The Smart is a car you wanna wrap your arms around, not only 'cuz they're cute but because it looks like you might actually be able to. The diminutive autos are ubiquitous in European cities (
Tom Hanks zips around Paris in one in "The Da Vinci Code"), where parking space is scarce and gas is generally $4 a gallon or more. Until recently, however, you couldn't buy one in the United States. That has changed.
ZAP, a Santa Rosa, California company whose name stands for Zero Auto Pollution, has started importing the 60-mpg cars in limited quantities. The company is betting that, contrary to the myth that Americans will only drive super-sized cars, the tiny two-seaters will ride the same wave of popularity that has made the Mini Cooper a hit and spawned a new class of compacts that includes the Honda Fit, the Toyota Yaris and the Nissan Versa.
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Nice to see that the Chronicle has caught up with me. (I'm so humble.)
Everybody who goes to Europe seems to be enamored of these Smart cars (I'm not--yet--probably because I haven't been to Europe). As a measure of their ubiquity, you should see the Smart car's company web site.
The Chronicle's article skirts the question of safety--not that there necessarily is a question of safety when it comes to the Smart car. Only that, besides the cultural proclivity toward bigger vehicles, another justification for big vehicles in America is that they are somehow safer. The logical end of that thread of thought dictates that we should be rolling around in tanks--which probably don't roll over as often as SUVs. But that's why the old Smart car U.S. business plan is supposed to have originally had Smart SUVs entering the market (basically, a four door Smart car) first. You can read more about it on the blog entry I linked above. Also, I think part of the reason Smart cars have been slow to arrive on the scene is that in recent incarnations--perhaps not the current one--they've had to be retrofit to meet EPA emissions standards. Or, at least, that's the word on the street. Things can change. But those little diesel Smart cars can sound like a good deal when they're getting 70 mpg.
I would drive a zapster in a second, i have learned over the years the very strong need for safer environments and the help that it would give with the price of gas going up and up, although i would love to own a toyota pm, a three wheeled two seater car with built in phones that go from pm to pm and this car actually almost ly's down the faster it gets and stands taller the slower it goes.
Can it tow my boat?
But stop for a minute and compare this thing to the Prius. It costs about the same, but while the Smart car gets around 40 mpg, our Prius consistently gets around 48 mpg. Not only that, it holds four people. And you can take it on the freeway -- or drive it across the country, for that matter. To the point of safety, it scores high points. And it might even tow your boat.
Someone needs to explain to me why you'd buy a Smart car over a Prius. Unless it's just that parking is easier. And it's cute.
Does anyone else find it ironic that the Heat and Hurricanes won the NBA and NHL Titles? Or even that the Hurricanes beat the Oilers?
Does anyone else find it ironic that the Heat and Hurricanes won the NBA and NHL Titles? Or even that the Hurricanes beat the Oilers?
I think you may be onto something.
Tiogajenny -
I'm with you. The prius and the civic can get much higher mpg. Plus, they're real cars that can fit a family in them, and are actually on the road. Is the Siera Club really pushing diesel powered smart cars now? Isn't diesel still dirty?
No, the Sierra Club is not pushing the Smart Car -- particularly not the diesels. The idea of the Compass blog is to throw things out there for discussion.
In that spirit, allow me a few observations. For starters, SMART cars are indeed on the road and have been for quite some time -- in Europe. Part of their appeal there may be the scarcity of parking in many major European cities.
Diesel is indeed dirty, but modern diesel engines are not as dirty as their reputation. And those who argue for diesel point to the greater efficiencies. Imagine if you combined that efficiency with hybrid technology for applications such as, say, trucking. Just ending truck idling would be a huge improvement in fuel consumption.
As a general rule, however, the Club is against diesel.
Another point: Not everyone has a family to haul around. On the vast majority of trips, we're just hauling around empty seats.
Finally, I'm surprised how seldom folks mention the Honda Insight, which is the real winner in terms of fuel efficiency. It's a two-seater, as well, of course.
Anyway, good discussion.
To add to the point of not just parking, and that the vast majority of people just haul themselves around. There is the plain and simple fact that a smaller car takes less energy to produce. Not only that it is lighter and so adds up to less wear and tear on our roads -- which also take energy to maintain.
And if you only seek to replace our current car fleet with hybrids, you do nothing to stop sprawl, and all the ills that come along with that.
And hybrids still use up the gasoline which will no longer be here some day soon. Add in the consumers of China, and any gains you've made are short lived at best.
Hybrids (and smaller cars frankly) are merely a stop gap to peak oil. They are not a solution to anything except our need for convenience.
What we really need is to stop designed our lives around cars - now there's a (albeit pie-in the sky) solution.
In reguards to a comment made comparing the Prius and the smart car...you can take the smart car on the freeway. It has a governed speed of 85mph. As far as safety DaimlerChrysler has done extensive tests on the smart car and it rates just as high as their E class sedans from the same years. Zap, who imports the smart cars actually had a group of people drive them accross the country, there is a blog on it on the Zap website www.zapworld.com
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