Smart car not so smart.....?

Only in the snow, I witnessed a rear wheel drive one crabbing sideways up a hill towards the gutter instead of ploughing up it - I suppose its coz they're so light and not really designed for ice & snow.

To be fair it did eventually get some traction and made it up - unlike the stranded Ford Ka it was passing,albeit somewhat sideways.

what can i say

having computers controlling the bank, medecine, newcluar plant, bombs is just fine. also computers beats me in Chess, Counterstrike all time. :)


but having a computer to do the boring thing like.
Dish, Clean, lift older people out of bedd, empty shit pott, and driving cars and planes is a non good :=)


i belive we raise the computers to high. the computers shold be the one who do the boring work. but we dont trust em for that.


also computers shold be able to conduct Code :)

guy at our house has a smart car
cant help but wonder where the rest of it is ;)

there are two smart sports cars parked nearby that kinda look sexy (as cars go)
i see dozzens of smart's, are they super cheap or something ?!?

I have a smart car too, but each smart car can be different, it really depends what extra equipment you add to it. I think I have like 7 automatic drive stabilization systems. It's really fun to drive in the snow, as it fixes all my little mistakes. Kinda scary to think what would happen if I didn't have all those systems :)

But it's not that black and white, you can also learn where the real danger zones are with the aid of the stabilization systems, so if they fail or are disabled, you would still remember when they would start to activate.

why do you need 7 automatic drive stabilization things - surely at least 5 out of 7 are almost gimmicks ? Please correct me if I am wrong and enlighten me - my 11 year old motor has constant velocity joints (probably) on the driven front wheels, but I think the drive stab stops there. My drive stabilsation consists of backing off on the accelerator.

Technology is beneficial though - apparently the totyatoa prius will do 104 mpg ?, heres a question though -should they be revealing how much the batteries are discharged to achieve that amount of fuel efficiency?

I haven't really read the docs yet, but things which I've seen it to have are at least:
- the braking force is lowered even before the wheel locks
- wheels don't spin when you accelerate too hard
- wheels don't spin when you climb slippery hills (probably same as the previous thing)
- when the rear breaks out, it's put back in line with the driving direction
- when sidewind hits the car, it does a counter steering (that's really only needed for smart cars as they weight only 500kg and have a huge side wind attack profile)
- when the car spins, it's caused to stop (gladly never have experienced that yet)
- when the car stops, the engine turns off (can be useful, or not useful, depending on the situation)
- combined braking and turning from high speeds also makes the system to rattle (could be just 2 systems active at once)

@Lumooja - I must have seen a lower spec'd smart car unless the speed sensors are in the 'driven' whells - which i doubt.

coz - wheels don't spin when you accelerate too hard

maybe it takes 4-5 seconds to kick in which is why i seen the smart car crab side ways towards the ford ka - a result of too much acceleartion - granted when the car is only doing walking pace due to ice it is exceptional cirecumstances so maybe I witnessed the software kicking in in the end when the car started making it up the hill?

wheels don't spin when you climb slippery hills (probably same as the previous thing) - this is why i think i seen a lower specc'd car than yours coz i thought it was gonna collect the parked ford ka - albeit sideways - coz this function needed more development.

I think they are very fuel efficient cars but to be fair - they do not suffer any more or less than a rear wheel driven BMW on ice. In fact - from what i seen it may have faired better. so, smart indeed.

I think the current smart model is not the last word of that innovation yet. It still has some problems to make such small cars (although the interior is huge, I can put my whole arms straight forward, and it's not touching the windshield yet). It has also some fun factors, someone said once that the smart car is like a go-kart, and I like that comparison. It's really like a go-kart, it's a damn fun car to drive, but not a real car for long distances and high speeds. At over 120km/h it's not fun anymore, it's too stressy to drive then. Besides smart cars should be cabriolets always, and there also the wind speed at over 80km/h is not so comfortable anymore.

I think my next car will be a smart roadster, if they still decide to make them, or a BMW Z3 (I like the old model better). The roadster has a much smaller sidewind profile, and looks damn cool, as cabriolet of course.

Nothing to do with the car, its more than likely the stupid 'summer' tyres we all have to buy in the uk to help keep the cost of road repair down (as camera revenues go skyward) despite the fact we get blackice every year (the car is an uncontrollable mess on it but it can go 'forward' so its ok!).

