Wow - it's like a rollerskate for a transformer. Or maybe the foot of a giant robot if there were 19 other vehicles to form Voltron with.

I get the whole fuel economy angle, but what a god-awful looking thing.

Do they fit amerians over 6 feet tall? The safety thing would worry me a bit, but I'd consider a car like this if I lived and worked in a city, where really you're not generally over 30-40 miles per hour all the time. I'd definitely want another car for beltway driving.

I think they're designed moreso for the city, and not so much for highway driving. In a city scenario I think they'd be a very useful car, and the safety thing would be less of an issue because of the lower speeds that people typically drive.

I love them, but if I actually lived in a city where a smartcar would be handy, I think I'd probably rather just buy a vespa. :)

This may be more insightful. I like to consider that cars like the Cooper mini do fairly well in North America (and the Smart does very well in Canada, judging from all the cars I see on the road).

It also saddens me that the solution to having too many large cars on the road is to buy an EVEN LARGER car than your neighbor's.

Let's get cynical, cynical!
I wanna get cynical
Let's get into cynical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Let me hear your body talk

What are the specs on these things?

I remember seeing the Smart concept car at NAIAS once year, many years ago. We also saw them all over Rome back in 2000.

The problem with cars like these is that the US is big. Really big. You think it's big, and it's bigger than that. It's immense. And, to make things worse, the US is founded on the concept that anyone can own some land and call it a home if you pony up enough cash. We all want to live somewhere with our own land, and there's plenty of land, and there are plenty of Americans, so we spread out into suburbs and exurbs in our goofy McMansions instead of living in clustered cities. And thus, we drive. Alot. A lot and a lot and a lot.

Living in Rome, a SmartCar would rock. If I lived in Rome, I would totally own one. It would get you out of the city on excursions, you can park it in one of the teeny tiny alleyways or in one of the 5 parking spots in the city, and you could run over crazy people on Vespas. Since, if you live in Rome, you never need to leave Rome, it's perfect and wonderful and awesome and happy.

But the idea of taking one of these things on the Capital Beltway at rush hour -- hell, I drive a light truck with rollbars and a paint job I'm not terribly attached to and I don't like driving the Capital Beltway at rush hour.

Fabulous idea. I don't know if they're going to sell to anyone.

... ugh

http://www.zapworld.com/cars/smartCar.asp

I don't know if they will sell. Maybe it will. But if I was an urban driver I don't know if I would own a car. For example, if I lived in New York City there is no WAY I would have a car. I love my current car for the horsepower, cargo space and the smooth ride. Right now there is no way I would own a Smart Car. But I do agree that something needs to be done with cars and/or fuel.

We have one and love it :)

I think smartcars are fantastic for people that live, work in the city or have shorter commutes in the burbs. Since there are literally tens of thousands of folks that have lives meeting that description I hope they catch on here.

i think most people who buy great big cars should be kicked in the shins. by me.

They were all over in paris, and big suv's are rather popular there. (surprising, but true. Anything on a music video, I'm pretty sure, is copied all over the world.)
There's even a sport's version. It's even smaller:
http://www.geocities.com/perry_peterson_1999/c.jpg

I love how you can parallel park them perpendicular to the curb.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ju6t-yyoU8s&search=Smart%20Car%20Crash
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=smartcar

:)

We have something similar here in Japan - KCars. You get a reduced insurance premium, and some of them are light enough that I've watched a cyclist walk away from getting t-boned by one at a red light.

The problem you describe with marketing seems symptomatic not so much of a potential for bad smartcar design as an existing problem with retards buying massively over-engineered vehicles. :-(

I think the biggest problem is that it might not be so good at doing the kind of long distance road travel that America and Americans seem so enamored of. All the same, I hope it takes off!

-- curious_jp