smart car

My Smart Test Drive

khallgeisler — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Though they've only been available in the U.S. since January 2008, Smart cars are stirring up a lot of interest for a car so small. Once gas hit $4 a gallon, a seemingly magic number for American drivers, more people started showing up at Smart dealerships to see if the candy-colored egg of a car would suit them. I made the trek and tested the car recently to give you an idea of what to expect.

The car comes in three levels of trim: the Pure, which is so bare-bones it doesn't even have a radio; the Passion, which is the most popular version; and the Cabriolet, a convertible. They all have Smart's Tridion safety cell, the steel roll cage that protects the occupants in case of a crash, and they're all built in France and shipped to their final destinations.

Let's look at the car's pros and cons:

Pros

Affordability. The Smart starts at $11,590. The Cabriolet fitted with every bell and whistle, from metallic paint to heated seats, is still only about $18,000.

Fuel economy. The EPA rates the Smart at 35 city/41 highway.

Safety. Thanks to the Tridion structure, the Smart earned 5-star front and side crash-test ratings.

Roominess. You may be surprised to learn that the Smart was designed with a six-foot, eight-inch driver in mind. The interior is almost entirely devoted to passenger space.

Easy to Drive. There's nothing to learn; just hop in, turn the key (which is in the center console, like a Saab), throw it in drive, and go. If you want more control, use the paddle shifters or the electric stickshift at any time -- no clutch to worry about.

Easy to maintain. The engine is perched in the back under a panel. Oil, air filter, and the like are easy to access, and the motor flips down on hinges for more serious repairs.

Eco from the Get-Go. Plastic panels are recyclable and in some cases made of recycled materials, the factory aims for carbon neutrality, and all vendors are asked to supply parts in returnable containers.

New friends. People give more thumbs-up and waves to this car than any I've driven.

Cons

The Wait. Plunk down your $99 fully refundable reservation today, and you may wait a year before you take delivery of the car. Can't wait? Maybe you can win one.

Transmission. There's a lag when the gears shift, especially between first and second. It's really noticeable, but they tell me you get used to it.

Power. No one expects Lotus-like acceleration from this car, but be warned that it does 0-60 in 12.9 seconds. A Prius manages 0-60 in 10.9 seconds; a Tesla does it in less than 4. No sprinting into traffic here.

Capacity. The 71-hp engine can only carry so much -- about 600 pounds. A driver and passenger likely take up 350-400 of those pounds, and the heavier the load, the worse the mileage.

No Spare Tire. But the car does have tire-pressure monitoring standard, and it comes with an air compressor that can be plugged into the dash and tire sealant for emergencies.

Photo by Doug Geisler.

Want to Win a Fuel-Efficient Smart Car – Plus $1,000 Cash?

RiverWired.com — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:36:36 -0400

Smart cars are tiny – that’s why they are called “fortwo”. Get it? That’s also why they use so little fuel and are ultra-low in nasty emissions. The Walking Company is giving away four of these little Mercedes gems in August 2008. Plus $1,000 in cash. Green on top of green – how sweet is that?
So don't just sit there -- here's what you have to do to enter....Just click and go.

July is smart-car-sighting month.

ellen — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 05:21:00 -0400

The Smart Car finally made its debut in the U.S. this past January and they're all over the place!

We've been starting to see them Brooklyn (we love when we see them parked perpendicular to the curb!) Although it took a little while to reach the US, they have been more than commonplace in Europe for years. Its great to see this compact, highly efficient and eco-friendly transportation buggy here, brought to you by the inventor of the Swatch watch, Nicolas Hayek.

Some of the future-friendly features of the smart car include: 41 miles to the gallon, use of only water-soluble paints for its three basic colors – black, white and yellow, and its molded-in color body panels are fully recyclable. I know it looks like it would be smashed like a tin can in an accident but it actually has a 4-star crash rating in the US.

If you're in Japan, you may even see a Smart Car in one of these vending machines. No, unfortunately a quarter won't buy you one of these from the dispenser, but you can get information about the car, and where you can purchase one.

Let us know if you see a smart car! Send us your photo, and we'll add it to our list of Smart Car sightings in the month of July.

Ready ... smart.... go!

You Have More Choices for Green Cars that Save Fuel and Money

khallgeisler — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

First came the clever little Smart ForTwo. Then came the outrageous gas prices. Now, drivers are looking for ways to get out of the SUV and into a car they can afford to drive. Below, the past, present, and future of affordable cars that go easy on the wallet and the environment.

First, the present. The Triac EV picks up where so many others have left off: it's an electric vehicle that can hit the highway and not break the bank. Green Vehicles, a company based in San Jose, Calif., builds the three-wheeled car, and claims the Triac can do 80 mph. A six-hour charge gets you 60-100 miles from the lithium-ion battery pack, depending on terrain and speed. Rumor has it that the Triac will run about $20,000, or one-fifth the price of a Tesla EV supercar.

Meanwhile, the futurisitc folks at Fiat worked with several design agencies to produce the Phylla, an asymmetrical solar-powerred car. The consortium that created this cutie was charged with designing a car that was recyclable, used alternative energy, worked with car-sharing programs, and was inexpensive to operate. A day's worth of sun should propel the Phylla 11 miles; not far, but completely free.

