Smart cars may come to the U.S.

[elmwood]

@Mangetout

Did you watch it right to the end? They said that although the rigid steel cabin frame remained fairly intact, the small size of the car means there simply isn’t enough space to decelerate the cabin anything other than almost instantly.

I saw that. Even then, I think it provded that a Smart could hold up its own in an accident at lower speeds.

[Cerowyn]

@Argent Towers

I don’t understand why they don’t make these hybrid and electric cars less weird looking.

Smart Cars are not hybrid or electric. They are very small displacement (~800cc), turbocharged diesels.

Toyota is doing it right by offering hybrid versions of their regular lineup

Honda also offers hybrid versions of the Civic and Accord V6 (the latter actually makes 15 hp more than the non-hybrid version).

[Telemark]

@Cerowyn

Honda also offers hybrid versions of the Civic and Accord V6

And the hybrid Ford Escape and Chevy Silverado/GMC Sierra.

[Caffeine.addict]

I would love one of these as a second car. As it is now, I commute using our Honda Element and drop my wife off at the Metro. Should our work situation change, the Smart would be great for city commuting.

[DaddyTimesTwo]

Johnny L.A., no I don’t commute with the kids, but I might drop them off on the way, or pick them up afterward. Or I might drive to lunch with co-workers. A two-seater might work as a third car, but the second car has to hold everyone too. It’s just practical.

Damn it.

[Yeeter]

Okay, there is some hating going on in the comments regarding this over at autoblog.com (decent site check it out).

2006 SMART car.
2 seats.
Room for a couple of bags (squish).
3-start NCAP euro crash test rating.
4.7-4.8 litres/100 km fuel economy in Euro tests(current 45kw gasoline turbo engine, automatic) - not forgetting that the possibility of a diesel in the US is probably nil.
Price - estimated on autoblog comments previously, at up to $20,000 US.
Emissions - they’ll be able to make it pass the needed emissions by 2008 with the new Mitsubishi engine, but 660cc and a turbo thrashing about is not going to make things easy.

2006 Toyota Prius
5 seats.
A trunk (and split folding REAR seats for lots of room if only 2, 3 or 4 seats are needed).
5-star NCAP euro crash test rating.
4.3 litres per 100 km. fuel economy in Euro tests. (BETTER fuel economy than the SMART For Two).
Price from $21,000 US right now.
The car pollutes 11% as much as the current California emission requirement. Right now.

Yeah, it’s a real SMART car, all right.

Now this person had price comparisons wrong, I recall seeing the SMART was coming in between $11,850 and $14,000. But the crash test data is interesting.

[MacTech]

@Mangetout

Did you watch it right to the end? They said that although the rigid steel cabin frame remained fairly intact, the small size of the car means there simply isn’t enough space to decelerate the cabin anything other than almost instantly. The video concludes by saying that people inside both of the cars they crash tested would almost certainly have died.

Also bear in mind it was a 70MPH-0MPH deceleration that took place in one second, I’d hazard a guess that that rapid deceleration would be nigh-unsurvivable in any small car

the “Steel Walnut” did hold up admirably given the excessive forces encountered, looks like the SMART would hold up better in a lower speed collision/accident, I think it’d hold up better than my much larger '02 Neon…

Here’s how my car stacks up in a collision

I tried to find similar hard data on the Smart ForTwo, but wasn’t able to find any hard numbers, any European Dopers have hard data on the Smart crash test?

[Tully_Mars]

I heard this story on the radio this morning. My first thought was that this car (or a competitor) would be really suitable for towing behind a large motor home. Or maybe even inside, in a small garage compartment or something.

However, > $3.00 gas and diesel may shrink the market for anything related to large motor homes.

[teela_brown]

@Argent Towers

Besides the few quirky PhDs who are buying weirdo hybrid and electric vehicles, most people want a regular car.

Huh. I’m a dull, middle-class legal secretary with just an AA, and I drive a hybrid. The bay area is aswim with hybrids, mostly driven by just plain folk.

[Sunspace]

@Tully Mars

Or maybe even inside, in a small garage compartment or something.

I have seen an ad for a German RV that had exactly this.

[Ludovic]

@Argent Towers

Nobody wants to drive a vehicle that screams “DORK!” and the few people that do buy them are not going to make the difference in fuel emissions and gas economy that we truly need.

Hey, I’d rather have a car that screams “DORK!” than one that screams “ASSHOLE!” like the faceplate of the new style of pickups in the past 10 years. Preferably, of course, I don’t take looks into consideration when I buy my vehicle, like most people.

[enipla]

@Ludovic

Hey, I’d rather have a car that screams “DORK!” than one that screams “ASSHOLE!” like the faceplate of the new style of pickups in the past 10 years. Preferably, of course, I don’t take looks into consideration when I buy my vehicle, like most people.

