In Which I'm a Douche

[blas]

Well, another good thing to owning a relatively small car (granted, my Neon is a "sedan" because it has 4 doors and a trunk) is so I won't ever have to give a lot of people rides. Ha ha....

It's hard to fit a lot of people comfortably in a car like that. Plus, my one friend pointed out "You better not keep that car if you have a kid....you can't fit carseats in there very easily." Good birth control, I'd say!

[alogram]

Am I the only one who expects to see 12 clowns get out of a Mini Cooper?

Hate them and "Smart" cars.

I would suspect that if you got in an accident with almost anything in a Smart Car you would be done for...

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Far be it from me to say no to a Mini Cooper. They're cute looking cars. But also well above my pay grade.

[crazylegs]

I would suspect that if you got in an accident with almost anything in a Smart Car you would be done for...

They're not too shabby, its Euro NCAP score is four stars (out of five), which isn't too bad at all.

[edible_hat]

They're not too shabby, its Euro NCAP score is four stars (out of five), which isn't too bad at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6t-yyoU8s

[protege]

They're not too shabby, its Euro NCAP score is four stars (out of five), which isn't too bad at all.

Still, I have a feeling that if you get rear-ended...you're going to get fucked up. There's simply not much in the way of metal back there. Oh, and then there's this little tidbit. During a crash test...the fortwo actually got tossed

[Pagan]

But, I do know people who drive minivans or trucks, simply because they're easier to get into. One of my neighbors doesn't walk very well. His minivan seat is at the right height--he just sits down, swings his legs around, and closes the door. Not like a sports car, or even a sedan--with those, he has to prop himself up against the door to get out.

Yeah, but this guy literally uses a step ladder. Hold on, let me go look at it....

Ok, it's some Ford model. I can't see the model, but it does have "Fx4 Off Road" on the side. The seats look like the would hit me about the bottom of my ribcage, which is about 41". This guy's about the same height as me. I watched him take about 5 minutes to get out of it yesterday.

I just don't get why he has it. It's days between when he goes anywhere, so it's not like he needs it for work....

Heh, I'd go with the Cooper, myself. Nekojin's been drooling after one for a while, now. And they look surprisingly roomy inside.

^-.-^

I'd love one, but I don't want to get into a new car right now. I'm planning on moving overseas in a couple of years and don't plan to have a car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6t-yyoU8s

You know, those look smaller than the ones I've seen here. Plus, around here, there aren't a whole lot of 70mph head-on crashes....unless you happen to run into one of our famous drunks, driving the wrong way on the interstate.
Actually, come to think of it, the interstates are safer than our surface streets.

[Andara Bledin]

I've been noticing rather a few smart cars around here. I honestly wouldn't be too terribly worried about the safety, except for the notable lightness of the thing. It gets tossed around a lot, and there's not much there to absorb the shock of impact.

Plus, around here, there aren't a whole lot of 70mph head-on crashes....unless you happen to run into one of our famous drunks, driving the wrong way on the interstate.
Actually, come to think of it, the interstates are safer than our surface streets.

They're safer because they're all single-direction, and have controlled access.

^-.-^

[Bandit]

The first Smart Car I saw was on the Trans-Canada highway running in the middle of some trucks.

If there had been a problem, that car would have looked like >.<

Gawd help them if they ever hit a moose or a deer. Even buses don't survive a moose.

B

[Primer]

Still, I have a feeling that if you get rear-ended...you're going to get fucked up. There's simply not much in the way of metal back there. Oh, and then there's this little tidbit. During a crash test...the fortwo actually got tossed

Having survived being rear-ended by an 18-wheeler, there is no way I will ever own anything smaller than full-sized again. The Dodge Durango SUV I was in, and the Ford F-150 pick-up in front of me were both totaled. I survived by the grace of the deities, and Dodge engineering. Thanks, but I'll let other folks buy/drive the small (fuel-efficient) vehicles.

[Andara Bledin]

Fore freeway travel, I wouldn't go in anything less than a compact. Even a sub-compact is smaller than I feel comfortable in. For tirps to the store or to work and back, however, I think I'd be ok with a smart car.

^-.-^

[wolfie]

My own experience with one of those Daimler Urban Mobile Box "Fortwo" cars was when I had just left the company yard and was waiting to turn right onto the major street (hint - it takes a big gap for there to be room for me to pull into, especially with 20 tons of paper in the trailer). One of those street-legal toys came up on my left (minor street that the company yard opens into has 3 lanes - left, straight, and right - at the intersection with the major street), and proceeded to turn right from the "straight" lane.

Combine the events (micro car, turning right from a lane where he shouldn't, same colour as my truck so a quick glimpse could easily be mistaken for my hood), and he's lucky a gap big enough for me didn't open up while he was pulling that manouver - he could easily have scratched the chrome on my bumper.

[Pagan]

They're safer because they're all single-direction, and have controlled access.

Except for our aforementioned drunk wrong-way drivers....which does happen more often than it should.

[PepperElf]

i use to laugh at one friend's beat up surf-van

called it an appliance cos he had to plug it in overnight to get the battery charged back up - and he couldn't drive it at night cos the lights would drain the battery too much too.. and it was rust colored... because it really was rusting. the only reason it passed inspection was cos he slipped the guy a $20.

but... even as i laughed i'd point out that (at the time) i didn't even have an appliance of my own

and he got it at a good price. "Want a free van?"
Yeah. the owner was leaving hawaii in a matter of days and couldn't sell it & had the title handy to just give the rustbucket away

[EricKei]

I drive a big tank of a car, but that's more because of my size than anything else (6 foot four and built like a computer geek....and I'm single, ladieeeezzz ^_^ lol).

I have found that the smallest car I can fit into without having to tear out the front seat is a Taurus. I used to have one of those. It was a POS, but it ran. Now I have an old grand marquis. Surprised the hell outta me when I calculated my mileage on a long trip and found that this behemoth gets around 26-27mpg highway. That's more than I could have hoped for. One nice thing about it, tho -- if anything short of a semi hits me, this thing will more than likely have little more than a scuffed up outer frame afterwards.