Is the smart car really very smart at all?

Question

I've seen articles about it, I was rather dissapointed with the gas ##s, I expected it to be like 50 or 60 mpg but instead it's average, same as a honda civic. And the price? Dissapointing too, also around the same as a honda civic or toyota corolla. And safety? Forget it. So why are so many people going to buy them? They don't seem that smart in my opinion, the only advantage is that there easyer to park. Just for liberals to feel good about themselves, in my opinion.

hahaha i know i'll get flamed for that last line

Answer 1

Nope. Car and Driver magazine did a full test on the Smart and it turned in dismal average fuel mileage. I'd rather buy a used Honda Civic -- save over 5K, gets nearly as good mpg and it isn't as ugly as Rosie O'Donnell.

Answer 2

Well technically, the lower end one starts at just about $11,000. The passion coupe is like $13,500. A new Civic is about $16,000. So a little less, not that much though.

Safety, yeah it is pretty unsafe for US roads, but i saw this video not long ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6t-yyoU...

I mean for a 70-0 in one second crash, that smart car's body did really good, but as you'll hear if you watch the video, its true that a person wouldn't take that impact very well at all. But that is true of pretty much any car, impact that makes a car go from 70-0 in one second would be almost certainly fatal in almost any car to the passengers.

I don't see why they relased it in the US though, your right the gas mileage isn't that great, safety might be OK, but your better off in a Civic than a smart car in an accident for sure.

The reason they probably sell though is hype, so many people made the car out to be "revolutionary" before it came out that a bunch of people went and put pre-orders on it. I don't get the hype at all, i like my Civic much better. But, the fact that the car is almost entirely made of recyclable material and its manufactured in a plant in france that operates on basically all recycled materials and even energy probably satisfies the environmentally friendly nuts out there.

Answer 3

It is the easiest car to park you will ever find.

Safety?  You obviously haven't done any research.  The passenger cage is one of the safest on the road today.  Mercedes did their own tests by running the Smart into full-size Mercedes, and nothing intruded into the passenger comartment at all.  The 2008 smart fortwo achieved the highest ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for front and side crashworthiness.

Price?  The base model starts under $12,000 in the USA.  The base Civic starts $3,000 higher.

Mileage?  40 mpg city/45mpg hwy.  The Civic is 25mpg city/36 hwy.  It takes a Civic hybrid to match that 45mpg that the Smart achieves, and that hybrid is $10,000 more expensive than the Smart.

All prices and figures are directly from the respective websites for Smart and Honda.