Written by The one-and-only smart car dealer in Western Washington is located just a stone’s throw from Renton, just east of South Center.
The cars, made by Mercedez, provide great gas economy (40 MPG highway), great parking advantages, and surprisingly good safety thanks to very good safety-cage design.
My son put down his 99 dollar deposit, and now has to wait 14 months for his car to come in. While the cars are 10 years old in Europe, they are only available in the US recently and I think there are about a quarter million on back order now.
IKEA Boxes go here!
Stop!
The Smart’s have a *fair* accident rating – but in order to have little chassis intrusion, the frame is VERY STIFF.
The brunt of the problem is that they don’t have much of a crumple zone – the occupants ‘bounce’ internally when the car crashes – slow crashes result in fatal G forces when a heavier vehicle is involved. Think of billiard balls and marbles.
We had one in Europe – they are a great city car, but combined with the high part costs, hard to work on engine bay and horrible reliability, the car will cost a lot more to operate than the MPG would indicate. The suspension is brutal to boot….
If your son wants a quirky and fun car thats quite a bit safer – while he’s waiting have him check out:
Saturn Sky – Two seater convertible. An instant classic and very beautiful.
Scion bX – Box on wheels.
Honda Fit – Honda Reliabilty
Mini – Get one used tough…
Suzuki SX4 – A true Japanese Oddity with an amazing 4×4 system
Re: Stop!
My daughter just got a Honda Fit, and she does LOVE it.
Re: Stop!
Sorry to be such a party-pooper! Young people need safe cars – even the smart and careful ones.
It’s too bad they don’t import the ForFour: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Forfour – it’s quite a bit safer.
revenue
A Saturn, Toyota, or Honda bought in Renton would put money back into our city 🙂
MPG
Not to make your son feel any worse about his choice (nice job, Ben!), but I really don’t understand why the Smart Cars don’t get much better gas mileage. I realize that the EPA’s new fuel efficiency standards have lowered MPGs across the board, but for a teeny 3 cylinder 2-seater with microscopic tires, I’d expect to see gas mileage far better than 33 city/41 hwy. Heck, a 4 cylinder VW TDi (turbo diesel) Jetta sedan can get well over 50 MPG on the highway. What on Earth are the Smart Cars made out of, lead?
I imagine that we’ll soon be seeing a plethora of small cars with smaller engines. It’s about time. I remember my dad’s Toyota Tercel 4WD wagon from 1982, which I think had 78 hp and was a real fuel sipper (it also looked liked a giant Japanese wedge, but that’s beside the point). It never seemed to have a problem climbing hills or passing on the freeway. We have so few choices of cars with small engines these days. Even the Toyota Yaris is overpowered — 106 hp. That’s 6 hp more than the Honda Civic I had in the early 90s, which was a much bigger car and quite zippy. I say, bring back the Daihatsu Charade! Well, maybe not.
My dream small car: a VW Polo. A zippy 1.4L, 4 cylinder TDi model gets between 60 and 70 MPG highway! Unfortunately, they’re not sold in the US. Yet. Check it out: http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/automotive_news/4219904.html
Re: MPG
Rentonben and others have almost talked my son out of buying the smart car. He’s leaning more toward the Honda Fit, like what his older sister recently purchased.
And our family cars (the one’s I have purchase for my wife and I, and the kids at home) consist of two Fords and a Dodge, so I don’t need to be reminded to buy American. For a compact car, I like my Ford Focus just fine. Great gas mileage, comfort, and dependability around town…it was a fine value. But it’s not distinctive enough for the young adults, I’m afraid.
I don’t know why the Smart Car does not get even better mileage for it’s size. It must still be on the heavy side (probably for crash strength), and of course it does not use hybrid technology.
Re: MPG
I have mixed feelings about the “Buy American” mantra. Every American car I’ve owned has been craptastic. I’ve also driven a number of American rental cars lately, and have been disappointed with all of them. The Chevy Cobalt was the worst: its turning radius was that of a semi. That’s not to say that there aren’t good, reliable American cars out there, but I’m not in the market for a truck, minivan, SUV, or full-sized sedan right now, and I’m not impressed by most of the styling coming out of Detroit, especially the retro looks. The Pontiac G6 is an exception, but I think my next vehicle will probably be something with much higher fuel efficiency.
Of course, many “foreign” cars are now made in the US, and American autoworkers employed by Toyota, Honda, Mercedes, BMW, and others are in far more stable jobs than Big Three autoworkers are right now. And a lot of cars assembled elsewhere are made with a significant number of US parts, and are supported by US dealerships and other businesses. Then there’s issue of what really constitutes and “American” car. Dodge Caravans are made in Canada. The Chevy Aveo is made in South Korea.
I feel compassion for American autoworkers and the continued challenges they face, but we live in a global economy, and American jobs — and by extension, American lives — are not more valuable than anyone else’s on this planet, especially since we have safety nets in this country for the disadvantaged, safety nets that don’t exist in less prosperous countries. Do I feel guilty that my car was assembled in Mexico by well-paid Mexican workers who are fortunate enough to lead middle class lives in a country with few such opportunities? Not in the least. Every peso that those workers are paid and spend goes to improve their local economy, and a healthy Mexico is good for the US, both strategically and economically. The key, of course, it to make sure that all countries are playing by the same trade, labor, and pricing rules, which often isn’t the case. That’s the greatest challenge of globalization, in my opinion.
At some point, maybe hundreds of years for now, we’ll live in a truly global society, like it or not. The ultra-nationalists and other fringe folks can go off and colonize asteroids if they’d like.