1.5L 95HP Diesel

[Car-man]

Originally Posted by herbvdh

Electric go to http://www.hybridtechnologies.com/products/cars/dash

or http://www.hybridtechnologies.com

So the aftermarket has an EV 4two already, but can i get it at the local 4two dealer?

Sadly no. I check all my local dealers websites.

[mmmeat]

Originally Posted by Car-man

So the aftermarket has an EV 4two already, but can i get it at the local 4two dealer?

Sadly no. I check all my local dealers websites.

Umm...

It's called "aftermarket" for a reason.

There's absolutely no reason at all for a Smart dealership to carry a car that's not manufactured by it. That'd be like Lotus selling the Tesla.

Your pal,
Meat.

[Smartfor2guy]

Originally Posted by mmmeat

It'd be waaaaaay easier to throw a Honda Element in the dryer for a few hours.

Your pal,
Meat.

uh huh huh huh huh.......

[mdfortwoguy]

There's actually a good video by Fifth Gear on youtube, linked here:

You Tube

You Tube

Surprisingly, the ED was slower, despite instantaneous torque.

I live in the suburbs of metro DC. I don't think I would personally be comfortable with the ED... my commute ranges from 40 minutes to 2 hours, depending on traffic... God knows starting and stopping a lot might leave me with an uncomfortably low battery (I am not sure if it has regenerative braking or not).

The mhd is nice, I suppose - but I wouldn't want my engine starting and stopping that much.

I hate that fuel prices are so high, but it might be what is needed to shift the minds of average Americans to think more like Europeans who deal with high prices and have aligned the practicality of their vehicle choice to compensate.

[Car-man]

Well, the official EV version of the 4two, may not out preform the gas version in hod rodding, but i does in what matters to a car of this type. Energy economy.

And if they did the ED system right, and from the low body roll I saw in the video it looks like they did, that would put the center line at just below the top of the tires rather than just below the headlights. So my problem with its center line are gone in the ED.

As for the low acceleration, that's the fault of the sodium-nickel-chloride (Zebra) batteries. They have good energy density and good power density, but only if the battery is hot enough (250 C). Cold days equals weak performance. I'm sure that they will in time switch to a Lithium-ion-polymer and the ED 4two will then blow the doors of gas version.

As for the fuel cell comment at the end there, Hydrogen is only 47% efficient, while most batteries such as the Lithium-ion-polymer and sodium-nickel-chloride are upwards of 90% efficient. So unless someone invents a way to acquire hydrogen though a more energy efficient proses AND finds a vast undiscovered source of Platinum, fuel cells will remain impractical.

[Car-man]

Originally Posted by mmmeat

Umm...

It's called "aftermarket" for a reason.

There's absolutely no reason at all for a Smart dealership to carry a car that's not manufactured by it. That'd be like Lotus selling the Tesla.

Shaking head...

Meet, sorry, I like ya, but when someone says something to me that's pure nonsense, I got to respond...

The Smart 4two and the LiV Dash are both special interest cars. They arn't even sold in main brand showrooms. They're sold along side other such cars; such as the Zip car and EV bicycles at special interest dealers. Even if they are sold at a dedicated Smart Car dealer, its still a special interest dealer. And a soon to go out of business dealer at that; lack of diversity result in lack of customers.

As for the Tesla Roadster, its not an after market Lotus Elise. Lotus and Tesla co-designed it, thus the resemblance to the Elise, but the two cars share about 8% of their parts.

A Ford Mustang shares more than that with the F-150.

[mmmeat]

Originally Posted by Car-man

Shaking head...

Meet, sorry, I like ya, but when someone says something to me that's pure nonsense, I got to respond...

Then I'm curious as to why you responded to the post I wrote. I'm more curious, however, as to why you didn't respond to the the post you made that I'm responding to here.

Originally Posted by Car-man

The Smart 4two and the LiV Dash are both special interest cars. They arn't even sold in main brand showrooms.

Ah. I'm sure that the Smart marquee dealerships will be glad to know that they're not a main brand showroom. That will greatly reduce the amount of money that they're paying for those Smart dealership showrooms. The ones where the Smart cars are the only car sold.

Originally Posted by Car-man

They're sold along side other such cars; such as the Zip car and EV bicycles at special interest dealers.

I've been to three Smart dealerships, and have never ever seen a Zip or any other such car there. Not even on a trade.

Originally Posted by Car-man

Even if they are sold at a dedicated Smart Car dealer, its still a special interest dealer.

Err... You said that Smarts aren't sold at Smart dealerships, and you you're saying that they are sold at Smart dealerships. Pardon me if I find that somewhat confusing.

Originally Posted by Car-man

And a soon to go out of business dealer at that; lack of diversity result in lack of customers.

That definitely explains the 12-14 month waiting lists to get the cars, the immediate purchase of any orphan that shows up on the lot, the insane markup of used Smarts at other dealerships and the high prices fetched by owners who sell their cars on ebay or autotrader.

Dealerships would kill to have a product like that to go out of business with.

Originally Posted by Car-man

As for the Tesla Roadster, its not an after market Lotus Elise. Lotus and Tesla co-designed it, thus the resemblance to the Elise, but the two cars share about 8% of their parts.

That's a fallacy, and a silly bit of nonsense put out by Tesla. Maybe by number of parts it works out to 8%, but the reality is that the chassis is Lotus, the subframe is UK Lotus, the suspension is Lotus (with different shocks), the interior is Lotus, the roll cage is Lotus, the electrical system is Lotus, the wheels are Lotus, and so on. Tesla may want to say that it shares a minimal amount of "parts" ... but when those "parts" amount to entire systems that make up 90% of the car, well the math is a bit skewed.

The Tesla is an aftermarket Lotus Elise, pure and simple.

Originally Posted by Car-man

A Ford Mustang shares more than that with the F-150.

Not really. A Ford Mustang has it's own chassis, drivetrain, suspension, interior, body, and pretty much everything else.

Having owned a Lotus Elise and having now driven a Tesla, the differences between the two cars is a drivetrain and some bodywork. That's it.

Your pal,
Meat.