Buy my brother’s smart car
Heh.
16 Responses to “Buy my brother’s smart car”
Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.
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September 22nd, 2010 at 8:58 am
Alternate title: Death Trap!
September 22nd, 2010 at 10:01 am
They arent that bad. My bud has one, and for city driving, its cant be beat (by much else on 4 wheels… I’ll stick to my bike)
September 22nd, 2010 at 10:11 am
http://tinyurl.com/23pc2ku
Guess what that bit of scrap metal between the dump trucks is…
September 22nd, 2010 at 10:18 am
A Smart Car is not a car, it’s a glorified go-cart.
September 22nd, 2010 at 10:58 am
Jake, I think go carts go faster and provide more protection in the event of a crash.
September 22nd, 2010 at 10:59 am
I love the creative vision of the ad writer. I want that car now! Although, being car-less, I’d probably want anything you put in front of me.
September 22nd, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Put a Hyabusa engine in it, drag race, and win someone else’s car….
September 22nd, 2010 at 1:24 pm
We see a lot of them in Boston (Stupid people must live there!) And I point out I’ll buy one for my wife when she can drive again!
“Look hon! When that’s yours you can choose to take your lunch to work OR your laptop!!!”
September 22nd, 2010 at 1:27 pm
well, if it had the euro only turbo diesel engine that gets around 70mpg, or a Hyabusa engine in it with more horsepower than sensible in a car that weight, i’d consider it. otherwise-can get just as good mileage for less money, and have a backseat for 2 more people if you need a small car.
September 22nd, 2010 at 1:49 pm
A late-90’s Saturn SL1 with 100k miles costs $2k, has a backseat AND a trunk, gets comparable gas mileage (40+ mpg highway / 30+ city), and actually drives fairly well.
September 22nd, 2010 at 3:15 pm
No, Pat. A Smart, for all its myriad flaws and the sheer stupidity of buying one for almost anyone, is safer than a go-kart. It passes the same crash test requirements as every other production car sold in America.
(Contra bwm, I’d like to point out that if you’re sandwiched between two loaded dump trucks at speed in any passenger car you’re dead.
And that photo? Notice the five-lug wheel, not a three-lug Smart wheel?
It was a Ford Escape SUV.
Like I said, any passenger car gets you killed in THAT crash – except that, as the link shows, the driver survived, because the crash was off-center and only the passenger side of the car was crushed to pulp.)
September 22nd, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.
September 22nd, 2010 at 6:28 pm
I call ’em Tiddlywinks.
September 22nd, 2010 at 7:50 pm
“The driver of the Ford survived the crash and has since been released from the hospital.”
Wow.
September 22nd, 2010 at 8:36 pm
They made a Smart that was pretty. They did not send it to the US. That right there should tell you something.
September 22nd, 2010 at 10:14 pm
I own a Smart car; and while I found the ad amusing in its own way, it’s WAY over the top. Yes, the suspension is firm and crisp. Some people(including myself) like that setup. The cab is about as roomy as the one in the Zed Drei that I parked next to for a while at work – my 6’6″ father in law fits comfortably, and I’m not exactly a willowy type myself. And while it’s not Expedition as far as cargo space goes, I can get a standard-sized grocery cart’s worth of groceries home in it, with a passenger. As for getting up and going, it is peppier than my 4-banger Ford Ranger was; and that Ranger was no happier to drive behind a 18-wheeler or in a crosswind than the Smart is. The engine is governed to a max speed of 90 mph nominal (enthusiasts report 93), and I’ve had mine up to 85+ by speedo (haven’t had the opportunity to crosscheck by GPS).
Weer’d, I was up in your neck of the woods this weekend – my wife and I, our overnight bag, 5 pillows (we’re freaks), laptop bag, and sewing project bag all roadtripped from central Jersey to Hew Hampshire friday night, drove to Boston Saturday night, and home Sunday (visited friends and the USS Constitution). Average gas mileage was over 40 for the trip (measured by tripo and gas pump, numbers crunched by calculator), and I found it more confortable that our other car (a Taurus) would have been. (Which would likely have cost almost double in gas).
A Smart car is not appropriate for an only car in anything but the most urban of environments; but it’s not a toy. For around $16K final cost new (with extended warranty), I got a nice piece of german design, with a lot of little luxury touches (including heated seats and traction control), that is (or was 2 years ago) the cheapest non-hybrid-powered car to operate (per the EPA’s fueleconomy.gov – run the numbers). It’s my all-season commuter ride, and my commute is mostly interstate highway with no traffic but a decent number of heavy trucks.
Safety-wise, well, it’s a subcompact. An NHSTA 4-star-rated subcompact, with excellent marks from the IIHS as well, though. It’s certainly safer than anything else that has the fuel economy, probably safer overall than the 1992 Ranger I owned, and likely overall safer than my other current car (the 2002 Taurus).
Finally, that asking price is insane! Unless it’s substantially fancier than my model (as in has the leather seats, is convertible, improved sound, &c), he’s overcharging. You can get one new for that price with decent features. As for his performance complaints – it’s a manual transmission, drive it like one! (Also, get the software patch for the transmission, it smoothed out the computers shift patterns significantly).