If you want a tiny car, you might as well be cool about it.
Posted on 06/23/2008 12:50:55 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
As a regular combatant in the daily grand prix on our local roadways, I have received many one-fingered salutes from my fellow motorists, all well-deserved.
But from my first joyride in the new Smart car I brought home a month ago, the only salutes being flipped in my direction are a steady stream of thumbs-ups.
It's possible that some people are waving goodbye.
Enthusiasm for the new microcar from Mercedes appears to be exceeded only by the expectation that anybody crazy enough to drive one will soon be pulverized by a passing Peterbilt.
The question about the car I get most often, in fact, is whether it's even allowed on the highway. People seem to think it might be better suited to puttering around a golf course.
Like a lot of early adopters - there are about 10,000 Smart cars on the road nationwide, and San Jose and San Francisco are among the top 10 markets - I hated the car at first.
There had been some whiny reviews in automotive magazines suggesting the car accelerates like a wind-up toy, and like so many others who have grown accustomed to driving preposterously over-powered, high-performance cars, I wanted my mojo back.
But that's sort of the point, isn't it? Who needs a car that can go from 0 to 60 in six seconds?
Power and fuel efficiency are a zero-sum equation: You can't have more of one without less of the other.
Yet nobody, including me, is eager to concede our God-given right to treat every city street like a drag strip.
I liked the idea of owning a fuel-efficient Smart car, but did it really have to take 13 seconds to get up to freeway speed?
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Yes it is better to cruise onto a highway and expect other drivers to slow down so you can merge in at 25MPH.
I bet all the women love a man driving one of these. What a great pickup car. lol
Haven’t you heard?
Having children is not eco-friendly.
It's not just a question of being crushed by a passing Peterbilt, as the writer archly puts it. You could be flattened by a Honda Civic in that thing. Also, the low profile puts your head right in the plane of impact.
I used to investigate MV accidents, and I have no desire to wind up on somebody else's clipboard at the morgue on account of trying to save a few bucks on gas.
Not to mention that the price of the thing is so inflated that it would take the entire depreciable life of the car to get your money back. You'd be better off saving the money up front and buying a Toyota Corolla or better yet an old Volvo four-banger with good crashworthiness AND mileage figures.
“..what’s a woman to do when she needs to haul her five year old to the pediatrician and her 70 lb rottweiler to the vet?”
Keep the Odyssey and combine your trips to save on miles. (Dog medications and children’s meds can’t be THAT much different!)
That is hilarious. Good one...
My dad gets phenomenal mileage with his cars too. He lives out in the country and most of his driving is done at 45 mph with hardly any stops.
I’m guessing they have to be a little safer than motorcycles, no? And a little nicer in inclement weather, too.
I guess I should do what any good, child-hating lib should do and strap her to the roof rack? I've got the bungee cords and duct tape.
What about child seats. Those things are so big you have to have an SUV or van to use them.
“but did it really have to take 13 seconds to get up to freeway speed?”
That Tonka Toy shoulden’t be allowed on the freeway!!!
I pick ‘em out of my H2.
If you want a tiny car, you might as well be cool about it.
I actually saw someone driving one of these on the highway. Rush’s song ‘in a Yugo’ comes to mind.
Should anyone want more zip my cousin says he can drop a 400 HP V12 engine in one of these. A little bit will stick out of some but it’ll solve you acceleration problems.
There are a couple of these things running up and down I-270 in Maryland each day. They look exactly like clown cars.
Ouch!
Most assuredly anyone that would like to go from 0 to 60 in six seconds DH!
Every time I see one in town (ther are maybe two where I live), my reaction is “It is sized appropriately for burial of the victim.”
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