To the guy in the Smart car...

[protege]

If he thought that piece of crap could smoke anything...he was sorely mistaken

I've heard about the Hayabusa conversion and the Brabus (not sold in the US apparently), but I'd be surprised if it was one of those. Something about that car just screamed "base model"

[TheCheerfulTreeRat]

Heh, I confess, after playing Saints Row The Third, where there's a running little side mission to blow up as many of the Smart car expies as you can, I feel an urge to take a rocket to those little things.

Seriously, though, revving an engine in a Smart car? I can hear it now:

vroom vroom vrooooooom vweeeeeeeee

'My dad had a 52 Chevy' 'Even when you rev it at the lights, it just goes "vooden vooden"'

[PepperElf]

...quit attempting to rev that thing at traffic lights.

Interestingly... I recently found out why some people rev at stop lights... it's not always to say "look at me! look at me!"

It's also to trick the sensors at the stoplight into thinking there's more cars in line.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/car-dr...uestion234.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Trigger-Green-Traffic-Lights

From what I've been told some lightweight motorcycles especially have to do this, just so that the sensor registers them at ALL. Either that, or outfit the bikes with special magnets. (there's also some other tricks listed in the 2nd link for motorcycles especially)

There's debate on whether or not magnets work (or revving the engine) but... sometimes that's one of the reasons why some car-drivers drop to neutral and rev at lights.

[dalesys]

It's also to trick the sensors at the stoplight into thinking there's more cars in

Revving and magnets will work just as well as tinfoil strips in your hubcaps will keep the radar from picking you up. Or your tinfoil hat will prevent alien control. (Have installed quite a few of these loops and first played with metal detectors 45 years ago or so.)

[PepperElf]

Revving and magnets will work just as well as tinfoil strips in your hubcaps will keep the radar from picking you up. Or your tinfoil hat will prevent alien control. (Have installed quite a few of these loops and first played with metal detectors 45 years ago or so.)

well, i do understand the reasoning since many of the plates are using magnetic induction. and an electric generator does create a magnetic field.

if the field is strong enough to affect the sensors however I'm not sure on.

[Draper Mel]

Interestingly... I recently found out why some people rev at stop lights... it's not always to say "look at me! look at me!"

It's also to trick the sensors at the stoplight into thinking there's more cars in line.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/car-dr...uestion234.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Trigger-Green-Traffic-Lights

From what I've been told some lightweight motorcycles especially have to do this, just so that the sensor registers them at ALL. Either that, or outfit the bikes with special magnets. (there's also some other tricks listed in the 2nd link for motorcycles especially)

There's debate on whether or not magnets work (or revving the engine) but... sometimes that's one of the reasons why some car-drivers drop to neutral and rev at lights.

I don't know about the revving part, but I have wondered sometimes if that little car generates enough EM field to trigger the sensors. I have been the only car at a stop light sometimes, and the cycle has bypassed me and I never get a green light until somebody else pulls up.

Ok, according to Wikipedia, the pavement sensors are actually metal detectors, which explains a lot. Smart Cars have plastic body panels around a steel chassis, so there's less metal to detect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic...ment_detectors

[Chromatix]

The stupid part is that the sensors *can* detect something as small as a bicycle, if they are calibrated properly. A motorbike or a small car should be no trouble.

Incidentally, most cars have only a very small electric generator installed - just enough to drive the radio, headlights, air conditioning and to replace the battery charge used to start the engine. This is a tiny fraction of the engine's total output, most of which is transmitted mechanically to the wheels. In any case, the magnetic field outside the generator casing would only be from the stator, which doesn't move. The armature (which does turn with the engine) is bathed in the far more intense field *inside* the stator.

What you *can* do to help is to figure out where the sensors actually are (generally there will be a seam in the road) and the most usefully large metal part on your car at road level (possibly an axle or part of the chassis - on old cars it would be the bumpers, but those are mostly plastic now). When you are alone at the lights, stop so those two things coincide, even if that is some distance back from the stop line.

