Daimler-Chrysler may bring this to the US, but would you consider buying one?

[JaneYoung]

wonder what the horn sounds like -
it would be cool if it was a major honkin' horn
not a little meep beep

edit: when I was in college I had a Rambler. I ordered and installed a horn that sounded like aa-oooo-gah. It was great. If I were to have to give up my big truck, I would want to have a big honkin' horn. Esp. if the robot is on the roof rack.

[josh s]

Although this car gets great gas mileage, how short do you have to be to fit in it? I am roughly 6'-6" and can squeeze into a Focus but this car looks like a Hot Wheels on steroids. I just can't see this thing doing to well.

[Rohith Surampudi]

I would by one...to use as a go-cart


and yea the fact i cant drive prevents me from bying one too

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by josh s

....this car looks like a Hot Wheels on steroids.

All the more reason to get one.

[Graham Donaldson]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

All the more reason to get one.

Agreed. They could definitely have a market in the big city areas and for new drivers, singles, and college students. Scion could have some competition, depending on the price.

[KenWittlief]

So is the Davinci Code Movie really just a 90 minute commercial for this car?

I saw some lady driving one backwards in the movie preview, going like 60!

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

I already drive a high mileage car, and I can't begin to describe the advantages of that gas mileage in the city.

I'd drive this...for a purely superficial reason. It's cute. Like a kitten!

[Pat Fairbank]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

I saw one of those behind me on the QEW on the way to GTR. I was wondering if that was capable of keeping up with the bigger vehicles on the freeway.

I was driving at about 110 km/h on the freeway here in Montreal one time, when a Smart car whizzed past at 130 or so. So if that's any indication, Smart cars can hold their own on the freeway (although I'm sure they'd literally go flying if involved in a collision).

[lukevanoort]

Originally Posted by David Kelly

Ever since they started talking about E85 6 months to a year ago, the price has shot up. Its been more expensive than regualar petrol recently in Indy, but I think now it's 10 cents cheaper now. (regular unleaded at bp cost me $2.78 two days ago).

I understand that it does not get as good of gas milage so it comes out as NOT being more economical than regular.

It's about ten cents cheaper here too. As I understand it, the point isn't to increase gas mileage, but to reduce emissions. Then, you get into the whole issue of corn being a very demanding crop. (I'm still waiting for ethanol from kudzu) There is another benefit of ethanol, it has a higher octane rating. I don't know specifics, I've heard it is about 110 octane for pure ethanol, but that isn't from an extremely reliable source. For turbo/supercharged cars that means lots more power, for others, more compression = more power.

[KenWittlief]

Originally Posted by Jane

wonder what the horn sounds like -
it would be cool if it was a major honkin' horn
not a little meep beep

I knew a guy who got sick of people pulling out in front of his Harley, so he put a 12V truck horn on it

some lady in a cadellac started pulling out in front on him a few weeks later

he blew the truck horn

she stopped and looked

she didnt see no truck

and she pulled out right in front of him

end of the harley, he landed about 60 feet down the street in some bushes.

the horn survived.

BTW, on the SmartCar - 75HP is a LOT for a car that small. The old '60s VW bugs only had 55 HP engines, and they could do 82mph flat out.

speaking of VW, they had a concept car a few years back, 2 seater with the passenger sitting behind the driver

if I remember correctly it got 100 km on one liter of diesel fuel. It looked sorta like the original batmobile

That comes out to 240 mpg!

[Andy Baker]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

speaking of VW, they had a concept car a few years back, 2 seater with the passenger sitting behind the driver

if I remember correctly it got 100 km on one liter of diesel fuel. It looked sorta like the original batmobile

That comes out to 240 mpg!

big woo...

High school kids in Indiana made a 1-seater that gets 1836 mpg at the 2005 Supermileage Challenge. Granted, that vehicle is using a 3.5 hp Briggs and Stratton engine, but that is still some thrifty gas guzzling.

Here are the Supermileage Rules. Lots of high schools in this area are into this competition, and it is well supported by our state Dept. of Ed.

Andy B.

[ChuckDickerson]

I just got back from Greece and these Smart Cars are everywhere over there. They are cute, I'll give them that. They would be great for short trips and city driving but that is about it as far as I am concerned. I'm just not getting in any car for a road trip on a highway or interstate that only has 3 lug nuts per wheel!

[KenWittlief]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

big woo...

High school kids in Indiana made a 1-seater that gets 1836 mpg at the 2005 Supermileage Challenge. ....

but this is something that could be put into production and driven like a regular car

not something designed to go around and around a test track at 18mph

http://vw.co.uk/new_devs/one_litre

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VW_1-litre_car

[Jay H 237]

The good thing about this car is that if it gets stuck in the snow you can just pick it up and carry it home! Or just flip it over and use it as a tobaggon.

Personally I wouldn't buy one. My Camry is the smallest car I'd like to own.

[evulish]

If I had a use for a car here in NYC, I'd probably get something like that. However, $76/mo, no insurance, no parking tickets/costs ($400/mo to park a car in the garage next door), and no car payments, for the subway makes me happy. With the way gas prices are going (even with smart cars), I doubt I'll own a car before I'm 30 (and I'll have saved that $100k or so it'd cost!)