I think its pathetic how 6-8 inches (at worst) of snow seems to have brought the (major) parts of the uk to a standstill. Kids/teachers off school? why cant they walk? At the end of the day you cant beat a good ol' fashioned pair-o-legs. As for the trains thats the biggest joke of all. Ive been living in sweden for 3 years and they have a small snowshifter thats barely distinguishable from the body of the train that could easily deal with several inches of snow, surely fitting this small chunk of metal is cheaper than a mass day/days/week off. In sweden 1-2 METERS overnight/24h of snow brings thee place to a halt, not a few poxy inches. Probably the same in belgium, germany switzerland, latvia, holland, denmark, norway, russia, eastern EU, and even parts of france etc etc etc etc so why not i UK!.

Smart cars work alright over here and ive witnessed them doing fine in 2-4 inches. Personally i prefer rear wheel drive in the snow, but not in the wet. I dont own one, i got a RWD volvo, but i have seen them about and they seem as capable as my car.. minus a hundred horses.

Smart cars are all rear wheel drive, and I love it. My previous car was front wheeler (Volkswagen Golf III), and now that I've had a rear wheeler, I will never buy a front wheeler again. Rear wheeler is so much more fun, but you might need one of those stabilization systems, since they can be also more difficult to handle, but fun goes before security :P

Smart cars are Ugly.


Oh, and, are any standard road vehicles designed for ice & snow, really?
Give me a skidoo any day.

Beauty is only in the eyes of the observer. If you love something, it's always beautiful.

I love RWD, much more interesting if you enjoy driving. Not sure I'd ever want to drive a smart car though. Too tall and too short a wheelbase for me. Pretty cool though.

Actually if they weren't overpriced I might consider one for around town. $12,000 is way too much considering a 2.5L ford focus can be bought for less with the usual dealer discounts.

Smart diablos look fun! :D

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-uNgKdnWRZpU/smartcar_with_hayabusa_engine_drifting/

and

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1092727/smart_diablo_vs_ferrari_insane_crazy_car_race_wow/


I cant believe how stable they are!

yeah, the smart diablo looks pretty fun, got up to similar tricks in my rear wheel drive 200sx a while back, hmmm that was 10 years ago now....

Lol, you could just see some smug git in a BMW, merc or porsches' mouth fall open as you steam off the lights in your smart car :D

I saw something similar on top gear (i think it was) where a robin reliant had a souped up WW2 V8 spitfire engine in the back (with concrete in the real engine cavity to hold it down!) Trotters traders van, it wasnt.

Wow, nice sound coming from that Smart Diablo! :D

Let's hope it comes with modified airbags too!

I like my smart car, except for two things.

1) The first one we received had an engine light problem as soon as we got home and it went into limp mode. The dealership took it back and shipped it back to the factory. Turned out it was one of about 10 they had had with defective workmanship. 3 months later we got a new one.

2) The new one had an engine light go on after 100 miles. This one had a bad computer chip which they fixed. Of course it was outside of the lemon law time so I couldn't just return the car. We didn't drive it over the holidays and our snow storm, so 3 months passed before we discovered this new problem.

I love the car. It's peppy, looks cool. And I feel comfortable driving it. But I think they are having some manufacturing problems with it.

I haven't seen any manufacturing problems, except perhaps that the leather of the steering wheel is 1mm off to the right on one segment.

What's amazing about the smart car is, that still after 1 year or more after you've bought it, it still feels like the very first time when you enter it.
I can't explain why it's so fun to drive with it, maybe it's fun because it's different, the smallest car of the world, while still the fastest, I don't know.
I'm having a thrill everytime I see all the other cars stay 100m behind when I hit the pedal after the light goes green, and I don't even do the kickdown thing :)

But it's also is more safe on a frontal crash against a big mercedes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnVNUvixWUQ

heh they are ok. Have them around here in California. They are a bit underpowered and don't get good mileage for their size and weight. There are much better and cheaper cars out there, though not many that have RWD.

0-60 in 12s would be pretty scary, especially entering the freeway where the slowlane traffic cruises at 70 - 80 mph. My car does it in about 7 seconds it's quite slow by most standards.

33mpg around town isn't so good either when you you take size and weight into consideration.

The Mercedes just went right through the smart car.

Nope, the interior was undamaged. The windshield was not even broken, and the interior starts about 30cm after the lower end of the windshield:

I'd rather have a mini cooper. they are actually cheaper than the convertible smart, get better MPG, have better handling and performance, carry more passengers. The only reason to get a smart is novelty value and they stand out for being rare. Around here at least.

