So an extremely fuel efficient car SMASHES sales expectations in a time where fuel economy is a huge factor in car buying. I’m sorry, but I can’t even pretend to be surprised by that. If you were ever going to buy a Smart, wouldn’t it be about now?

In short: DUH

But it is NOT all that fuel efficient! It is on par with small Toyota’s, Honda’s, Chevy’s & Ford’s. And it is 2 seater, albeit with trunk for groceries. It sells well in US as a novelty during very high gas prices. I am not all that certain that this trend will continue in 2009. Penske was very lucky with his timing.

Well, that may be true, but Americans are sheep. The IMAGE of the Smart is fuel efficient, so the masses will follow into it’s drivers seats.

OR it could just be Americans like the Smart car for the same reason Europeans do, a-hole.

Sheep?
Baaaaah Baaaah Baaaahrabus.

I really loathe these vehicles and the people compelled to buy them. The good thing is that the motors are garbage so in a few years they wont be on the road. Hell, there are only two in my city anyway, but I hate them both.

Because they are sheep? Or because they are sheep? Sorry, PEOPLE are like sheep. If you convince them something is fuel efficient, a huge percentage of them will NOT do research and buy a Smart car.
No matter what country they’re from. It’s a status quo effect. Very simple really.

A-hole.

I really wish we got the same engine that they do in Europe, that small turbo-diesel is capable of much better fuel economy than this little gas engine with have… not to mention it’s probably gonna help with acceleration with that torque. Hell, that little gas engine has like… 50 some-odd ft-lbs of torque the acceleration is dismal at best.

IMO Smarts are not very smart on the wallet or in the mileage category.
For the size and hype, I’d expect like 60 plus easy from one of these things.

It’s more of a ‘hop on the bandwagon’ vehicle.
Now, in a crowded car hater environment like Portland, it makes more sense for one of these things.
That city is very car un-friendly.

This car is a POS. I was reading i think it was car and driver and they got a very unimpressive mid 30’s highway mpg, get a Yaris sedan and get better mileage, a trunk and not look like some pretentious prick. A Yaris also does not look like you are driving your coffin around waiting to get flattened by a semi truck.

Over priced, over hyped and under performing.

Good point mullet. The Yaris blows this thing away in my book. Cheaper, bigger, similar mileage, hell, it’s probably faster too, but I can’t say for sure.

I think people should change the name smart into STUPID car. The ride handle and performent are poor. The material interior are very cheap. Price are very expensive. How in the world they come up with this name so called SMART? Not so smart at all….

Losermobile

Psst…Its not really that fuel efficient. However, if you put a Hayabusa motor in one…just you tube it.

It’s a silly little car. For only a few more dollars you can have a Fit, and a lot more versatility.

dante is right, the diesel is way better then the petrol, the smart you americans have is nothing like the ones that have been on sale in europe, and the great white north since at least ‘05

And where now are the wank-meisters in Ford who decreed from on high that Ka would not sell?

I think because it’s so small, people think that means it’s going to save on everything. But IMO, I don’t understand why anone would risk their life to save a few dollars on gas. A fender bender could be fatal in one of those and it would probably total the car whether your fault or not.

I don’t think people are sheep and Americans in particular. People buy car for their looks here and everywhere. Fortunately for Penske the look is new to US. In Europe Smart don’t sell all that well either smart for 2 (”our” model) or Smart for 4 (that we don’t smart enough to get).

reminds me of a hardtop golf cart

Shane Train- Most people don’t buy these because they are fuel efficient. All of you assume that people buy Smart Cars because they are perceived as “fuel efficient”. The ones who are so concerned about that have the money to buy a Prii but choose not to.

They have the miles per gallon sticker on them just like any other car. Nobodies going to buy one without reading over the spec sheet.

I see a lot of Cornell professors zipping around in these little things. Why? Because it makes a statement, that’s why. Not that their “fuel efficient”, or “flashy”. Well, maybe flashy. But I had asked one of these Cornellians why he bought a Smart, when he could buy a Prii, a Lexus hybrid or any other vehicle with his salary. His answer was:

“It’s just all I need, thrifty enough for me”.

And that’s why I call you an a-hole for saying people are sheep, and then assuming the reason people buy these is solely fuel economy. Your perception is just like a sheeps, and is developed by the rest of the world. Have you ever talked to anybody who bought one of these because of fuel efficiency? Or is that your own opinion you’ve formed from… online forums and other idiots like you. I’ve talked to a few owners of Smart cars, and not one of them mentioned the sole reason of fuel economy. Group perception is what makes people like sheep.

And if it doesn’t matter what country their from… why did you specifically say Americans?

For it’s size, it should be more fuel efficient. But hey, for half the price of a Prius, with quite a few good options and 40 miles per gallon, it’s gonna take you a long time to amount to what the Prius would have been, and a while to amount to a comparably equipped Yaris. But I’ll repeat it again, it’s just what some people need, and they don’t go for something larger just because of that. For the opposite reason someone goes for a Hummer. They don’t go for the Hummer because it’s large and roomy, they go for it because of the statement it makes. They don’t go for the Smart just because it’s fuel efficient, they go for it because of the statement it makes.