Same here. I bought a new Pathfinder 2 months ago. I buy what I need. The people that buy cars for looks are mostly those that buy sports cars. I don’t really care. To each his own.

[levdrakon]

@Mangetout

Trouble is with Smart cars (which I admire and like in many ways) is everyone else - if you’re in your Smart car and you have an accident in which the other vehicle is a Hummer or some other such monstrosity, you’re just going to be a smear on the road.

As a motorcyclist, I’m well aware I’ll lose just about any collision with anything. The trick is to drive smarter and hope fate hasn’t recently drawn your number. Smart cars may not be for everybody, but you can be smaller than a Hummer and still feel ok.

[slaphead]

@Tuckerfan

For those of you who don’t get the ref. When the car was first unvieled back in the late 90s, a Swedish mag put it through a “moose avoidance test” (i.e. swerving to avoid an animal) and the car promptly rolled over like an SUV with a flat tire. They’ve since corrected the problem.

I seem to remember that was the Mercedes A-class, not the Smart?

[Poysyn]

We have them here. My Dad and I went to check them out. I love them and would buy one in a heartbeat if I had the cash. The salesgirl had a convertible and she drove around with her three year old, she just puched the seat all the way back.

They are surprisingly roomy, nothing is wasted space.

[Tuckerfan]

@slaphead

I seem to remember that was the Mercedes A-class, not the Smart?

Before I posted that comment, I googled to see if I could find a could article which described the actual incident, what I came up with were reviews of the Smart which dated from well afterwards, and all made reference to the Smart failing the “Moose test” back when, but not giving any details of the matter. IIRC, the A-Class and the Smart are nearly (note the use of the heavily emphasized qualifier) the same thing, much in the same way a Camaro and a Trans Am are.

[Telemark]

In this test a driver makes a sharp turn at the speed of 60mph(?) to simulate avoiding a moose. M-B was embarrased last year when its A-Class failed the moose test and had to spend over $200 million to modify and equip the A-Class with ESP.

From http://www.off-road.com/mbenz/faq.html

In late September 1997 ESC became much more prominent thanks to a rollover of the Mercedes European-market microcar the A-Class. During tests in Denmark a journalist rolled a fully loaded A-Class at 37 mph in what is commonly referred to as the “Elk” or “Moose” avoidance maneuver. In response Mercedes announced it would retrofit the A-Class with ESC as well as new tires and suspension components to prevent rollover. In addition Mercedes stopped production and changed the design. The recall was free to A-Class owners and was estimated to have cost 50 million DM ($23 million) for the retrofit and another 100 million DM to modify new models.

From http://www.safetyresearch.net/Library/SRS028.htm

[Tuckerfan]

This is the big one. Many observers think the outhouse-tall, short-wheelbase Smart looks tippy. **In development, it did fail the famous European “moose test” that requires a car to stay upright through a high-speed swerve. **

But on the road, with its wheels out at the corners and its low-slung, rear-mounted diesel engine helping to drop the centre of gravity, it feels surprisingly planted.

On the same stormy day that saw massive highway pileups in Ontario and Quebec, we buzzed up and down the Queensway in our Smart For-

Two tester. Like other traffic, we were nudged by the gusts of up to 80 km/h. But we’ve been pushed around more in minivans and flat-sided cars like the Volkswagen New Beetle.

How about cornering stability?

Working for the Smart is a Mercedes-derived anti-skid system added after the moose test to automatically brake individual wheels and help keep the car on the intended path.

(emphasis mine)

From here: http://driving.canada.com/research/viewroadtest.spy?artid=57530

So, if it’s misperception, it’s not uncommon.

[Sam_Stone]

@Trunk

Safety wise, I’m not really concerned about collisions with other vehicles. I drive a Subaru Impreza and I wouldn’t trust it in any two-vehicle collision much more than I’d trust a smart car.

The “safety” of that Subaru comes from it’s manouverability factors: all wheel drive system, and anti-lock break system. The Smart car looks slightly top heavy, too. I’d need to see how it handles in safety tests before committing to one.

You should trust your Impreza more - it was just rated the safest small car on the road. And it’s no lightweight - around 3000 lbs, which is right up there with most mid-size cars. So it’s got the mass, and it’s also extremely well designed from a crash safety standpoint.

[The_Big_Cheese]

I rented one in Scotland a couple years ago. It was ok. Had very little pickup, but could get up to cruising speed eventually. It was tiny, and I would feel very vulnerable on a highway with cars whizzing by at 75.
Parking them is a breeze. I remember seeing them in Rome where the driver just parked nose end first into a space, because they’re so small they still wouldn’t stick out into the road.

For $14,000…I dunno. I’d really check over some other ones first.