smart car

scheming_gypsy

david29dpo wrote:

i have one and love it. saying they are " gay" is very childish. for the "record" i have a lotus esprit, but what that has to do with it, god only knows.

you having a Lotus has absolutely nothing to do with it so i don't know why you bothered to tell us. Me saying i have a VR6 has a lot to do with it as Mrsmartman said i probably drive a Rover.

Why is saying they look gay childish? did i say they look like a homosexual would drive them? nope, i said they just look gay, i don't find them very appealing to the eye.

tomstickland

Golf VR6 is the pink pound favourite. According to top London "badger watcher" Ron Davies when I asked him.

scheming_gypsy

i won't ask what you were doing when you asked him

tomstickland

Actually, the main criticism of the VR6 is too much weight over the front end.

david29dpo

i rest my case.

intel

david29dpo wrote:

i rest my case.

Not on the Golfs bonnet please that'll make it heavier again..... :rotfl:

david29dpo

nice one!!

BoltonMinx

Personally I just love the original Smart cars. My left brain knows they are expensive for what you get and for the same price I could get a KA, or something similar. My right brain however goes girly girl whenever I see one and I just want one :rolleyes: They're so cute The mercedes brand behind them also helps.

funkydom

---lee--- wrote:

Just thought I would add the reason they put ESP on them is because they are inherently unstable and therefore need it to be able to stay upright.

I think the name Electronic STABILITY Protection is a bit misleading; as far as I can see from reading around it has nothing to do with controlling the roll of the car, only the yaw or lateral movements. So it will attempt to dampen understeer/oversteer and general skidding, but will not attempt (and has no way of attempting) to stop a car that is about to roll over. So I don't think ESP exists to keep the car upright...
I'd be interested to hear where you got the information that they are inherently unstable... I've only ever had the ESP light come on when cornering on wet roads and have got some sideways movement. I've never felt as if the car is about to tip, and I corner at similar speeds to my old Rover 216.

Wikipedia and Bosch, who designed the system in the Smart can tell you more about it.

---lee--- wrote:

NCAP star ratings are class based. Obviously a huge 4x4 with a 3 star rating can’t be compared to something like this.

OK I didn't actually read in detail how the NCAP ratings work. So they can't be compared to cars outside of their class, but I still maintain that for its size its extremely safe. As safe as, or safer than many cars with engines in the front and seats in the back to cushion the impact for example

---lee--- wrote:

You say smart have put a lot of thought into safety but manufacturers like Renault have 5 star cars and these are the basic models with ESP etc.

I'm not sure if you can ever make a car the size of the smart with a 5 star rating and keep it affordable. Its tiny even compared to cars in its class. All smarts from 2004 onwards have ESP though, even the basic models. And all smarts before had something called Trust which was a different system that gave similar results.

scheming_gypsy

tomstickland wrote:

Actually, the main criticism of the VR6 is too much weight over the front end.

Only one arguement with that although it is a massive engine in a small car.

My main criticism is the amount of petrol she drinks... i could power a small country one the amount of fuel i go through. I'd get rid but for what i'd get it isn't worth it, plus i'd end up getting something equally stupid (ie a Scooby) and need to put money towards it.