The Canadian ones had the turbodiesel and were marketed as getting 60+ imperial MPG (imperial gallons are bigger than US gallons, so Canadian advertised MPG figures are always much higher). Problem was, they were crazy expensive (upwards of $30k). And people still bought the ugly little buggers. I see the diesel ones all over the place, but I have yet to see the newer gasoline versions (when Daimler decided to sell ‘em stateside they took Canada’s diesel away).

I see no reason to buy a Smart other than “Look at me”. There are better built, cheaper-to-buy, better warrantied cars (I believe Smarts come with a two year warranty?) that are safer, better to drive, and get better fuel economy than the gasoline powered Smart. Heck, I get mid 40’s (Canadian) miles per gallon in my clapped out old Saturn, which has A/C, back seats, a trunk, and more power (hard to imagine a 100-horsepower anything has more power than anything else)…

In other related news….homosexuality is on the rise creating the sharp sales increase in Smart cars…..

Good for them. Now make a 4 door and then I might buy it.

What’s funny is the utter ignorance of those who posted here a year ago claiming this would never sell in America.

No surprise to me though …. the vast majority posting here know nothing. You fools should stick to posting in your own diary so the few of us, with brains, don’t waste our time with your SHIAT.

I saw one at Lowe’s! What was he buying, a bag of screws?!

It looks like it would be a great little city car, but a deathtrap on the highway. I would not want to be in one as a semi flew by. The thing would get sucked into the slipstream.

The Smart car gets better mileage than a Yaris, XD, Fit, Versa, etc. Many owners get around 40 to 45 miles per gallon with mixed driving. I have also driven one on the interstate between 80 and 95 mph, and it handled pretty well. To dismiss this car as a death trap on the highway is not a valid statement. I don’t know what you retard dick waving posters have against the Smarts, they’re not bad cars. People like the Smart car for various reasons: the looks, the size (comes in handy within city streets), the fuel economy (seriously people, stop saying cars like the Yaris, Fit, Versa, XD get similar mileage, THEY DON’T), the fact that this car gets around 40-45 mpg (when driven sensibly) without the need of a $4000 battery pack that will ultimately die and need replacement.

There is nothing Smart about crappy mileage and poor quality in a useless package.
Only trendy nutless homos buy these cars. It’s not beyond a stretch of the imagination that there are 25 to 30 thousand nutless homos who need a car to to declare their obvious testiculessness.

Someone has a fixation on testicles.

After watching the Top Gear where they had to take a road trip with only 1 full tank of fuel I have to say that all these miniature, electric, diesel, and hybrid cars seem sort of pointless. Jeremy drove a twin turbo x-type Jaguar I think it was and Hammond drove a VW Polo BlueMotion a.k.a super VW diesel car. I can’t remember what May drove but anyway they had to drive some 650+ miles or something and while Hammond finished just ahead of Jeremy he was using hypermiling techniques practically the whole trip. Jeremy was smashing around in the Jag like he normally would he said he was doing 80 or 90 on the freeway at some points and the fact that he still finished was amazing enough with driving like that; but the crazy part of it all is that they inspected the fuel tank and found that there was enough gas left to go a bit over 100 more miles .That means Jeremy could have driven fast pretty much the whole way while still keeping decent mpg. Kind of a long story but what I am trying to get at is that if automakers are serious enough about putting twin turbos in most cars then they can be fast and efficient without having to buy the Teslas of this world for 100k. Screw hybrids, electrics, hydrogen, etc, they may be better technologies once they are fully developed but at least if we sacrifice just a little mpg to use turbo cars instead we won’t have to drive economy styled cars like the Prius, iQ, Cube, Clarity, etc. Yea there are cool alternative energy cars like the Tesla or the Fisker but you gotta pay through the nose to get one and something tells me they won’t start making a bunch of cheaper electric sports cars until way to many years down the road and by that time we will have probably moved on to the next big tech for cars. Turbo power is the way to go!

jayjc- I said Americans because the article concerns Smart sales in America.

lol

I really enjoy mine! I think the car will continue to sell well, in 2009. Even with it’s low power it manages to be a fun little car. There are lots of different reasons people buy them, for me, I just like it, nothing more nothing less. I researched the brand for over 3 years before it was available in the U.S. As a single person, no wife or kids. It really fits my life well. There are other options, I really considered an XD and a Versa, as well as the Fit, I liked all 3. All would be great cars, but I’m glad I waited. After almost 19000 miles (in 6 months!) the only thing I’d do differently is the color – an that is easy enough to fix with a panel swap. Mine is a full featured convertible, I have to top down as much as possible, even had it down today and it was only about 40 degrees! Heated electric seats and an powerful flamethrower heater make top down drives in the winter great fun! It takes some getting used to – I was driving an SE-R spec V before this – But I’ve found that there are few situations where the car feels truly underpowered – I do have to plan for short freeway entry ramps!!! – In most cases I’ve found that I’m a much less aggressive driver (really don’t have much of a choice! LOL). I think what I like most of all about the smart is that it makes driving is fun again.