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Are you getting a Smartfortwo car?

SGladwell

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Originally Posted by whnay.
A death trap on US highways.

Actually, with the big, thick rollcage, they're quite safe. Think back to those old videos of a BMW Mini-Ford F150 crash, where the crash dummy in the Mini was fine and the crash dummy in the lorry registered injuries. After all, in their home market they share the streets with plenty of 5000lb barges. S-Classes, 7er, and the like.
 

DMcG

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Originally Posted by j
I've seen a few of these around. Are they grey market?

I-5 Motors in Fife sells them. I believe there was a bit of a mess when the official announcement that Smart was bringing them to the US was made. Apparently some company had spent a lot of money to do the work to import them from Europe and now thats all wasted money since they won't be able to import or sell them anymore.

I think that for lots of people these cars (and cars like them) make plenty of sense. And I saw enough of them scooting down the autobahn that I have to believe that they'd be at least usable on US freeways.
 

JetBlast

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Rhaa, I was out working and went on break, and one of these things pulled up in the departures lane. These things really are amazingly small. Needless to say it got a lot of looks from passengers.

JB
 

CoryB

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I find it amazing that these haven't been introduced into the US yet; I live in Victoria, BC, Canada and see many every day. I would have the same worries about highway driving, but for city driving they seem quite well suited.
 

Stazy

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They are actually quite safe and seem to be catching on in Canada.
 

Roy

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Originally Posted by JetBlast
Why, why do people build these things.

European cities are much older than American cities, hence the city centers aren't properly planned. They have evolved over centuries, meaning you have a lot of narrow streets and very, very little parking space.
 

Toiletduck

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In terms of safety, I believe you guys need to watch this Top gear kicks ass as usual. http://astrochimp.com/2006/01/26/smart-car-crash/ On 5th Gear: http://www.autoblog.com/2006/11/10/t...t-crash-video/ I remember being in Italy and seeing these cars in parallel parking spaces, parked head first facing the curb, and they fit too. That was funny.
smile.gif
 

faustian bargain

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i think i'll wait for the smartforsix.
 

tiger02

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Originally Posted by Roy
European cities are much older than American cities, hence the city centers aren't properly planned. They have evolved over centuries, meaning you have a lot of narrow streets and very, very little parking space.
Funny, I thought of Boston as the best place for these in the US. I think someone mentioned that these do fine on the Autobahn, where speed is on another plane from American highways. Then again, so is driving discretion.
 

Bouji

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Although I understand why (large lanes, large cars, large everything...) it is still a little unbelivable that there were not avalible in the US untill now...
For London they are insanly practical, even though I don't own one, they suit the small roads, low speeds, small parking spaces, and most of all they are congestion charge exempt.
They only thing is the image of them...
 

DNW

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If I needed to drive a small car, I rather drive a Mini.
 

DNW

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Originally Posted by faustian bargain
i think i'll wait for the smartforsix.

You want a Smart minivan?
 

Bouji

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Originally Posted by DarkNWorn
If I needed to drive a small car, I rather drive a Mini.

The smart is a hell of a lot smaller than a mini.
 

billiebob

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Another vote for the roadster. Do they make a manual transmission version, or only semiauto? No plans to bring these to the US, eh?
 

Huntsman

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I have no plans to, but I certainly would, and I hope alot of other people do. Don't see what the resistance to them is all about. Great cars, great engineering, style is definitly their own.

Regards,
Huntsman
 

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