California legal Smarts???

[sixto]

http://www.greenrides.com/highway_rides_smart.html

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/car/486150329.html

Sixto
87 300D

[Matt SD300]

If one thinks inside the box....it's green.....I tend to think like Rudolf Diesel...

[charmalu]

this smart thing gets 40 city, 60 highway.
The craigs listed one in Campbell,Ca. shows it get 50mpg. must be
the Ca. compliant smog requirements.

saw that one on U-Tube they ran into the concrete wall. car held
up ok, the people in it could kiss it good by. not any sheet metal to
asorbe the impact.

I`ll just keep driving my old 123, much safer even if it is 1/2 the milage.

Charlie

[TheDon]

just wait until the first quarter of next year... The smog converted ones are outrageously over priced because of the conversion

People have to be pretty stupid to pay more than $15,000 for one of those worthless pieces of cr@p. But, because it is advertised as being "green" the people will come from all over the place throwing their wallets at them when there are far better and more efficient cars that cost significantly less.

Buy a TDI for less than that. More power, better REAL fuel economy (50mpg for a Smart is eBay-type lying, real MPG for US drivers is 40-45mpg), far better comfort, faster acceleration, better safety, more passenger room, more trunk space and better quality.

Seriously, if you could test drive a euro Smart you would know exactly what a cheap piece of junk they really are. I test drove a ZAP converted one last year and the salesman had the b@lls to demand $30,000 for a used demo car with 800miles! I can buy a C230 for that price!

The porked out American version coming next year is even worse.

[SwampYankee]

Originally Posted by ForcedInduction

But, because it is advertised as being "green" the people will come from all over the place throwing their wallets at them when there are far better and more efficient cars that cost significantly less.

Dead-on, Forced. It's marketing genius.

[aklim]

Originally Posted by ForcedInduction

Buy a TDI for less than that. More power, better REAL fuel economy (50mpg for a Smart is eBay-type lying, real MPG for US drivers is 40-45mpg), far better comfort, faster acceleration, better safety, more passenger room, more trunk space and better quality.

Thought a VW Jetta starts at 17K and that doesn't include the diesel?

As to economy, isn't diesel more expensive than even premium gas?

That $2000 you save from getting a TDI instead of what they are raping for the Smart will far more than pay for itself in quality and the satisfaction in knowing you made the smart choice.

[aklim]

Yes, I know it can withstand a ramming of the wall. However, if hit by a larger object, what is the status of the person within? IIRC, the brain does NOT take well to shaking.

[pj67coll]

I saw one of those things in a parking lot here in Phoenix the other day. Unless you were getting 100mpg I just couldn't see any reason to have one of those awful things in the US that is. If you are stuck in one of those medieval European holes of a city then I guess maybe but not here.

- Peter.

Right, at least the Smart CDI gets 70-80mpg. But Noooooooooo, diesel is EVIL in the United States Of America! We can't allow a car that gets 50% better economy and lasts twice as long, it might raise the atmosphere's temperature by 0.000000000000000001*F!

I agree, if it got 100mpg it would be something worth considering. But since it gets less fuel economy than cars that are bigger, safer and more powerful it isn't more than a "green" status symbol. No better than a Hybrid.

[aklim]

Originally Posted by ForcedInduction

Right, at least the Smart CDI gets 70-80mpg. But Noooooooooo, diesel is EVIL in the United States Of America! We can't allow a car that gets 50% better economy and lasts twice as long, it might raise the atmosphere's temperature by 0.000000000000000001*F!.

They see the diesel trucks accelerate and black smoke comes out. Car accelerates and nothing comes out. Therefore the diesel is dirty. Simple equation. Right or wrong has little to do with reality.

[Jim B.]

I was in Berkeley, California a few days ago to take in a performance at the Berkeley Rep theatre, and that place has to be the PC capitol of the country.

Forgetting for a moment the tree-sitters and the bicycle crazed "Critical Mass" militants, there was one car there, in the Berkeley City limits, everywhere.

It was everywhere !!!

The Toyota Prius. There were dozens of the things, they must be the new "Staff Car" down there, I have never seen so many of them in one place.
All I can figure is that they were required there to "make a statement".

Berekeley is different, it is probably the only place in the country where people planted vegetables in the engine compartment of a 1969 Pontiac GTO to "make a statement", and the home of more VW hippie vans, Saab 2 strokes, 3 wheeled Messerschmidts and other assorted wierdmobiles from Europe than maybe any other place.

Now cometh the $23,000 Smart.

Not so "Smart" if you ask me.

For less than $18,000 you can buy the best selling Mercury of all, a brand new Marquis Grand Marquis GS, the last honest Body-on-Frame, cast iron block, V8, rear wheel drive, full sized American six passenger sedan that is anvil reliable (look at any Police car or Taxi) and will give you an honest 26 mpg, and pretty safe and comfortable, too. Around a hundred thousand Americans a year agree, too (and they arte not all senior citizens.)

For the lowest dollar-per-mile running costs, they are hard to beat.

[Jim B.]

Got back from the 50th annual San Francisco International Auto Show the other day, after seeing all the best offerings now available.

One stood out like a beautiful pearl, though, amongst all the other vehicular swine.

Still unavailable in California, there one was - first I ever saw in person:

The '08 Mercedes Benz E350 BlueTec diesel.

Now THAT'S for me!!!!!

[BENZ-LGB]

Originally Posted by Jim B.

I was in Berkeley, California a few days ago to take in a performance at the Berkeley Rep theatre, and that place has to be the PC capitol of the country.

Forgetting for a moment the tree-sitters and the bicycle crazed "Critical Mass" militants, there was one car there, in the Berkeley City limits, everywhere.

Jim, you are offending Carl's spiritual home. Not to even mention John Fogerty's birthplace.....so easy on Berkeley.

I like Berkeley every other year...when USC is playing there and kicking the Bear's butt.