I wanted to buy a mini cooper first too, but they are way too expensive. They cost like 40000€. I get a Audi TT for that price :)
Are mini coopers that much cheaper in UK?
Of course it must be the sport version with openable roof, I don't buy cars without openable roof and no rear drive anymore :)

Small cars do my head in. I had a Ford Fiesta for about three weeks, until I got fed up of driving with my knees in my ears. I'm 6ft 3ins and it was like driving a clown car.

I have a 2001 Ford Focus saloon/sedan atm but its getting a bit tired now, done 133,000 miles. You wouldn't know to drive it tho, runs as well as it did the day it rolled off the production line.

With a 3 month old daughter and three step-daughters, I'm going to have to get something much, much bigger before long. Probably a C4 Grand Picasso, Zafira, or a Grand Voyager - whichever turns out to be the safest and most reliable when I start poking around.

[edit] Oh, I went in a Ford Puma and a Vauxhall Tigra once. Lets just say when I turn my toes up, I expect my coffin to be more roomy. :/

I'm in the US, the cooper non Supercharged is just under $19,000 this year. Was about $16,000 last year for the base model!!

BTW I think the smart is a great about town car for in the city, but would be pretty scary around here once you got out on the freeway. A lot of passenger vehicles way over 4500lbs and are still quite quick. Things are changing slowly, having said that big trucks and SUV's outsold cars again last month and fuel prices almost halved since 2 months ago.

@Gfk: Actually the interior of the smart car is much bigger than of most big cars. I can stretch my arms to full length, and the windshield is still like 40cm away. Also the roof is very high, there's 10cm free space above my head. In a Audi I had to duck on the rear seats, and couldn't sit straight. When you sit down in the car, the seat is almost at standing height. So you're barely sitting, but almost standing in it :)

You're lucky, it's about $30,000 In Finland..

Well if anyone in the UK wants a cheap, small runaround, I can recommend the Daihatsu Sirion. Very reliable, cheap to buy and run, 4 doors, air con, electric windows all round and it's like a tardis inside.

Diablo 2007 is out, not sure how smart it is, but it seems like fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi_CgGGDglY&NR=1

That's embarrassing. It looks like a rollerskate with ADHD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6t-yyoU8s

Thats pretty smart.

and it sounds like its got a cold! (go back and listen again..)

Thanks for making me chuckle :-)

the original or the remake?
i think im too tall for the original :( and last i looked the price was way more than for a new new one
the new one is huge and not fitting the mini name but still looks nice

part of me wants a london cab (not the modern ones) if i ever learnt to drive and bougth a car, but id probably get tourists popping in every time i stopped in traffic

The new ones still seem to look like a mini, but they just aren't Mini. In other words, they're perfect for me - because I can fit in them.

least they didnt remake the italian job with smarts

I'm talking about the new mini costing the same. A good old mini costs as much as a new one here lol. Beat up junker mini from the 70's will fetch $4000 - $6000. I bought two for 50 pounds in the early 90's and built one good fake cooper with a metro turbo in.

The new mini is quite interesting in that it looks small all by itself but is actually quite large, and the only FWD car I'd be interested in buying.

I hope the whole car industry is forced to start making smaller cars. The traffic around london (and stockholm for that matter) is getting stupid. Why should a 4 seater car take up the same space as a 8 seater minibus? Some of the largest 4 seat saloons/SUVs are the length of two small 4-seaters cars end to end (people who use SUVs in city centers should pay double CC i reckon unless they need it for business, loadza kids or they actually live offroad).

...for example?

I'm all for smaller more fuel efficient cars, in fact had a C3 HDi brilliant on fuel economy but had a gremlin that made it very fuel efficient - i.e. it would not start.

The way the snow is coming down looks like traction control may be getting put to use again in Englandshire.

The only thing that concerns me is the safety of smaller cars in crush impacts - however if anyone has seen the demolotion machine conkering a Smart car - that went some way to settle my fears.

These are what a lot of people drive around here. The first one has lifted suspension, not unusual, but the F15o truck in the first picture is the biggest selling vehicle in the world. till last year it was selling 1.5 million a year, mostly in the US lol.

The ford transit van is coming over here soon, so maybe the number of trucks will drop as contractors start using those instead. Never did understand why they used these pickup trucks. Often the tailgate is higher than the roof of my car. So anything large and heavy that has to be put in the back has to be lifted really high to get it in first.

