Posted on 02/26/2013 4:39:33 PM PST by jjotto
An inline, 3 cylinder, 1 liter, 70 HP, fuel-injected, DOHC gas-powered, liquid-cooled, automotive engine.
This is the same European market where auto sales declined something like 15% last year?
LOL! You would never be able to see that thing if you parked it on the 18th green.
If the site is accurate it has safety equipment and is being crash tested with an “anticipated” five star safety rating. But, there are no bumpers at all, so it’s not really classified as a car. The fighter jet seating, one front, one behind argues for it being classified as a motorcycle.
Now if you hit a grocery cart at slightly over 5 miles an hour in these new plastic fake cars you just about total them.
Yeah I saw that. Road bikes with 70hp water cooled engine would be in the 8 grand and up price bracket.
I commute about 28 miles to and from work each day. My Tacoma goes through about a $45 tank of gas every 4-5 days. As a primary vehicle - this just ain’t gonna cut it. But as a commuter car - it’s pretty hard to say “no”; at least for me.
Off the lot, taxes and tags I’m looking at ~$7500 for a vehicle that will set me back about $30 every 2 weeks for gas.
Comparing that to ~$90 every 2 weeks for gas for my truck, that’s a savings of ~$60 every 2 weeks or about $120/month. On a 4 year loan, that’s a monthly car payment of ~$165/month - discounting gasoline, that works out to a net payment of ~$50/month.
Now calculate wear/tear on the truck, tires and whatnot ... it does look attractive.
It depends on how you prioritze the numerous downsides - - safety (collide with a Harley and it’s about a tie), cargo space (picking up cement and lumber at Lowe’s?), and passenger capacity and leg room. My primary concern would be safety. I simply would not want my wife or one of my kids driving around in something that small.
Oh, not going to REPLACE this with my car/truck - for exactly the reasons you list. But for 65mph drives on a freeway to/from work - it’s pretty attractive. And with 3 airbags, a composite body and steel frame and more crumple zone than other vehicles in it’s class - it’s not that bad. We will see, but they are anticipating a 5-Star Safety rating; which is as good as it gets.
But, at it’s price point and 84mpg it’s a reasonable commuter vehicle; which I believe is it’s intent.
Good grief, whoever that is, they look like they should be wielding a fighting axe in a post apocalyptic thriller...
My roommate in school got a really nice 1959 Pontiac Catalina (around 1989/90). Another friend opined that it was the first car he could enter the rear door and walk to the other side (albeit stooped). The dash”board” was like 12 gauge steel, with a skull-melon exploding leading wing edge to it... It was AWESOME :-)
When I was 16, I took my Driver’s License Test in my Mom’s 63 Caddy Coupe Deville. It was 19 feet long.
When I pulled up to pick up the guy doing the Test, he shook his head and said, you’re kidding, right? My Mom was standing there cracking up.
The steering wheel seemed like it was 3 feet across, and with the 390 V-8 and three 2 barrel carbs, it hauled a$$.
I saw a Cadillac Escalade on Kreschatic street in Kiev last summer, but I doubt that would impress the Chinese.
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daniel-gross/why-buick-big-beijing-elsewhere-china-175445476.html
...GM Shanghai has two plants elsewhere in China, where it makes Buicks and Chevrolets, and has a total production capacity of 1.2 million cars. While it employs about 8,000 people in China, only a few are Americans...
...Having been deprived of so much for so long, China’s consumers accept clogged roads and bumper-to-bumper traffic as a sign of progress. And that’s keeping the assembly lines in Shanghai busy turning out Buicks. The plant runs two 10.5 hour shifts per day, nearly seven days a week, and can produce nearly 90 cars per hour...
cause she’s a blonde ,,, b...l....a....n...d...e.......
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