The Mirth-mobile ugly?
Posted on 11/19/2007 9:00:06 AM PST by Slapshot68
"The Smart's base price is $11,590, and a fully loaded Smart Fortwo Passion convertible goes for $16,950. The 1,800-pound car gets 40 miles per gallon."
(Excerpt) Read more at biz.yahoo.com ...
“Honda Civics used to get close to 60 mpg.”
Only the HF (High Fuel economy) models, and only on the highway. With a 5-speed manual and a 1.5 litre engine that would barely pull the skin off a rice pudding.
My ‘85 Nissan Micra would return similar numbers, with its 1280cc engine and 5-speed manual.
Fact is, though, most everyone these days wants more than those vehicles deliver - more power, more features, more safety equipment, bigger wheels, more interior space, etc. All of which have a negative impact on mileage.
What a bunch of fools. My 2002 Saturn gets between 35-40 MPG on the highway (and so did my 1992 Saturn). Except when they start putting ethanol into the mix, then it is only 30-35.
I was just looking at the Canadian Smart Car site, and it appears it now has a gasoline engine. I could almost swear that the one the lady I work with owns is a diesel (CDI?) and gets significantly better mileage than that.
video of crash test...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6t-yyoU8s
You got that right. Actually, the car looks lighter than air so you'd probably just pick up a good tail wind and fly across the the UP.
“a 1996 Ford Aspire”
First time I was driving behind one I had a laughing fit at the name. Good milage though.
Reminds me a lot of the old GooGoo Mobiles in Germany in the late 50’s. The front end was the single door to the vehicle.
Ok, here’s a serious question (sort of) - How many Smart Cars does it take to tow a 5,000 lb. boat to the lake for a weekend of boating?
Reminds me of a comment I heard made on the NPR radio program Car Talk years ago. “Ah, the Ford Festiva. The only car that should come with a funeral wreath as standard equipment.”
That’s the ugliest car to grace the highways since the Pacer. The Aztec held the previous record for butt-ugliness since the Pacer. It’ll be a century, I reckon, before we see something AS ugly as the Pacer.
The Mirth-mobile ugly?
That would be the one, yes. To me, it’s what made it so...Mirthy.
You know (hopefully) perfectly well I was using the word jeep as a general term for a type. I certainly do not assume that everyone who says they own a jeep is talking about owning a cartoon character from Popeye.
I don’t get it either, my VW Jetta Turbo diesel gets the same or better mpg, has 4 seats, a trunk, some margin for safety in a crash and has a similar pricetag.
I get 16 around town and 30 highway, but who cares?
Or a 45MPH wind gust ;-)
That tin can gets only 40 mpg? I bought a 1996 Honda Civic hatchback with a 1.6 litre engine and 5-speed transmission. I routinely get 40+ mpg at 70 mph.
I can think of three reasons that fuel economy is worse now:
1. A/C is now so common that it’s difficult to find a car without it.
2. The cars have more powerful alternators because there are more electric accessories in them, and in the case of Canadian cars they had to beef up the charging systems to power the mandatory daytime running lights. Most cars need a couple of hundred watts more power than they did even a decade ago.
3. 10% ethanol blend is fairly common now, which reduces mpg on all cars (including older ones) by 3%.
If every liberal drove a Prius we would use less fuel and the price of a gallon of gas would be $2.00. I just wish more liberals would buy them.
Not just the EPA killing it. The biggest problem is that the American automakers are so bad at doing diesels that consumers have soured on them.
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