I read this article from the NY Times. It discusses Daimler Chrysler's plan to introduce the Smart car here. I saw these cars all over Europe, at least Western Europe. They get great gas mileage, and seem great, as long as you don't need to carry anything with you. There is some space in the back for a couple of bags of groceries.
I can see it catching on with people who have long commutes, or people who live in the downtown area of large cities. Other than that, I don't see it catching on. We just like to carry a lot of stuff around with us in our cars. I frequently have a 50 pound dog in my back seat, and the trunk contains an emergency box-jumper cables, replacement fluids, emergency blanket, and more. The Smart car would be a bit cozy...
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Well I am flying home after 3 weeks in Chennai. It is a very interesting place and the people are wonderful. We went to Mamallapuram and I think I met the monkey who took your snickers. A family had put their backpack on the ground and we hear an animal growling. It was a monkey going for the bag, the family picked up the bag and screaming kids and walked away. Another man proceeded to feed the monkey a mango. I got a couple of pictures.
The last post was from me.
Rhonda
those smart cars look awful, but yeah, they are extremely functional for city driving & parking.
Keep in mind that your "baggage" may not be part of the common culture in Europe where the Smartcar reigns. Perhaps if a car breaks down, people just oh, jump on the public transit system and get there twice as fast (:
These two German guy I met in California back in 1999 had asked me why I change my oil every 3 months / 3000 miles. I just said, "Uhh, preventive maintenance. I rather not have my engin seize up on me when I'm driving through the middle of Death Valley and have 130 miles of scorching desert in every direction and uphill!". To this they replied, "Nah ja, ve doo naut hav dat in Tchermany. Die desert - ve hav oil changes."
There's gotta be places in the Alps and countryside where this sorta "preparedness" mentality should be there but then it could just be anal retentiveness. I know many people in America driving around with nothing in their trunks including a functional spare / jack.
Actually, the Smart Cars are already here in the USA. ZAP, a California-based Company is selling this cars for a while. If you go to the webpage www.zapworld.com you can check it out. It is small but the interior space is pretty good, you feel like you are just in a regular car. And not mentioning that you can save money with gas. Check it out, the Smarts are here!
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