gengar

The IIHS ratings are bunk, considering the accompanying written report. If you consider 'driver's head undergoing high rate of acceleration when hitting the steering wheel through the airbag' worthy of a 5-star frontal impact rating, then fine.

bagwell

oh, so you've come up with a better ratings system?

bring it!

JessePS

All I have to say, just buy an Aptera when it comes out in October.

cpone

Actually it JUST got here. Orders are NOW being fulfilled. I know because someone I know was like #92 or something like that here in Orlando.

If I am not mistaken it got a 'good' rating and average on another.

I want the car to save me from a crash in a frontal collision.
I have my doubts that this thing will to be honest. At least not without loosing my legs.


And what is the point in getting a Smart Car?
What is so 'Smart' about it?
It gets some crappy gas mileage for being so small. Its lighter and smaller than the Mini yet only gets 5 MPG better?

I think the novelty will wear off QUICK on these things. Soon as a couple crashes start happening, it will be deemed a death box.

gengar

A better ratings system is necessary in order to qualify another as bad? I must have missed that memo.

bagwell

well if you say its so bad - it would be nice if you would have something to justify your reasons or a better method of conducting tests to get more accurate results instead of just blindly criticizing.

gengar

Wow, slow down with the personal attacks. Didn't you even bother reading what I said? I gave justification in my original post.

RXSF

well just to point out to the OP ive seen like 10 smart cars in SF in the past two weeks so they arent just here. but anyways...

notice how the smart just drives into the engine bay of the S class. i mean the smart doesnt have much of a bumper area to crush and it just plows into the S class. the reason why the S class is safer is because there is more space and more things to absorb the impact. however, look at how "little" damage was put upon the smart. sure, it bounced out of the way, but considering it doesnt have the 4 feet of engine space, it did rather well didnt it?

bagwell

not a personal attack at all -- I just want to know if there's better crash testing methodology that I haven't heard about......

its all good...

first cars were delivered to US customers in January 2008.

oh and SMART = the company name nothing more. Swatch + Mercedes + ART

Big Andy

SMARTS have been on sale for 7 years now - plenty of time to evaluate their safety in real life crashes and they have proved to be very safe little cars, with no "death crash" horror stories.

I agree with you about the MPG though.

bagwell

let the suckers buy the plain gas powered one....when the novelty wears off and the sales go down, they'll introduce the hybrid or diesel + hybrid or something better.

bagwell

here's what actual owners are reporting so far...an avg of 39MPG !! better than I expected.

Avg MPG / State / %city %hwy


1 34.9 CA 64% 36% 05/29/2008
2 38.8 MA 90% 10% 05/28/2008
3 46.7 CA 36% 64% 05/28/2008
4 34.3 PA 84% 16% 03/31/2008
5 38.4 FL 47% 53% 03/20/2008
6 36.8 CA 39% 61% 05/27/2008
7 34.5 TX 69% 31% 05/05/2008
8 45.0 CA 02/26/2008
9 36.6 WA 39% 61% 05/10/2008
10 35.2 TX 50% 50% 05/19/2008
11 41.6 TN 38% 62% 04/20/2008
12 38.0 CA 40% 60% 03/08/2008
13 43.4 VT 21% 79% 05/29/2008
14 38.8 FL 90% 10% 03/28/2008
15 36.0 AZ 53% 47% 03/21/2008
16 34.5 WI 80% 20% 03/18/2008
17 36.2 MN 33% 68% 05/23/2008
18 41.5 UT 50% 50% 04/09/2008
19 47.5 FL 15% 85% 05/02/2008
20 38.2 60% 40% 05/28/2008
21 42.5 CA 40% 60% 05/27/2008
22 35.3 TX 35% 65% 05/26/2008

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Get better fuel economy given that it's the size of a shoebox? (EPA city 33/ hwy 41)

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Good job Ferrari or Fiat didn't make 'em then.

mmarshall

But, remember.........this car takes Premium gas, just like all Mercedes products. So, as far as actual fuel milage per dollar spent, that cuts it about 10% or so.