Tesla-powered Smart fortwo gives rides, ignites imaginations
By Darren Murph 
posted Apr 25th 2009 10:11AM
posted Apr 25th 2009 10:11AM
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This car is way too small for Americans! I mean they can't even fit one of their big asses in there!
Yes, because we're all big fat slobs. And all French people stink. All Polish people are stupid. Oh, and soccer isn't a real sport.
Someone must have repeatedly shit in your cheerios when you were a child, or perhaps you still are one?
His cheerios obviously never spelled OOOOOOO. The heavy metals in them must have deformed the letters.
I'm a big American with a big American ass, and you know what? I fit just fine in the Smart cars. Surprisingly not cramped. Granted, not much room for anything else, but that's not the point.
Since you americans are also uneducated you can instead watch the movie Super Size Me. For some reason there no movie called The Paris Stinker or I Don't Know, I'm Polish.
You are right, too small. Germans are oblivious of Americans and our over compensation issues.
@ CraigJ
Obviously you guys fail at recognizing sarcasm. Maybe try go to English class?
And also, I agree with you. Soccer isn't a real sport. It's only you fat Americans calling it soccer.
@ Patriks7
Sarcasm is often the recourse of a weak mind.
It's kind of funny that no one outside of France cares about France. Same with Poland. America may get a lot of hate but a lot of that comes from the whole world looking at us. Europe is more or less the Canada on the other side of the pond. Guys living in caves in Afganistan get more attention than Europeans. On the flip side, a lot of our headlines make it to Europe. I think a lot of the hate comes from Europeans knowing their countries havent mattered in 300 years. It's gotta suck going through history class to see your country's relevance drop off in the 18th century. So go on hating and we'll go on forgetting you exist ;)
@ Omen_20
Agreed!!!!!
Haven’t mattered in 300 years? So small things like the industrial revolution and World War 1 and 2 didn’t matter?
England was probably the most important country in the world in the last 300 years. However, for the last 50 years or so the country’s leaders have set about destroying the nation and New Labour now seem to have finished the job so we’re now completely irrelevant. From what I see Obama is looking to do the same for the US so it seems the only competition going on between the US and Europe is who can lose global relevance fastest.
I have no idea why the UK Goverment, European Union and US government are so intent on destroying the west but I’m sure the Chinese will be happy to take the position as world leaders since no country in the west wants the job. We’ve got more important things to worry about anyway like who is fattest and whether soccer is a real sport.
Ehh, I think Obama will turn things around. Hopefully he'll get the EU chugging along with him as well. I generally scouf at most of the "socialist" slams he gets. See I live in rural Kentucky (in case you dont know where that is, think Daniel Boone :P). Anyways people in my area didnt have electricity 50 years ago, wasnt until that "Socialist" program TVA came in and built the dams. And you know I like all these electricities, and broadband internets :P. So when the hillbillies around here knock Obama I share your fat American sentiments. I'm just not fat nor hickish so I take offense to Europeans who have a Apple fanboy snooty attitude.
Oh and I do worry about China, but theyre economy is completely based on the US and EU. Our country likes to punish with trade sanctions and theres country that would hurt worse from that than China. Hell 30% of their GDP probably comes from the plastic shit in Happy Meals lol.
Omen_20
It's hard to not notice America with people like Bush. I mean you guys just think you are on top of the world. And look where you guys brought it with the economy now. And the thing is, many people in the world care about the EU, but not separate countries in the EU. Just like everyone else cares about head of the US and not states.
I would hate Bush too if all I ever knew about the guy came from liberal drivel that floods the EU and much of the US press.
Yes because we really need the media's spin to see we were put in two failing wars. Then before he left all of his deregulation killed the global economy. To think everything bad about the Bush administration is just spin is on the same level as thinking the Holocaust was just made up as propaganda against Nazi Germany. You'd have to be a lunatic.
Maybe your sarcasm wasn't written in such a way as to convey sarcasm? Your statement seemed pretty literal to me.