I think part of their popularity was that they were almost 100% tax write off in the early 2000's so long as they were used for business. The Law didn't differentiate between being a doctor, or a building contractor so everyone was buying them. That and women feel safer driving something big and heavy with poor close visibility, whilst some men use them as a substitute for a willy :) Since they can't show off the second in public.

im sure there are enough 'new' cars on the market to justify demand as it is (if all you want is a car that gets you from a-b that is and not an 'i must have THIS car' desire)
id settle for more frequent busses in cambridge
when my bike spazed (chain snapped and gears buckeled so i just ran a short chain from the middle gear on both pedal and rear wheel) i spent almost a month going to and from work on the bus (unless i started at 6 or worked sundays when i had no choice but to walk)
cost to fix bike the same as a brand new bike, but as it was christmas and im still no closer to a new pc (both bike and pc died same week) i was a bit strapped but could fork out the £10 for a weekly ticket, but that was £30 i could have put towards a new bike (if i walked the hour to work that is oh and back after doing a 12 hour day)
after 6 im lucky if the return bus comes back my way and the times ive waited god knows is time i could have walked to tesco's and caught it there (when 3 of em dont show up out of service that is)

its the old catch 22
car users wont get on public transport cos its inadequate
public transport wont up the service as what they have currently doesnt justify running nigh on empty busses more frequently
and now im starting at half 9 i get to see the gridlock to town whilst i cycle the other way with only the odd city 1 and 3 passing me

I'm all for fuel efficiency, too. But which commandment says that eco-friendly cars must be made to a butt-ugly design?

While I have nothing against eco-friendly cars per se, I don't want to look like a complete berk when I'm driving it.

most cars are going the same way, one bus is the same lenght of 3 or 4 cars. each car holds just one person on average and a bus god knows

perhaps fulbourn tescos carpark should become a park and ride site too

That's a ridiculous comment! Are you seriously saying that everybody on the roads is going to the exact same place?
Most cars hold five people. Most buses have about the same number on board at any given time. But that aside, I can't think of anywhere I'd ever go that'd be more practical by bus than by car. And if its me, the missus, and four kids, the bus is a definite no-no due to the cost if nothing else. The filth, noise, smell and general impracticality of public transport are further reasons.

Well, the dodge RAM 2500 for a start, that like 4 smartcars long by 1.5 wide right there. :D (Theyve got those on the road here in sweden)
Perhaps not so many of those monsters in the UK, but I would say the larger Jags, 4wds or BMWs etc are at least half the length again than the average 2 door 4 seaters.

well ive not stopped to ask em but most are on the way to town and are single occupant at the time
true there are other destinations that can be reached via my busy road trips
addenbrookes (the local hospital)
another town past the local hospital
the station
and a few places after the station that lie beyond the centre itself

but citi 1 goes to addenbrookes and the rail station then the top end of cambridge (arbury) after the centre
citi 3 skips the hospital and goes to the east side of town via the station and centre

so if your destination was the rail station
A> the car park would be full (as usual)
B> the two city busses get you there

aurbury and newmarket road retail parks are best aproached the other way via car as you can get onto the motorway/bypasses/whatever as the citi 1 took me an hour once traveling from fulbourn tescos to the CRC arbury campus for my evening class
a whole hour to do a trip that was only 1/2 1/3 the distance from my old town to manchester which was a half hour trip
some was perhaps congestion, others the waiting at the hospital/station/centre
so yes going to arbury by bus at that hour isnt the best option
but having said that those in cars wouldnt be going that way to get there either as it would probably take just as long in the rush hour carpark



granted a weekend shopping trip with the whole family makes a car worth while, trying to get all that shopping, along with the kids, onto a bus is never fun even from an observers view point. getting one kid on only for another to get off and the odd mutters of "get a taxi" etc compared to walk to car park open boot buckle kids up and drive out (after paying if applicable)
im not anti car they are very liberating, not every where has a bus/train station so sometimes you have no option, but to see dozzens of nigh on stationarry single occupant cars driving to town with bus stops every hundred or so yards (not measured but there are a few within reasonable walking distance of each other) its not as if you are saddled with a huge walk from bus to work especially if you might have to park at one of the car parks that might acutally take you further from your place of employment

This looks acceptable:

http://www.lightningcarcompany.co.uk/

video: http://videos.cnet.co.uk/39039562.htm

:D

On second thought... I assumed it would be eco-friendly because it is electric, but this doesn't always have to be the case, I guess...

