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Entirely subjective, and is going to vary from person to person. I haven't driven any of those cars, but have sat in them. I find the Civic to be a bit tight for my needs, but tolerable. Main issue is legroom. The Fit is worse for me in that regard, plus with the way the sides curve in, it forces me to lean inward. As for the Smart? Total crap, at least for my needs. The seat is too low AND doesn't go back far enough. I can take one or the other. If a seat is high enough, that will help offset poor fore-aft travel, and if a seat goes back far enough, doesn't matter to me how low it is, as long as I can still reach the dashboard. But the Smart is bad in both regards. Also the seat feels small and thinly padded. And the door panel is too close for comfort. My comfort, at least.
Premium costs 20 cents a gallon more around here and that has been constant. So RUG is 'X' then Premium is X+.2. Now RUG around here is going for about $2.70 so Premium is $2.90. Plugging those figures into the MPG ratings of the Smart against the nest best non hybrid it will cost a half cent less to drive a mile. Now that may not seem like much but add it up over time it will add up, especially when gas starts going up and you save even more money per mile.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
How long would it take to recover that extra up-front cost?
At half a cent per mile, in 100,000 miles you would only save $500.
There's no way you'd ever break-even.
I can see it being easier to park in tight spaces, but that's about it.
G-Whiz, by the way, is a city car that makes the SMART look almost gargantuan and sumptuous - and a paragon of safety. Couple of links below. Enjoy, but no laughing, (oh, alright then, if you must). The second link is from The Times, London, in 2007 but the later models are not really any better. Have never seen one outside of London.
G-Whiz
Clarkson on G-Whiz
In fact, most of the ones I've seen are used that way.
I just saw that episode again, they were re-running it, and I crack up every time. I love how it fits in the elevator, but has no reverse so he has to ask someone to pull him out!
do some research and find out what the retail for you car is.
you want to try to 'bump' the offer you are going to get for your car.
gas prices are going to go up over the next few years, and you already have 'big' covered.
the next few months are a good time of years to buy, if you need to.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
The car in that episode of TG, (where Clarkson drives it around the inside of the BBC building ?), is, in fact, a Peel; built in the Isle of Man in the 1960's. The G-Whiz looks like it but is current production............and just as potentially unsafe.
And like the Yaris, it doesn't come with much. I think even A/C is optional.
I guess I'm thinking the convertible one, but I optioned it lightly and got to about $18 grand for a reasonable level of content.
For that money I'd take a Civic or a Mazda 3 (ya know, a real car) instead of a SMART. Although, at $14k I'd take a base Elantra, Versa, or Focus instead of a lower-level smart.
I guess it is the cheapest drop-top you can get. A Miata would probably be about $4 grand more similarly equipped.
Back in April, though, Mazda put a $5000 rebate on leftovers 2008 models, making them cheaper than a Smart! :surprise:
Slide the back window open on my '85 Silverado, and you probably have more of an open-air experience than with that thing. Or any car with a sunroof.
About 2/3rds open:
Nothing like the wind in your hair at 3.7 miles an hour.
And mine's a bit more...ahem...vintage. :P
Here comes Mercedes:
"Under its tentative plan, Mercedes would import by 2012 at least one of four next-generation compact models it will start selling in Europe in late 2011, Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. These diminutive Mercedes would go head to head with an expanding field of premium small cars in the U.S., including the A3 from Volkswagen AG's Audi unit and BMW AG's 1 series and Mini Cooper."
Mercedes Plans a Small-Car Volley (Wall St. Journal)
I don't know if that would translate to NA though.
Now, this is what ya need to replace the Intrepid with. You'd be styling with the best of them!
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
Peace!<- :shades: -
Two responses to the same question:
Consider that its a car designed for urban use, primarily.
The same idiot who is single and buys a Suburban despite living and commuting in NYC.
How about the oaf who drives a Escalade solo, to impress as a status symbol?
Oy...
"What fools these mortals be"...
Peace!<-AladdinSane<- :shades: -
I'm with you only if the mileage benefit is there (33/41 enough to do that?). That's a 6mpg improvement over the comfy Corolla.
Plus, in the real world you can probably beat those figures without too much trouble. Before the EPA dumbed the numbers down, the Corolla was rated at 38 highway. I don't know what the Smart would have been rated at, as I don't think it became available until after the EPA started with those lower numbers. But if you could get 45 mpg out of a Smart, you'd still save about 42 gallons per 10K miles, versus a Corolla.
Might be worth it for some people, but not for me. (although I'd prefer a Civic to a Corolla...just feels a bit more comfy to me)
It takes only half the parking spot, so it could pay half.
