Was watching the NBC News Story about the Smart ForTwo...

[TheMightyFavog]

The American version of this car gets 36 MPG... (Still respectable, however, IIRC, the old VW Beetles got better milage.)

Meanwhile, One of the European-Spec Smarts that's going to be coming out later this year (The ForTwo cdi) gets 85.6 MPG, and the regular Euro Spec Smarts get 57-60 MPG, depending on engine size.

Why the hell can't we have the more efficient Euro spec Smarts here in the States? (All you'd have to do is retune the engines to be able to better cope with American gasoline/diesel, which IIRC, has a higher sulfur content than EU Spec fuels and as a result can be hard on European Engines)

[Windy]

1. I saw those in Europe. I would be scared to death to drive in one here with hummers around

They are tiny! Like a bench seat with a little metal around it.

[Captain Angry]

2. It's taken us YEARS to get even one Smart Car imported en masse.

If people buy it, the other models should follow.

[Jane Austin]

3. My Passat diesel wagon gets better than that!

And it's a station wagon.

[Bluerthanblue]

4. I know- I was so disapointed, not

that I can afford a new anything.

My '86 Civic got better milage than that- by far.

Is it all the anti polution add ons ??

[originalpckelly]

5. They made the thing bigger and changed the engine.

I suppose we've got higher space standards. More space = more metal/less aerodynamic = more to power it. Non turbo charged engine = less power because less air is taken into the engine, making each stroke of the engine less efficient. I suspect the lion-share of the MPG loss is due to the crappy engine, instead of using a nice Mercedes engine they used a shitty Mitsubishi.

[Sanctified]

6. European one will have a diesel engine US one just has a plain gas engine.

I am holding out till they release their diesel hybrids which are supposed to get 97 mpg.

[bullwinkle428]

7. Honda's Insight, built and sold here from 2000-2006, got between 60-70 mpg

running on regular gasoline, not diesel!



Two seats, with a nice little hatchback configuration for hauling (not too big) things!

[madrchsod]

8. my 87 crx got 40+ at 70-75 miles an hour on the interstate

i had a geo metro..great little car..that got 35-40 city highway. that smart car is to dam small for the american roads well at least where i live

[sakabatou]

10. Ah, my mom has that car

[TheMightyFavog]

9. Here's my thought...

How much of a difference in MPG is there between a Stick Shift Smart and a Smart with an automatic?

Heck, I remember when I was in Britain, even the minivans had stick shifts.

[HooptieWagon]

11. Several points

In Europe, you don't see the Smart Cars on the autobahns/autostradas. They are intown cars. So they likely have a different engine/transmission package than the US version. Stickshifts are very common in Europe, not so in the US - most Americans can't drive with one. Diesels are much more common in Europe. The main advantage of a Smart Car in Europe is its size. B/C the cities are much older, the streets are narrower- traffic and parking much more of a problem. Also, Europe has a fantastic train system thats fast, clean, and inexpensive. There's no reason to drive a Smart Car from city to city - just take the train. So essentially, the European version of the Smart Car is primarily for urban transport. Not sure how the US version is targeted.

[tokenlib]

12. You can drive the trans. in auto or manual mode

The mileage is 40/45 by last years EPA criteria and 33/41 by the new criteria. In short we'll have to wait to see what people get when the car is in more common use over here in a few months.

[TheMightyFavog]

13. Still, 41 Highway isn't bad at all.

Many small cars have worse Highway mileage.