Honda Car Forum

"Useful Info" <useful_inf@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1183136367.519154.19160@k79g2000hse.googlegro ups.com...
> Read all about it, here: http://Muvy.org
>
>
You spammed us before with this same subject, remember?

As for the SMART car, I checked some user forums a few months ago. The
engine is notoriously flimsy; the conventional wisdom is that it is good for
60-100K km. One owner got good news, though. His engine with 70+ K km
appeared to be seized but on advice from a more experienced owner he
loosened the alternator belt. Sure enough - it was the alternator that was
seized ( a very common problem, apparently). The starter didn't have enough
torque to turn the dinky diesel with a seized alternator.

I sure don't want to trade in my 45-60 mpg (real world) five passenger Prius
with climate control for a two passenger, noisier, thirstier, far less
reliable, much more sluggish vehicle that - at present - is not even
available with A/C. (Putting A/C on a 50 hp engine is not likely to be in
the cards, either.)

SMART cars have been a money pit for Daimler-Chrysler - can Mercedes make it
pay?

Mike

"Mike Hunter" <mikehunt2@mailcity.com> wrote in message
news:rMCdnRTkqfsNyxjbnZ2dnUVZ_s2vnZ2d@ptd.net...
> At the price of $16,000 for that midget two passenger car, to drive on
> American highways, to save a relative few hundred dollars a year, one
> would be better off just buying a actual
> coffin for $5,000
>
> mike
>
>
Okay, Mike - I have to give you a gold star for that!

Mike

Michael Pardee wrote:
> "Mike Hunter" <mikehunt2@mailcity.com> wrote in message
> news:rMCdnRTkqfsNyxjbnZ2dnUVZ_s2vnZ2d@ptd.net...
>> At the price of $16,000 for that midget two passenger car, to drive on
>> American highways, to save a relative few hundred dollars a year, one
>> would be better off just buying a actual
>> coffin for $5,000
>>
>> mike
>>
>>
> Okay, Mike - I have to give you a gold star for that!
>
> Mike

Except that it has not been shown that the Smart is actually less
dangerous than an SUV that throws its occupants as it rolls over.

Jeff

"Jeff" <kidsdoc2000@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:h9khi.126$Of2.88@trnddc06...
> Michael Pardee wrote:
>> "Mike Hunter" <mikehunt2@mailcity.com> wrote in message
>> news:rMCdnRTkqfsNyxjbnZ2dnUVZ_s2vnZ2d@ptd.net...
>>> At the price of $16,000 for that midget two passenger car, to drive on
>>> American highways, to save a relative few hundred dollars a year, one
>>> would be better off just buying a actual
>>> coffin for $5,000
>>>
>>> mike
>>>
>>>
>> Okay, Mike - I have to give you a gold star for that!
>>
>> Mike
>
> Except that it has not been shown that the Smart is actually less
> dangerous than an SUV that throws its occupants as it rolls over.
>
> Jeff
>

Don't bother me with facts; the post was funny!

Really, SUVs don't throw the occupants. Unbelted occupants are in terrible
danger in any vehicle. Belted occupants aren't ejected and are better
protected. It's that simple.

And in reality the SMART car is more crashworthy than it looks (anything is
more crashworthy than a SMART car looks). But I still wouldn't consider
buying one.

Mike

Jeff wrote:
> Michael Pardee wrote:
>> "Mike Hunter" <mikehunt2@mailcity.com> wrote in message
>> news:rMCdnRTkqfsNyxjbnZ2dnUVZ_s2vnZ2d@ptd.net...
>>> At the price of $16,000 for that midget two passenger car, to drive
>>> on American highways, to save a relative few hundred dollars a year,
>>> one would be better off just buying a actual
>>> coffin for $5,000
>>>
>>> mike
>>>
>>>
>> Okay, Mike - I have to give you a gold star for that!
>>
>> Mike
>
> Except that it has not been shown that the Smart is actually less
> dangerous than an SUV that throws its occupants as it rolls over.
>
suv's don't throw their occupants, they crush them as the roof collapses.

in the past, there's been no legal roof collapse requirement on suv's,
so domestic manufacturers never bothered to address this issue - they
just did the math on the savings, put their calculated payout into a
lawsuit settlement fund, and netted the profit. worse than enron if you
ask me.