Also, motorcycles can go on HOV lanes with just 1 rider.
I can see myself being a laughing stock for suggesting that at just about any paid parking structure/lot here in Birmingham, AL. I usually agree with ya juice (on just about everything, really!), but I don't here. The Smart doesn't have any similar sized friends to give the other "half" of a parking spot to; all spaces tend to be the same size. Those that aren't are still big enough for your Sentrollavic, which get to pay full price.
I like your concept, and its logical, if not feasible where I live.
That's true and here in AngloEUroland you pay for the space regardless of the vehicle size. However, you could park your SMART in the middle of a space and help avoid the usual car-park dings caused by other drives opening their doors rather too enthusistically - and, oh, how I hate the parents who let their beloved offspring literally kick open their car door so it bounces of the adjacent car's bodywork...................then walk away :mad:
My only gripe with the SMART is the hope it gives me in crowded car-parks. You know the situation; cruising around and no apparent spaces then, whooppee you look down one of the lines and there's a space. Boy I'm good; everyone else has missed that one ! So, on the gas, (well, diesel), and head down the row. Set up for a rapid turn in, (that's rather a relative term in a Volvo S60; akin to nipping into a berth with a supertanker), and Darn It, there's a SMART parked all the way into the space and you're now faced with having to manoeuver out again and look like an idiot. Recently had this at an airport. Saw the "space" thought nah, it's half full of SMART or somesuch, and just cruised down the row feeling really smug. But, it was an empty space and the guy tailgating me got it. Aaaaaarrrrggghhhh. These things should have a flagstaff on the roof to identify them.
O.K., enough of non-rant. Things not to do, coffee to drink, time to waste. Gosh it's hard being retired. :shades:
The Smart isn't going to do you much good in any type of metered parking, or any situation where you have parking spaces that are marked by lines. In some situations, having a Smart might even make things worse. For instance, if you parallel park in a lined space, having plenty of room on either end, someone else could come along, park way over the line. You might still have enough room to get out, but then that space would be unuseable for anything but another Smart, or maybe a motorcycle. So, not a bad thing for the Smart owner, but bad in the overall scheme of things.
However, there are a lot of places where you can parallel park at the curb, but the spaces are not marked. Often with these, people get lazy and leave too much room between themselves and the car in front or behinds, and over time as cars come and go, you end up with gaps that are unusable for the most part. But might be just big enough to get a Smart in.
And yeah, I hate that, when you see what you think is an open space, but it turns out there's some small car (not always a Smart...I've seen vans and SUVs successfully hide much larger cars) or a motorcycle pulled way up in there. If I had a small car or motorcycle, I'd think that it would be best to position it so other drivers DO see it. Otherwise you run the risk of someone just whipping into the parking spot and smacking into you. And I know from experience, that if that happens, most likely they're not going to admit their guilt and leave a note on your now-smashed parked car. :mad:
I was like hey this car doesn't take up a full spot so you shouldn't' charge me full price. They wouldn't go for it and my wife was giving me the, 'stop trying to negotiate everything,' look so I dropped it and just paid full price.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
No, I'm thinking urban as in big city - New York, Washington, Chicago, LA. The type of place where parking costs more than $20 per day.
My work garage has some half-sized spaces that would fit a motorcycle or a Smart, but not my Miata. They could add those spaces and mark them for Smart cars only.
That said, I don't think carpools probably need anymore eligibility from anything...they're already clogged with too many Prius here in SF anyhow...can't wait til they pull that eligibility.
23 Civic Type-R / 22 MDX Type-S / 21 Tesla Y LR / 03 Montero Ltd
I have seen SMART's parked tail-in to the kerb, i.e. at 90deg to the kerb, when there was only "half" a space between two vehicles in un-metered parking. Technically illegal here in USSGB but can still be seen from time to time. Pick the right cars to park between and the SMART doesn't stick out at all .........although driving out of the space could be, er......interesting.
The AN article says the Fiesta is expected to be available by summer next year. 4-door sedan and 5-door hatch. No 3-door. :-(
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
In this case a Mini Cooper going well in excess of the speed limit broadsided a Nissan Quest minivan, and while the Mini's passenger compartment was completely intact, the Quest was mostly destroyed.
The results were tragic for the family occupying the Quest, so I won't go into any further details, but there are so many variables in any collision that to simply write off subcompacts because of their size is truly misguided. A well-designed subcompact can just as easily be the better place to be in a bad crash.
http://www.ktvu.com/news/21753157/detail.html
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I think our Mercedes / Infiniti dealer now sells them.
"The SMART is too small for you? That's ok; let me show you the S550..."