Barnstormin': Is the Smart Car Dead?

[cjforumadmin]

http://www.bangshift.com/blog/Barnstormin-Is-the-Smart-Car-Dead.html

[kevracer]

Re: Barnstormin': Is the Smart Car Dead?

You're a bit late to the party on this - Smart Car sales plummeted last year. Maybe everybody in the world wants to drive a 1970 big block Caprice?

[LXbuilder]

Re: Barnstormin': Is the Smart Car Dead?

It landed dead IMHO, never made any sense when there were plenty of "whole" cars with same mpg and similar to cheaper price tags. ;D

[Gary 351C]

Re: Barnstormin': Is the Smart Car Dead?

I always saw these things as a novelty anyway. People thought they were cool because it was something different, they stopped being the flavor of the month and people are looking for the next "trend". The only cool SMART I ever saw was the one that had the Hayabusa motor stuffed into it.

[Birdman]

Re: Barnstormin': Is the Smart Car Dead?

I live in the Chicago metro (though living 50 miles West of the City seems hardly 'metro'). I sometimes have occasion to take any # of large highways into the city. I's-88/90/94 are all multi-lane roads, with POSTED speed limits of 55 mph. Good luck finding anyone that actually OBSERVES the 55 limit. Rush hour? Be prepared to drive at speeds anywhere from 70-90 mph - and that's just to stay with the flow of traffic! Until someone wrecks, of course, Then it becomes a rolling parking lot.

My point is: would any sane person REALLY want to be in such a small coffin in these particular circumstances? Zip in front of a semi or equally large truck that's not paying attention and... well, use your imagination.

BTW - good luck ever getting 41 mpg out of a Smart. Best I've heard of is 26-28!

[threedoor]

Re: Barnstormin': Is the Smart Car Dead?

I'll sip my latte in my '70 4X4 GMC 502 powered Suburban while I trapse over the NotSoSmart cars thank you. Those things are thick in Portland OR where the eco-snobs conglomerate. If they really cared about the environment they would be recycling old diesel VW's out of the junkyard but they just want to look like they care, same with those Prius owners.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: Barnstormin': Is the Smart Car Dead?

what killed them:
1) terrible build quality
2) awful warranty (like good luck getting something fixed awful).
3) slow as a slug
4) the covering of the glass top with a protective headmat
5) lack of intuitive controls
6) not practical for much of anything.... try carrying a large dog in one
7) lots of other, more comfortable options.

still, they did drive like a go-kart, and despite the 26 mpg claim above.... actually get closer to 60mpg....

how do I know? my wife owned one when we met.... drove it all over the place and it feels lots more secure then a motorcycle.

[studemax]

Re: Barnstormin': Is the Smart Car Dead?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when these things came out weren't they marketed by the watch company Swatch?
That just screams cheap car to me.

[horsewidower]

Re: Barnstormin': Is the Smart Car Dead?

We've got them all over here in Sacramento, CA.

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Barnstormin': Is the Smart Car Dead?

They're plenty popular around here, especially Hollywood, W. Hollywood, Venice, and Santa Monica where parking sucks.

[Brian Lohnes]

Re: Barnstormin': Is the Smart Car Dead?

I think all 560 of them sold last month were in California. :D

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: Barnstormin': Is the Smart Car Dead?

There is one in Ely ;D ;D

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: Barnstormin': Is the Smart Car Dead?

They were (are?) HUGE in Italy in 2004. I didn't see many, if any now that I think about it, in Germany earlier this year.

[rjfscorpio711]

Re: Barnstormin': Is the Smart Car Dead?

The SMART car aint' so smart. Buy a 2 year old Nissan or Toyota for 8-10 grand and keep the extra 10 grand in your pocket. Enjoy a larger more comfortable car and still get mid 30's gas mileage.

[Matt Cramer]

Re: Barnstormin': Is the Smart Car Dead?

It seems the smart was designed not to conserve gas, but to conserve parking space. Makes sense in a European city with roads laid out 500 years ago for ox carts. In a modern American city, they're more like an answer to a question nobody asked.