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I don't believe it for a minute. Not that I would want to tangle with a big truck in *any* vehicle. But SmartCars are designed to withstand quite an impact. Much moreso than any other sub-compact model. If I were in a tussle with a semi, I'd choose a Smart over a Suzuki or Saturn or a Honda any day.
20yrsinBranson
I think your logic is flawed. If the Smart were safer than the other subcompacts it would have higher scores in the NHTSA and IIHS tests. Compare the Smart4Two to the Honda Fit below. The exclamation point indicates a separate safety concern (I couldn't find the explanation).
Ok, so I'm at a festival this weekend and they have a smartcar on display and so I eyeball the sticker in the window and for the low low price of 20k it gets something like 33/42 for mileage.
Seriously? That's it?
You can pretty much get that for thousands less by buying a civic or corolla and not have all the gross limitations.
With the Euro spec engines, I think it gets more like the MPG you would expect. I think there it's a Diesel, although, don't quote me on this car, like you I'm not that interested. My $1000 Scirocco daily driver gets about 38 MPG if I make some effort to help it economize but nothing dramatic. With $4 gas, the payback time for replacing it with a "Smart" car would probably be several decades.
I see a few of them around here - honestly in US spec trim the only reason to want one is it would fit into small urban parking spaces more easily.
You're not missing anything. The smart car is one of the worst buying decisions you can make. They are not big enough to carry a weeks worth of grocery's. Value sinks like a rock in the ocean, they are horribly unreliable, they're dead traps and on top of all that they get poor mileage for what they are.
There are a dozen cars on the market that get the same or better mileage for less money and do so in a larger more practical package. There was some rumors floating around last year that 2011 would be the last year for smart car sales in the US. Seems like those rumors have died but I can't see them being around that much longer.
For more info do a search for smart car. There was a thread a month or so ago that was pretty long.
The Smart Car also uses premium gas because of it's turbocharged 3 cylinder engine. My Corolla gets 36 mpg city, and 42 highway on regular AND IT'S A TOYOTA!
I would love to have a small car like the Smart, and Toyota is coming out with a Scion model to compete with it.
The Smart Car is what this country needs in principle, but has too many drawbacks to consider one.
I looked, I didn't like, and long story short, bought a Honda Fit.
The Honda Fit uses regular octane fuel and gets 28-42 MPG, depending on where and how I'm driving and A/C usage, runs Interstate speed without drama, seats 4 (or even 5) a whole lot more comfortably than a Smart, has 50+ cubic feet of cargo space while still seating 2, and it has that all-important "real car" feeling behind the wheel.
You're not missing anything. The smart car is one of the worst buying decisions you can make. They are not big enough to carry a weeks worth of grocery's.
yes, they are. I know someone who carried a Chevy 350 V8 shortblock in one. Behind the seats.
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Value sinks like a rock in the ocean,
New ones start at about $12k and used ones haven't dipped much below $9k yet. That $20k sticker woudl be for a fuly optioned up version, and you can get that far from base on any car (look at my MINI Cooper. Base is under $20k, but an optioned up JCW edition is almost $40k and the Goodwood version (with connoly leather, wilton wool carpeting, sheepskin floormats etc) is over $50k for a MINI).
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they are horribly unreliable,
Stats on that? I've not seen it on the forums with them. Taking a bit to get used to the unconventional transmission, yes, but unreliable? Not.
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they're dead traps
The roll cage construction pretty much asures that that's not the case, as many who have been in accidents will attest to.
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and on top of all that they get poor mileage for what they are.
This is true, due to the fact that we have to have the biggest engine available for them in them in order to go down the interstates. In Europe they have smaller engines and a diesel option that gets 80 mpg.
With the Fiat 500 and Scion iQ now on the market (albeit the latter still only in limited markets for now) and the Chevy Spark coming soon, it's getting harder to justify the purchase of a smart. Yes, it's still smaller than those cars, but not by much -- and if that extra foot or so makes a difference to you when you're already talking about a car this small, then you probably live some place where it's not worth the bother of owning a car at all. I think the R/R layout of the smart would produce a more interesting driving dynamic depending on how it's executed. But other than that, if I lived closer to the lake or closer to downtown and needed a sub-compact to deal with tight parking, there's no way in hell I'd lay out for a smart now that there are better, cheaper options with better dealer networks.
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Smartcar = Dumbcar?
