Smart Car USA

[Dr. Shane]

Smart Car USA

Engineering and testing continues to take place on the vehicle that will be produced for the United States. The vehicle is designed to achieve 40 city/45 highway mpg according to 2007 EPA standards and 33 city/41 highway mpg according to 2008 EPA standards. The mpg rating for all vehicles will decrease in 2008 due to new calculation methods that the EPA has adopted. These methods involve measuring mpg while taking into account real life driving conditions such as start/stop city traffic, air conditioning, heating, etc. The gas tank of the smart fortwo is 8.7 gallons.

The smart fortwo pure coupe starts at $11,590, the smart fortwo passion coupe starts at $13,590 and the smart fortwo passion cabriolet starts at $16,590.

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[Doug]

I think I would rather drive the Toyota Yaris S. It can be had for just over $15K. I like small but thats too small.

[Dr. Shane]

The SmartCar is cheaper and gets 5 miles to the gallon more so for those looking to save money and drive "green," the SmartCar is still the winner.

[Neil D]

Yeah, but how comfortable is it?

Is it for driving around town or for long trips? or both?

[lazarus]

I couldn't impress the teens at my church with that kind of motor vehicle! They would never again listen to anything I had to say!!!

[Dr. Shane]

I have seen them in the Wal-Mart parking lots around here with Mexican plates on.

[ChildofChrist]

If I was going to spend that much $$$, I'd probably want something with a little more elbow room.

http://www.motorcycle.com/manufacturer/2008-canam-spyder-test-61047.html

Yes, the Smartcar is a cute lit' critter but...

[Dottie]

I heard today that the SmartCar and also the MiniCooper say in the owner's manual to use only "Premium" gasoline. Would that eventually make up for the difference in price??

[Dr. Shane]

As the cost per gallon increases the up-charge for premium gasoline becomes less of an issue. Premium gas normally costs 20¢/gallon more. The difference between $2.00/gallon and $2.20/gallon is 10%. The difference between $4.00/gallon and $4.20/gallon is 5%.

Let's compare the SmartCar to the Toyota Yaris S. The SmartCar gets 40 mpg in the City and 45 on the highway (2007 standard). Toyota Yaris S gets 35 and 40 respectively. So the SmartCar is getting over 10% better gas mileage. Even if it does require premium gasoline, the cost of that would be paid for by the better gas mileage.

[Robert]

We need to get off our addiction to oil, but the oil lobbyists; Washington (under Bush's watch) and the auto lobbyists don't want that. Case in point: EV-1

Read the controversy over the EV-1 and why it was killed.

[GreatLakesGramma]

We saw a Smart Car sitting in someone's yard on the way to church a couple of weeks ago. My husband said to me, "there's a car for you", because I had been telling him we need to get a car with better mileage, if we want to continue to be able to drive at all.

My son told us what it was. He had seen one when he went to the car show in Chicago (or was it Detroit?) last year with a friend. He said they are designed for people who commute in cities where there is heavy traffic. They are about as long as a regular car is wide, so you wouldn't have any trouble with parallel parking any more. You could just drive straight in if you wanted to. He said I could never fit all my groceries in it, so it wouldn't really save me any gas money, as I'd have to make a lot more trips into town. I can't afford a car that expensive anyway, so it doesn't matter.

I told my husband we need motorcycles. My son says they get 60 mpg.

[Dr. Shane]

The SmartCar has 12 cubic feet of storage. That is about the size of a regular refrigerator (not a medium or large one). If a person goes shopping alone they can also use the passenger space for storage which would provide even more storage space.

[GreatLakesGramma]

My son knows how much space they have. He saw them up close at the car show. He also knows how much I bring home when I go grocery shopping. He knows what he's talking about.

[Fran]

I am having dreams of trying to find the Honda I drove in Japan. We arrived there with our Gran Torino back in 1971. We needed two cars so we found the Honda for $200! We bought it and all 4 of us drove all over the place! We thought the gas gauge was broken because the gauge never moved. So we went to the gas station to fill up. They filled the car up for us back in those days. He finished and said, "That will be $ .26 please." Yeah, twenty-six cents! We got over 50 miles per gallon! Why can't they make that car today?

I fit lots of groceries and two kids in it! I loved it! We were not allowed to take it out of county. We tried. When we left 4 years later, we sold it for $600.00! I dream about that car! I am long past the dream for large cars. Not with gas over $3.70 per gallon! I want greater that 60 mpg on the highway and at least 50 mpg around the town! Where is that car? It was about the size of the Rabbit. Just a little bit smaller. It had a motor cycle engine. It went fast when we were where we would not get a ticket from the Japanese Government. That was really bad news over there.

Oh, where, oh where is my Honda?