I think those pick off trucks look much more ugly than a smart or mini, but of course it's all in the eyes of the observer :)
The most beautiful car I've ever seen is a BMW Z3 cabrio in blue. I might still buy one of those as they are dirt cheap, since they're so old, but not classic yet, and they are horrible to drive.

@foppy

Oie! that is cool.

Interesting to see what the emmissions rate is to recharge it in comparison. 700bhp, 0-60 in 5 secs, that a lot of energy used and needs to be replaced somehow (id like to see how many miles it could keep that up :),

Still, i think its bad for them to say "0 emmision" as they are not really (as the local powerstation is emitting to supply it instead) but i am sure the polution would be MUCH lower than petrol anyway :D

I drive a MX5, called a miata over here!!. Probably the best value sports car out there if your on a budget and most popular for SCCA being so cheap and reliable. There aren't many things I'd trade mine in for. No traction control, RWD, 4 wheel double wishbone suspension, perfect 50/50 weight distro. A bit underpowered but they aren't supposed to be fast, and have great road communication making them very forgiving when you make mistakes.

Based on the original Lotus Elan, Jeremy Clarkson loved it and called it the best british sports car.. Just have to be man enough to shake off the hairdresser image and the fun and practicality is hard to beat for a 2 seater convertible. Always fun watching the SUV's in the mirror trying desperately to keep up on the corners around town.

I don't really think Smart Fortwo is a good choice for a car. Sure, it's not bad but the only distinctive feature I can see is that you can easily park it, and I've never had trouble parking cars even though I've driven only for a couple of years. It doesn't have superb fuel consumption (only slightly better than the competition), it doesn't have much horsepower, and of course only 2 persons can use it to commute and the 'luggage space' is very small. It's not extremely safe either. Since it's not powerful or comfortable, it's not suitable for leisure driving. Volkswagen already made a 3l/100km diesel car, which has better mileage than this car, so economic cars don't have to be super tiny.

@Gfk, yeah I'm with you on the public transport. It cost me £2.40 to go just under 4 miles on a bus recently - add the wife and kids for a 'return trip to town and your talking around £16 - to travel less than eight miles.

And the government stated a while bacl larger road tax would be ploughed back into the public tranport to make it more affordable - arse!

@AdrianT - yeah, I'd like an MX-5.... one day.

I think California may finally be getting Diesels soon. Car manufacturers haven't been able to meet the emissions tests required for them here, so the only diesels you see are stinky ones from the 70's which are exempt or utility type vehicles. Around here natural gas is being used more and more in buses and other HGV's.

They really should make some attractive hybrids, the prius may be distinctive but its a butt ugly appliance, the Chevy Volt is big, bulky and aggressive looking, I often wonder if that will see the light of day.

Things are changing a lot since I first moved here 10 years ago though. back in 1998 I couldn't find a nice hatch anywhere, only thing going was the old Honda DX and Mazda MX3 unless you wanted to step back into the 80's or mid/late 70's which is never a good idea :)

Actually my smart car consumes 10l/100km, but that's because I drive it the fun style. It could theoretically come down to 3l/100km, but that would be a dead boring driving style, and it would piss other drivers off since you accelerate so slow. Kick down, screeching wheels, and the smell of burnt rubber from the engine is my driving style. I never thought of the smart car as a cheap, useful, economic, safe, roomy car, I just wanted it to have fun. And that's what it is, 100% :)

You can have fun trying to be frugal with your petrol too. Most modern cars cut out the fuel injection when you engine brake, So using the brakes as little as possible, downshifting,braking and taking the best line through the corner all save you fuel. Here we get too many crossroads so another thing you can do is try to guage your speed so that you avoid having to stop at the lights. Coasting up to the lights in the right gear means you can blow past everyone when it changes with almost no effort. The most fuel is used getting the momentum of your car started, so trying to stop as little as possible helps a lot.

If you don't mind using fuel then blipping the throttle between downshifts allows you to match the revs for the next gear, keep the car balanced and allow you to go through the corner more smoothly. Any kind of braking throws the weight forward to the front and outside wheels as you turn making you more likely to lose traction and control of the car.

Playing with all these things even at relatively slow speed is quite engaging, with a bit of practice you can get around most corners at the speed limit without any braking or tire noise, driving smoothly on a good line feels good too, I get grumpy when someone gets in my way at my favourite spots around town though hehe.