« Are We Spending Too Much on Housing and Transportation? | Main | Interesting Retirement Planning Article »
Would You Buy One of These?
By JLP | June 21, 2006
There’s talk that smart, the maker of the roadster in the picture above, may be coming to the U.S. What impresses me about this roadster is that it gets around 55 miles per gallon while driving at a decent speed. It has a 3-cylinder engine, which is extremely small. Buyers of this car would give up performance as the engine in the model shown above only produces 110 horsepower, which will get you from 0-60 in over 10 seconds. You can read a British review of the smart Roadster here.
I’m not sure if a car like this would sell in the U.S. One thing they would have to overcome is price. The model above, which is the top-of-the-line, sells for £16,990 (over $31,000 in U.S. dollars). I don’t think I would fork over that much money for a two-seater.
Topics: Cars | 11 Comments »
June 21st, 2006 at 12:58 pm
Nah … I’m into larger vehicles. Plus, I enjoy making Big Oil rich.
But I’ve been seeing these around Asia for the last several years, and they probably have them in the Euro market too.
It’s a Mercedes brand, I believe, and thus the price.
Other car makers have similar-sized models, including companies like Nissan, who choose not to market these models in the States.
June 21st, 2006 at 2:14 pm
I seem to recall having seen a lot of little Smart cars around London when I went with my dad several years ago.. I went to their website and emailed them to ask where they were sold in the United States. They did reply and told me they were not for sale here because they had not passed any US crash test. So I’m guessing that the high price is to get it road worthy here – the European versions are basically so much fiberglass to keep them very light.
June 21st, 2006 at 2:40 pm
Kira, I think they sell them in Canada, too. I dunno how different their regulations are.
June 21st, 2006 at 2:50 pm
I think there is a market for commute cars that get insane gas mileage – but they have to be cheap! Otherwise, just buy a Prius and spend the extra $5K to make it a plug-in hybrid, so you can impress your friends by using a gallon of gas each month in your commute (but don’t mention the electric bill)…
June 21st, 2006 at 3:12 pm
In germany the Smart car was popular because you could park two in one parking spot. Great for squeezing into places not mean to be squeezed into. I think a lack of acceleration ability can be outright dangerous though.
June 21st, 2006 at 3:58 pm
Foobarista, have you done the plug-in mod with a Prius or know someone that has? My husband has been nagging me to do mine, but I don’t want to kill my warranty.
June 21st, 2006 at 4:12 pm
No Lisa, although I have chatted with people who’ve done it. It definitely doesn’t make sense economically – it is more of a hobbyist thing.
June 21st, 2006 at 7:41 pm
This is a car that only is gonna be bought by people with pink dollars!
It has been a huge failure in Europe. Launched in 1999, been losing money every year since. Mercedes is going all inn if they are entering US with this car.
June 22nd, 2006 at 7:18 pm
I might consider it, if they come out with a V-6 with around 250 hp…
June 25th, 2006 at 6:53 pm
Of course, the only thing I would like to show off more then cars is diamonds of all colors which I can’t afford right now but getting there.
July 11th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
looks like a chick car