Most lights in Finland have a different system. They run on a fixed schedule during the day - no sensors - and are often turned off at night, converting the junction into a "give way" type. A few, mostly on busy public transport routes, also have overrides which are triggered by approaching buses and trams, giving them priority.

[protege]

There's debate on whether or not magnets work (or revving the engine) but... sometimes that's one of the reasons why some car-drivers drop to neutral and rev at lights.

That Smart car idiot is always revving his engine--no matter what "position" he's in. Here, most of the lights are on timers. There are a couple of lights that have sensors, but these are pretty rare now. Years ago, you could easily trip the sensor lights--they had overhead sensors mounted on a pole, about 10 feet back from the intersection. Usually, if you were stopped on a hill, rolling your car back about a foot was enough to turn the light green. Most of those have since been taken out--too many people rolling back...into traffic

As for putting the car in neutral, I can see why some people do it. To keep your foot on the clutch...actually leads to more wear. Clutch bearings are a bitch to replace. So if I'm stopped, I'll put the car in neutral, and keep my foot on the brake

[wolfie]

The old one "Rev it louder - I can't hear how small your penis is" applies here. Revving a Daimler Urban Mobile Box definitely reminds me of Cox (not a misspelling of a slang term for male anatomy - the manufacturer of .049 cubic inch model airplane engines)

As for one of those "chrome scratchers" not being able to smoke anything, my 500 HP 2-seater can out-drag a Smart - when I've got 40,000 pounds of cargo in the trailer.

When someone like that drives a Smart car, it's obvious that the car has a higher IQ than the driver.

[KatherineB]

There was a fantastic New Zealand ad some time ago which had young men revving their cars to show off. In their turn, the women who witnessed this would hold out their little fingers and exchange sympathetic glances as they demonstrated the size of the drivers' privates. I personally thought it was a stroke of brilliance, but sadly it never made it to Australia. I also had someone ranting at me about it online about how disgracefully sexist it was. Strange, I thought that was the point...

[Jay 2K Winger]

The old one "Rev it louder - I can't hear how small your penis is" applies here.

I see my contributions are entering into the CS.com mythos.

Between "Enemy of Normalcy" "PWNADE(TM)" and "Rev that engine louder - I can't hear how small your dick is" I feel so honored.

[mikoyan29]

The Smart Car is actually one of the few cars I have a high level of disdain for. I was looking at it's fuel economy stats...38 mpg on the highway? My Focus gets that and my Focus is almost twice the size. If Ford, GM or Chrysler designed the Smart Car, they'd be crucified.

[wolfie]

The Smart Car is actually one of the few cars I have a high level of disdain for. I was looking at it's fuel economy stats...38 mpg on the highway? My Focus gets that and my Focus is almost twice the size. If Ford, GM or Chrysler designed the Smart Car, they'd be crucified.

My compact station wagon (other make, but roughly the size of a Focus) gets about the same mileage. As for disdain, that's why I refer to those "chrome scratchers" as Daimler Urban Mobile Boxes.

[RetailWorkhorse]

But revving the engine?? Who's he trying to kid?

Himself, apparently. And it's working beautifully.

If Ford, GM or Chrysler designed the Smart Car, they'd be crucified.

GENIUS. I have a letter to write.

Dear Chrysler, I have a doozy of an idea....

[protege]

The Smart Car is actually one of the few cars I have a high level of disdain for. I was looking at it's fuel economy stats...38 mpg on the highway? My Focus gets that and my Focus is almost twice the size.

I wasn't impressed with the fuel economy either. Judging by the vehicle's size, it should get north of 55mpg. But, it wouldn't surprise me if the mileage is far below that--that engine must be screaming away to even reach 70mph. No wonder then, that I never see them on the highways here.

If I really wanted a "commuter" car, I'd get something with some class. A Messerschmidt KR200, Citroen 2CV, Renault 4CV, Beetle, Austin A40, or even a BMW/ISO Isetta