When crysler sued smart car for bringing the fortwo to the us market. I was reading up on it and all smartcar had to do was change the front bumper and one other minor change and it was legal to sell here.

Dodge you old mopar fan you got a smart car in your stable yet.

 

I would rock a smart car like this one.

YouTube - Smart Diablo
YouTube - Smart Diablo vs. Ferrari ! INSANE ! CRAZY CAR RACE ! WOW !

Well at the go cart track.

 

the panzer faster them that

 

Yeah sure Joe with its 600HP IDI huh?

 

no the panzer is 1200 hp the new truck is 600hp plz get it right

 

I'm with joe on this one. It takes a great deal of self control everytime I see one of those cars on the same road as me. They are just pathetic for anything other than dense urban commuting where parking matters more than handling or even fuel economy.

The smart has all the aerodynamics of a brick and the build quality is not great either. I'd sooner go for that diesel fiesta or even the diesel cooper mini. They get very close to the same mileage anyway. If I had to choose a car from north america, I would go with a honda CRX, 1st generation insight, or a saturn (all used, of course).

There are two vehicles that I have a livid hatred for.

1, is the hummer H2 for destroying an otherwise good all terrain vehicle brand by turning it into a gas guzzling suburban status symbol (or should I say, male compensation symbol), and

2, the smart car for being good for nothing but the inverse status symbol that the H2 hummer was. "hey everybody, look at me! I'm driving a poorly built, ugly, useless, over priced piece of......because I care about the planet and you don't!"

I saw a smart car do a cold start once and the thing dang near fogged the whole parking lot. The first versions available in canada were diesels, because the gassers wouldn't meet emissions. Seriously, that POS put my truck to shame in terms of smoke.

My self respect prevents me from driving either of those two vehicles.

 

i love crushing them under my tires lol

 

I have a term for sub compact cars like the chevy aveo and toyota yaris - Popper cars.

Popper cars, because when you crash into them, there isn't enough metal to hear a BANG, so all you hear is the air bags going off - Pop-POP!!. Fling your truck door open to carelessly and hit one of them, same thing....when the car lands on the other side of the parking lot...Pop - POP!! Kick the door, Pop - POP!!, sneeze in the general direction of the car...well you get the idea.

Smart cars are one step below that, I don't think I can get away with posting what I call them here on the forum.

Compact cars have their place if built properly, but subcompacts like the smart take it way too far and I will make it a sport to tear a strip out of them. I guess they might be fun as a go cart, but I'll never drive one.

 

I take it you didn't watch thouse videos I posted the links to. I wouldn't drive a smart on the road in any form just think if it got hit by a CRX it would be like my truck hiting a mustang sised vhicle. And if a truck like mine hit a smart there would be nothing left of the smart. I want one of thouse diesel civics they sell in europe 90 miles per gallon! US gallons at that.

I still love how a carburated CRX gets better millage than a prius hybrid. I did ride in a prius at UTI there were five people in it and 3 of them were well over 200lbs I was actualy quite impressed by the power it had with all the wieght in it. I smoke a BMW m3 my budy was driving because one of thouse big guys was in it, I was in a 92 integra I got on it as we turned onto a street not even compleetly floored and he told me later he was pedal to the metal trying to get on my bumper and I walked away from him, just to put in perspective the amount of wieght in the prius.

 

One of the people that I worked with last summer had that little bmw 2 seater, looked good but performance was terrible.

The first smart car I ever seen was up in your country David at 100 mile house, I had to pull over and walk half a block to look at it. It was before smart car started importing them so it was actually a fortwo cause three couldn't fit.

But I want one I could haul it around with me sidways behind the sleeper and sorta have wheels when I am laid over.Wouldn't loose much payload either.

 

The prius does have advantage in a case like that because of the CVT and electric motor power assist. But if you climb a long hill through a mountain pass with a prius, you will see what the weakness of the design is. once the small battery drains, you only have about 65Hp from the engine which now also is trying to recharge the engine. When everything is charged, though they have a VERY wide power band and are able to accelerate well even without as much horse power as other cars of similar size and weight.

I will admit its probably the best example of a parallel hybrid out there today, but its still not good enough even if I could afford one.

Yeah I did see that video, but still seems a little silly. However realize that this is comming from a guy that has never done a burnout in his life, so maybe I am just boring that way.

 

I know you ain't serious NO BURNOUT EVER comeon.

 

I've been known to break traction on wet pavement (did that into 3rd gear with bald tires), but never a true standing burn out on dry asphalt.

 

The M3 would keep up with another guy in my classes ls1 one camero without the lardo in it.

Seriously no burn out?

 

Ford is bringing the Fiesta to the US in 2010. What engines will be offered, I dunno.

When I had the wife's Edge serviced last month, the dealer was passing out two brochures. One for the coming F150 Raptor, the other for the Fiesta.

This will be the second time around, as Fiestas were sold here in the US in 1978/80. Sales were poor, because no A/T was available.
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Diesel Rangers in Australia?

Rangers were available with diesel engines in the US in the mid 1980's.

Two different diesels were offered, one from Mazda, one from Mitsubishi.

Sales were slim and none, so neither lasted no more than a couple of years.
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I've never read anything about Chrysler suing Daimler for bring the Smart to the US.

Seems kinda odd, since Daimler still owns 19.9% of Chrysler. Cerberus Capital Management LLC owns the other 81.1%.

Smarts had to meet EPA and NHTSB standards before they could be brought to the US.

In Europe, these cars have rudimentary smog devices, so emissions stuff had to be added.

Bumpers were changed, other safety features were added.

Most Smarts sold in Europe have no A/C, other features that Americans want.

It takes several years of dealing with the EPA and the NHTSB, before a foreign vehicle can be sold in the US.

My next door neighbor bought a Smart. His other vehicle is a Hummer H2. One extreme to another.