The Smart was designed by Swatch, and intended to be a fashion accessory. Practicality wasn’t a primary design goal.
Making a very small car for use in crowded cities wasn’t a primary design goal? It just happened to end up that way to make it prettier?
That’s not really an ugly car. It is even slightly reminiscent of the BMW Isetta.
No, for true sadness, tragedy, and horror, one must turn to theGatsby 2000.
Pregnant women, children, and those with a weak constitution must not look upon the Gatsby 2000.
The Smart isn’t a conventional “city car”. It’s a 2-seater, which severely limits its utility and makes it more of a fashion statement.
Examples of mainstream city cars include the Fiat Panda, Toyota Aygo and Volkswagen Up!.
Untrue, but thanks for assuming that our disagreement proves that I’m some sort of idiot who doesn’t know what words mean. :rolleyes:
That’s nice. It’s also totally unresponsive to my post. I didn’t deny that BMW made a decision to style the car the way they did, nor did I claim that people don’t make decisions based on aesthetics. I merely mentioned that electric cars do have some cosmetic limitations that ICE cars lack and criticized people who care more about form than function. Speaking of, I have no preference for “spartanism.” A spartan car would certainly lack amenities, which I specificially listed as a requirement. I’m beginning to believe that you don’t know what words mean.
I agree. It would be ridiculous to believe that. Again, I never made that claim. I did criticize those who prioritize a factor that has no actual impact on their usage of the car. Speaking of:
You obviously belong to this class, as the Smart Car is a case of aesthetics triumphing over practicality. Larger cars get better gas mileage and are more comfortable while costing less. Only in bizarre edge cases does the Smart Car driver benefit from the slightly smaller size.
Are you always this ornery, or does the subject of car design arouse special passions that you just can’t control?
It looks okay to me. No worse than any of the other new shit out there. The iconic grill is a little squished, though.
Mod Note: Keep in mind which forum this is in.
- Gukumatz,
IMHO Mod
Like cities such as Berkeley and San Francisco, where parking space is at an extreme premium. SF has parking spaces (which, granted, would have previously not been available at all) that are markes “Parking for motorcycles and SmartCars only.”
uh, and? Unless you have some insights into what design tradeoffs Tesla was willing to sign up to, this is not a response.
Even in those cities, and even with that huge advantage in parking, there are very few people who choose this 2-seater over a more practical 4-seater hatchback.
The former. 
That’s definitely a very specific edge case. Around here those spaces are marked as motorcycle-only.
The i3 is styled as it is to make a statement. They could have dealt with the aerodynamics in ways that do not result in the i3’s final appearance. BMW is targeting a customer who wants everyone to instantly know the the vehicle is “green” and not a conventional car.
Hey, hey now, those are fighting words to a Cincinnati Bengals fan!