And for the people who don't get it, I was simply listing some tired, old, incorrect stereotypes to illustrate the OPs use of such a stereotype.
Now you'd excuse me while I go eat a bag of Oreos and a quart of Häagen-Dazs® while I sit on my couch and watch Tivo'd episodes of American Idol, after I get into my SUV and head to Super Wal*Mart to get 10 cases of Coke and a 48 pack of toilet paper. Maybe I'll leave the engine running while I'm in the store to keep the leather cool. Oh, and I'll need to make sure I take my .45 with me in case any Mexicans attack me on my way home.
This has noting to do with the size - in Europe also a LOTS of fat asses lately! Just look around (i work with tourists in USA and see who comes from Europe - French comes also fat lately and the first place they try to go is McDonalds or In-N-Out!) The car is good but not safe to drive next to BIG SUV's or Pick-Up's. That all. And saving are not so good also since you have to fill with most expensive gasoline.The brakes are also so-so. AC system not good for all southern states.
Patriks7, I would just like to say that "stupid Americans" who call "football" soccer aren't stupid. You usually hear, "You use your feet! It doesn't make any sense, everyone else says it right and America is stupid!"
Well, it's foot as in distance, since the game is about, wait for it...gaining distance.
If elsewhere were so smart it would be feetball, since you use two feet and not one.
America 1, World 0.
That's the best use of "incommodious" I've seen this morning!
That's the first use for "incommodious" I've seen in weeks. Hooray for the expansion of vocabulary in web media :P
Blah, it is merely a latin word, incomodo for Spanish. Still I got lost with the "scene" that never was lol.
Smart ForTwo + 200 lb-ft of twist = Good luck trying to get any life out of those rear tires!
Imagine the facial expression on the 'vette owner as you pull a 0-30 on him that leaves him at the lights wondering WTF.
It has the same motor as the Telsa Roadster, this will be very fast.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I just get this feeling that if someone tries to peel out in this fortwo, it would just do a backflip an roll onto it's roof because it looks so round.
Of course, being that it's got Tesla tech in it, it will probably be about $100,000 and available only by special order.
Muscle car enthusiasts, comment bashing.
/b
Maybe I'm not smart enough, but I understood only half of this article! Oh well.
It's got to ride better than the current gasoline-powered model's herky-jerky auto trans.
The Smart fortwo is a diesel powered vehicle; the one above is the exception... That I know of.
The first generation of the fortwo was available in both petrol (gasoline) and diesel versions; the second generation is gasoline only.
0.o I was behind one of these on my motorcycle yesterday (4/24) on winter avenue in Louisville, Ky... It doesn't look that tiny from the back, I thought it was a scion at first. I was riding his bumper so I could check it out and it honestly seemed like a really peppy car.. short, but pretty quick.
Yeah, I've seen two Smart ForTwos in the Lexington/Louisville area. One was done up with all kinds of advertising for some local company, but the other looked like a normal self-owned car. Kinda neat.
There was one in Michigan sitting in a grocery store parking lot. Kind of wanted to see someone driving it, they don't actually look too bad.
sounds like the first rational work car i have ever seen
Except that a smart car is already $20k without the electric engine. Who knows what they will charge for it to be electirc.
@Rishard Chapoteau
Yeah the $20k price for the Smart is BS. I'd rather get a hybrid for a little more and get better fuel economy while having better utility.
But the cheapest one does start at $12k so they can probably work out an EV version for ~$20-25k.
mine cost 13,000, they only cost 20k if you get the convertible and EVERY option - which for me, and most people! doing so defeats the whole purpose of having this car in the first place
I want to see how it holds up in those crash tests! Oh wait, we probably already know. They're only safe if everybody drives one.
They are safe. After all they are constructed in Germany. Just did a quick compariso of this one against the hummer H3. I don't think it looks bad:
http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/safety.aspx?year=2009&make=Hummer&model=H3
http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/safety.aspx?year=2009&make=Smart&model=fortwo
I know we are a country of bullies who love making fun about 'small' things but from the engineering behind the smart is outstanding.
