven between New York and San Francisco?
Interesting for someone to be so arrogant and dimwitted at the same time.
Having said that, I know these cars well from life in Europe. They're perfect for some places (SF, Boston, Manhattan, etc) and not for others. Seems pretty simple to me. Part of this is the all-or-nothing marketing mentality, the "will they sell?" question is such a blanket way of putting it. Yes, some will. Not everywhere, but some places. Many years ago people thought that Japanese imports with their relative small size would never sell either, and they simply took off. This is just the next step.
-
Two philosophies, and never the twain shall they meet?
Europeans prefer agility and snappiness over raw power. The traditional american SUV is more or less the antithesis of everything a european want's in a car.
Europeans want to drive their cars, not cruise in them. Boats are boats and cars are cars.
Ask yourself, if you had the means to buy a fullblooded sportscar, would you go for an american model? Nope. Didn't think so either...
-
The Professor predicts the Smart Car will flop
just like the Volkswagen Beetle. Obviously the Professor doesn't remember the 1960s, when the Beetle became the best-selling car model in history and the best-selling foreign car in the US.
-
Staving off human extinction sounds nice...
but do you really imagine the 21st Century American Male SUV-ego can cope with such public shrinkage?
Guys, let's think long and hard on this. On the one hand we could preserve human civilization, but on the other hand --tiny cars?
We'll get back to you.
-
And what happens to my wife and babies
if we suffer head on collision with a chipmunk?
-
Too Little Too Late for Too Much
I lusted after one of these about a decade ago when they hit Europe as the Swatch car. By the time Canada got them & they talked about the Smart SUV for REAL Ahmuhrican's super-sized tastes, I just gave up & made other plans. I wish Smart-USA belated success, (Good Luck with that - really) but I'll be watching from my Toyota.
-
Revenge Of The Mini-Cars
Every time I'm on the Expressway, driving in the right lane and close to the speed limit (perhaps 60 in a 55 zone), I'm enevitably followed right on my back bumper by some clown in a monster Hummer, Escalade, Yukon or some other gas-guzzling piece of sh*t. My entire rear-view mirror is filled with American chromed-grill malevolence. I have dark thoughts about the cretins who insist on wasting gasoline/diesel by driving them.
By offering SmartCars, as well as other fuel-efficient vehicles, we have another sensible choice in America. Detroit just doesn't get it; they offer mostly huge SUVs and pick-ups that squander fuel and make the rest of us pay more for that fuel. Detroit counters that Americans want those huge SUVs, et al. Plus, they make a bigger profit per unit on that class of vehicle, so, there's no reason for them to change.
My vehicle, by the way, is a 2008 AUDI with a turbo-4 engine coupled with a six-speed manual tranny that gets 35mpg highway/29mpg city. It handles like a sportscar and has power to spare. Now, I only buy fuel-efficient vehicles and I only buy vehicles of quality: that translates to buying foreign cars only.
By buying a foreign car, I'm sending my own personal message to Detroit that I object to the lack of quality and the dearth of fuel-efficiency they deliver. The Smartcar reinforces that same message to them, imho.
When gas is either mostly unavailable or sells for $4 0r $5 a gallon, perhaps my fellow American SUV hogs will get the message, or, ever better, Detroit will begin building vehicles of quality and fuel-efficiency and cease production of those monster SUVs.