LOL, poor Mike Hunter...

Everytime he hears about a fuel efficent vehicle it makes his stomach turn
and then he goes into this "safety first bit" when his real embarassment is
that he is running around in gas hog.

Truth is small cars are no more dangerous...than roll-overs


"Mike Hunter" <mikehunt2@mailcity.com> wrote in message
news:rMCdnRTkqfsNyxjbnZ2dnUVZ_s2vnZ2d@ptd.net...
> At the price of $16,000 for that midget two passenger car, to drive on
> American highways, to save a relative few hundred dollars a year, one
> would be better off just buying a actual
> coffin for $5,000
>
> mike
>
>
> "Useful Info" <useful_inf@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1183136367.519154.19160@k79g2000hse.googlegro ups.com...
>> Read all about it, here: http://Muvy.org
>>
>
>

Have you been to London. There are tons there.


"Graybeard" <graybeard32@cfl.rr.com> wrote in message
news:4685b3c5$0$31224$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> Those little "Smart" cars have been running around in Europe for 7 or 8
> years, but the times that I have been there, we never saw very many of
> them on the road. The Mercedes name sells them to some people, but there
> are much better buys for better transportation in Europe, the same as
> there is here.
> If they could get the price down to $10,000, they might make a good
> substitute for a golf cart.
> (Yes, I know, the model sold here is a little different).
>
>
> "Mike Hunter" <mikehunt2@mailcity.com> wrote in message
> news:rMCdnRTkqfsNyxjbnZ2dnUVZ_s2vnZ2d@ptd.net...
>> At the price of $16,000 for that midget two passenger car, to drive on
>> American highways, to save a relative few hundred dollars a year, one
>> would be better off just buying a actual
>> coffin for $5,000
>>
>> mike
>>
>>
>> "Useful Info" <useful_inf@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> news:1183136367.519154.19160@k79g2000hse.googlegro ups.com...
>>> Read all about it, here: http://Muvy.org
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

"jim beam" <spamvortex@bad.example.net> wrote in message
news:V96dnac-_aOERBjbnZ2dnUVZ_tyinZ2d@speakeasy.net...
> Jeff wrote:
>> Michael Pardee wrote:
>>> "Mike Hunter" <mikehunt2@mailcity.com> wrote in message
>>> news:rMCdnRTkqfsNyxjbnZ2dnUVZ_s2vnZ2d@ptd.net...
>>>> At the price of $16,000 for that midget two passenger car, to drive on
>>>> American highways, to save a relative few hundred dollars a year, one
>>>> would be better off just buying a actual
>>>> coffin for $5,000
>>>>
>>>> mike
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Okay, Mike - I have to give you a gold star for that!
>>>
>>> Mike
>>
>> Except that it has not been shown that the Smart is actually less
>> dangerous than an SUV that throws its occupants as it rolls over.
>>
> suv's don't throw their occupants, they crush them as the roof collapses.
>
> in the past, there's been no legal roof collapse requirement on suv's, so
> domestic manufacturers never bothered to address this issue - they just
> did the math on the savings, put their calculated payout into a lawsuit
> settlement fund, and netted the profit. worse than enron if you ask me.
>
SUVs and pickups historically (I haven't kept up) have not had the same
requirements as passenger vehicles. About 20 years ago I got embroiled in
the struggle to have head restraints installed in our company pickup trucks.
The cost was reasonable enough - that wasn't the problem. The problem was
that there was no federal regulation concerning head restraints in pickup
trucks, so if a driver or passenger suffered injury that could involve head
restraints in any respect liability would attach.

IMO, it is driven by CAFE. Passenger cars are one category, light trucks and
buses (including SUVs by GVWR) are another. CAFE made large passenger cars
scarce so people who wanted large vehicles started loading themselves into
trucks or buses. The market responded with large vehicles that - from a
regulatory standpoint - were not passenger vehicles but were nevertheless
fitted with creature comforts. Put the blame where you will: activists, law
makers, lawyers, manufacturers, consumers... the situation isn't changing
very quickly.

Mike

I'm not seeing this go anywhere useful.

Art wrote:

> Have you been to London. There are tons there.

There are two in the road I live in.

Graham