Your comment about crash compatibility? As a pedestrian I would prefer to be run over by a 'compatible' car than a big SUV (yes being 'compatible' also means not killing the person on the street but limiting crash injuries to a minimum no matter if the other guy is in a SUV, on a bike or by food).
Meh. Crash tests results are only worth their salt if you don't drive any faster than 40mph and don't do highway driving.
@STINK: Well, keep in mind that these little cars need to suffice both the US AND the European crash safety standards so they should really be safe (By the way, that's one of the reasons why US cars who are not sold in Europe are usually a tad better than European/Japanese cars since they can be 'optimized' to the US standards and similarly, French cars who are not sold in the US fare a tad better in the European crash safety tests).
I stand by my claim that these are pretty safe, remember, they come from a country that has no general speed limit on their highways and where people routinely drive 130+ miles per hour...
Maybe you're right, I don't own a Smart car so I don't know. But don't state that the car is 'safe' because it passes NHTSA crash tests. You're fooling yourself if you think you'll hop out of a Smart car scratch-free if you get into an accident going 70mph.
Can't we get along, you stupid idiots?
Well it took the bleeding long enough to make a car which looks like it should be electric, electric!
Well unless you have another planet to go to "We" are all here on this one together. Saying nasty things about others is childish even in jest or "sarcasm" can be taken wrong (as you can see) and can only foster bad feelings amongst your brothers and sisters trying to co-exist on this tiny blue dot. What you do and say (and think) can and will affect the world. Time for us all to "Grow Up"!
Ron, that is the most intelligent thing I've ever heard anyone say. Thank You.
Just having the Tesla engine and drivetrain doesn't necessarily make it rocket-powered. When it comes to electrical vehicles, it is far more important to know what kind of power levels the batteries can deliver. I would guess (with admittedly very little hard fact to go on) that the batterypack for the Smart would be far less potent than what they put in the actual Teslas and geared towards smaller size and getting more mileage with less brute power.
But of course, I may be way off on this one. Just speculating.
Omen_20, before you start worrying about the Chinese economy perhaps you should check some statistics. The US has a national debt of $11.2 trillion and a trade deficit of over $600 billion in 2008. China have $1.95 trillion of foreign currency reserves and a trade surplus that was $152.1 billion for half of 2008 (so probably $300 billion for the full year).
I agree with you that Obama will do things like wiring up the countryside with high speed broadband. The problem is doing this will cost a fortune while providing absolutely no benefit to the economy. Wiring up the countryside isn’t going to help the $600 billion trade deficit and will further increase the $11.2 trillion national debt. The only way the economy is going under Obama is straight to hell just as the UK economy went under Brown. What’s ridiculous is that despite the massive debts both countries have neither Obama nor Brown see any reason to stop spending money and just keep spending more or socialist policies with seemingly no plans as to how they're going to pay it back.
Still you can enjoy your rural broadband while kidding yourself into thinking the US economy is fine and that China is in trouble because they only make Happy Meal toys.
What you think standing still helps? Or maybe doing nothing which is what most conservatives try to spin. He's cutting costs on a lot of stuff as well but most of that doesnt get covered. But your simplifying my story which really makes your argument moot. See TVA came in and made jobs, people operated the dams, people operated the electrical companies, phone companies, cable companies. Towns grew, businesses came in. Back when my dad was a kid my town was nothing but the court square, my mom didnt have power when she was really little, they had outhouses. My town tripled before I was even born. So your idea that I just want fast internet misses what I was trying to say. Big government spending creates jobs and thats the only way you get an economy back. What happens if you get the banks back in order and the stock market back in balance but a ton of people are still out of work? Who cares if you can take a loan out for a house if you cant pay for it, if you cant pay to eat?! Surviving comes first, all the other things can balance out later. Obama needs to stop the bleeding, then he can fight the infection the Republicans created.
And where does your fear of China come from? Do you think theyre going to just stop giving us money to watch us squirm? I cant really discuss China if I dont know where your fear stems from.