Lastly, it looks like people should have hung on to those underpowered, three-cylinder Geo Metros from the early 1990s. Turns out those little guys get great gas mileage, somewhere in the 30s around town and in the 40s on the freeway. Looks like my friend John shouldn't have gotten rid of his off-green Metro, "the General Bean," after college.

What's So Smart about a smart Car?

khallgeisler — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:59:37 -0500

The smart fortwo is
finally hitting our shores after fifteen years of European development and
production. In 1993, Daimler-Benz and Swatch (makers of equally cool and
colorful watches) teamed up to create a car that could park easily on narrow
European streets. Daimler provided the engineering know-how to build a car as
long as most other vehicles are wide, while Swatch provided the funky design.

For a decade and a half, the smart fortwo (and its
short-lived brethren the roadster and forfour) were available in the U.S. only
as gray-market cars. They could be imported, but there were dozens of hoops to
jump through to do it legally. Some dealerships, like EnVironmental Motors in
Glendale, Calif., jumped through the
hoops on behalf of customers and sold a few cars on the showroom floor. Most
Americans, though, first encountered smart cars while on European vacations, only to find that these cute-as-a-button cars couldn't be bought at home.

Now, in 2008, U.S. drivers are getting their paws on these
little guys in a big way. The first run of 30,000 cars destined for the states has already sold out, and orders are being taken for the next round. Why so popular? The fortwo's biggest plus, besides its supreme parkability, is its gas
mileage. The fortwo, in either coupe or convertible form, gets 33 mpg in the
city, where most of them will be driven, and 41 on the highway and puts out 5
tons of carbon dioxide a year. By contrast, the Toytoa Prius emits 4 tons of
CO2, while a Ford F150 kicks out over 11 tons in a year.

In a country where SUVs and trucks with gargantuan tires still
reign supreme, potential smart buyers may be put off by the idea of being
squashed like a bug by the aforementioned F150. While it doesn’t address the
squashing aspect specifically, this 5-minute video demonstrates the strength of
the smart’s “tridion” safety shell at 70 mph – by ramming it into a 20-ton concrete
barrier.

The other issue for American buyers may be space. Like the
Citroen 2CV of the 1940s, the smart was designed for two people and a case of
beer. Maybe that should be updated to two people and their laptop go-bags. In
any case, it is not a grocery getter; more like a take-out picker-upper, and
then only as long as you’ve ordered fortwo. But, as they say, 30,000 preorders can’t be
wrong.

Does The Smart Car Live Up To Its Name?

tdupuy — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Has anyone not heard about the new ForTwo Smart Car? A member of the Mercedes Car Group, the Daimler AG Company is going to sell their microcar in America later this month. And they’ve managed to be profiled on every news program imaginable.

So, as the story goes, it’s tiny. From the $14K starting price to its tiny little 3 cylinder engine. Itty bitty. It seats 2 adults and purports to get around 40 miles per gallon and goes up to 70 miles per hour. These cars have been available in Europe and Canada for ages. And finally they are coming to the US - the car country - the big huge car country- home of the RV sized SUVs. Grrr.

Now, in an effort of full disclosure, I signed up for the $99 reservation program back in 2007. I guess that’s more of a confession, full disclosure would denote conflict of interest. I was just interested. Anyway, I reserved a silver Passion ForTwo over 6 months ago. Today I got around to mailing them a letter asking them to refund my deposit. You may ask why. Why am I not fully embracing this vehicle that claims to be an ‘environmental statement’ on its website? Why did I jump at the chance to reserve one and falter on closing the deal?

Well, as a blogger for an environmental website I will say this: all that smells like compost is not green, my friends. The deal breaker for me was that the car is not fuel efficient.Kelly Blue Book says that it should get about 33 MPGs city and 40 MPGs highway. Real world driving conditions are always way lower than the numbers given at KBB. So it could realistically be around 32 MPGs on average. That’s with one less cylinder than the average econo sedan, half the horsepower and with two less seats. That’s disappointing.

No, I take that back - it’s not disappointing - it’s maddening! How does this tiny little car with an engine comparable to a toaster’s not do better on fuel?! It’s outrageous. In all the hype over this car and its parking ability, I have yet to hear an answer for that. It reminds me of the infuriating Consumer Report that stated the Honda Accord Hybrid got a meager 1 MPG more than it’s regular Accord counterpart.

This one just smells like compost…

A Speedy, Compact, Fuel Efficient Car? Sounds Smart To Us

RiverWired.com — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

It's Good: Starting in 2008, The Smart Car (which has been around in Europe for donkeys years, and don't ask us how long that is) will finally be available in the US. This tiny automotive genius is only nine feet long and five feet wide -- but it still received a 4-star crash rating. It also goes up to 90 mph -- but that wouldn't be a fuel-smart way to drive, now would it?

It's Green: The Smart Car gets 42 miles per gallon, which is not only more efficient than the 2020 standards recently passed in the US Energy Bill, it'll also save you some significant green at the gas station. So the car makes you feel smarter, too.

It's Here: www.SmartUSA.com - reserve yours now for only $99.

It's: $11,000- $17,000, depending on model and package options.