Now is a smart a viable choice...

So last night my youngest wanted me to check out the smart cars. So we swung into the local Benz dealer and that sat a new one that was un-locked and so I sat in it to show him how much room they had.

I swung my foot in the door and it hit something in the foot well. It was this strange thing to the left of the brake, it looked like...A CLUTCH PEDAL!?!?!?! I look at the stick in the center console and it has a funny H pattern with numbers that go up to 5 and a R!!!!

The 3 cylinder is turbo'd and it has a proper manual!

Is a new smart car now something to look at?

Um..no. Not unless you live in an urban area where you have to find street parking constantly.

Besides the available manual transmission, the automatic is supposed to have been improved. I also read they are four inches wider this year.

I don't really see many around anymore. It seems like when the fiat 500 came out it took all the sales

How young is your youngest? When my young'ns are of driving age, they'll get something pedestrian and depreciated, yet safe. Like a 5 year old Focus, Corolla, Civic, Cruze, etc.

The only thing that depreciates faster than a brand new car, is a brand new car with a teenage driver.

A Smart car has never been a viable choice for me, but there are those that have them and love them. I find them humorous in that not living in a city, they are not really all that smart. If I were to drive around in a glorified golf cart I'd want it to get amazing mileage at least and they don't. I don't see anything to recommend these unless big city and parking are factors.

I like the idea of a smart for a teenage driver, they are very safe, most of the body is snap on plastic (good for the fact they are teenagers), they are two seat-er (only one friend along, not 4), they are not fast (0-60 a whopping pre-Dad modifying it 10.1 seconds), they have good space for the passengers (I am 6'5" and sit very comfortably in a smart), they seem to be reliable.

If you are a panic-y person who has to buy the baby a new car. It is a reasonable choice.

Depreciation should help with that too if you want to get a used one.

The front clip on them looks much better too.

The youngest is 7. He wants dad to get a two seater so he can ride in the front seat. I love my boys.

Tyler H wrote: How young is your youngest? When my young'ns are of driving age, they'll get something pedestrian and depreciated, yet safe. Like a 5 year old Focus, Corolla, Civic, Cruze, etc. The only thing that depreciates faster than a brand new car, is a brand new car with a teenage driver.

I agree. I bought my daughter an '05 Accent, and she just loves it.

I thought the Smart maker was onto something until I saw the ridiculously low mpg for what it was - it should have been well over 50 mpg. There are larger, safer cars that get better mileage, that don't cost any/much more. Now if they'd stuck a small turbo diesel in there...

I'd get one, and put a Hayabusa drivetrain in the back... like this... though I seem to have "drifted" a bit off-topic.

Don't forget, Smarts are actually not super safe compared to, well, any larger car.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/QXunnaaYtz0

In reply to Tom Suddard:

I use this exact same video in a training I do for auto claim adjusters.

Ain't physics a bitch?

Tom Suddard wrote: Don't forget, Smarts are actually not super safe compared to, well, any larger car.

And big cars aren't super safe compared to a semi truck.

And semi trucks aren't super safe compared to a train.

There are pluses and minuses to any method of transportation.

stuart in mn wrote:

Tom Suddard wrote: Don't forget, Smarts are actually not super safe compared to, well, any larger car.

And big cars aren't super safe compared to a semi truck. And semi trucks aren't super safe compared to a train. There are pluses and minuses to any method of transportation.

True. Just pointing out that safety ratings are relative to other vehicles in that class.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I recall hearing somewhere once that the Smart is designed to be super rigid with like zero crumple zone so that it basically uses the other car's crumple zone to absorb energy in an impact. That's all well and good I guess if the collision occurs with another car, but the last I checked telephone polls and trees don't have crumple zones.

I just don't see what advantage a Smart Car offers over, say, a Honda Fit.

Tom Suddard wrote: Don't forget, Smarts are actually not super safe compared to, well, any larger car. https://www.youtube.com/embed/QXunnaaYtz0

Yeah the problem is the dummies tell another story than the guy trying to sell larger "safer" cars.

This lie is why soccer moms are driving Suburbans instead of wagons.

Tom Suddard wrote: Don't forget, Smarts are actually not super safe compared to, well, any larger car. https://www.youtube.com/embed/QXunnaaYtz0

Christ, that's sort of hard to watch. That Smart car was literally thrown, and you also have to think where that car is going and if it's thrown into oncoming traffic.

I miss driving around in my P71, I got a Fiat 500 Turbo. However my average speed in my trips read 30mph. All in town, so I feel like having safety as a top priority isn't a big requirement. If I was on the interstate every day, I'd get a big car. No doubt. Right?

In reply to Coldsnap:

http://mpainesyd.com/idisk/Public/carsafety/paine_impact_speeds_jan07.pdf

bravenrace wrote: In reply to Coldsnap: http://mpainesyd.com/idisk/Public/carsafety/paine_impact_speeds_jan07.pdf

Dammit, I just knew there was going to be a study / statistic to disprove that. That take away I see though is do not get side swiped on drivers side. Otherwise you mostly screwed even at low MPH and big car.

Yeah, I spend 90% of my commute at 75 mph, hence the 300SDL.

Tom Suddard wrote: Yeah, I spend 90% of my commute at 75 mph, hence the 300SDL.

And with the traffic where Flight Service lives he will never see 75mph, 25mph is more like it. But if I lived in that area I would rather have a Leaf than a Smart Car.

Hal wrote:

Tom Suddard wrote: Yeah, I spend 90% of my commute at 75 mph, hence the 300SDL.

And with the traffic where Flight Service lives he will never see 75mph, 25mph is more like it. But if I lived in that area I would rather have a Leaf than a Smart Car.

Everyone speeds up to 75mph in between bumper to bumper backups on 66.

ProDarwin wrote:

Hal wrote:

Tom Suddard wrote: Yeah, I spend 90% of my commute at 75 mph, hence the 300SDL.

And with the traffic where Flight Service lives he will never see 75mph, 25mph is more like it. But if I lived in that area I would rather have a Leaf than a Smart Car.

Everyone speeds up to 75mph in between bumper to bumper backups on 66.

Guess I should have said average speed!

jstein77 wrote:

Tyler H wrote: How young is your youngest? When my young'ns are of driving age, they'll get something pedestrian and depreciated, yet safe. Like a 5 year old Focus, Corolla, Civic, Cruze, etc. The only thing that depreciates faster than a brand new car, is a brand new car with a teenage driver.

I agree. I bought my daughter an '05 Accent, and she just loves it.

That looks like an awesome first car to me. And a bigger smile than unwrapping a new iPhone 6.5 for Christmas. That's Good Parenting.

One of my coworkers, who earns a very good living, drives an ex-fleet '04 Accent with 400k miles. It's cheap and he likes it. Recently it dropped a valve seat, and instead of chucking the car, he got his mechanic to pull a JY engine and swap it for $800. To me, that carbon offset is worth about 5 Priuseses. Hyundai makes a great car these days.

That '05 Accent looks super clean.

Tom Suddard wrote: Don't forget, Smarts are actually not super safe compared to, well, any larger car.

Thank you for posting that. I am always upset to hear about parents buying their new driver kids a tiny car. Even with superlative safety engineering, it really does boil down to simple physics, and bigger is better.