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Old 09-14-2009, 09:04 AM   #1 (permalink)
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Motorweek Review

I haven't seen any other posts on here - but the smart was on Motorweek last week as the sole non Hybrid or Diesel in a comparison, and it got some really good press.

Here is a link MotorWeek: Road Test

I'll see if I can find the video.

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Old 09-14-2009, 09:10 AM   #2 (permalink)
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Older review

But as opposed to the cars.com comments
Quote:
driving it will also make you smile.
And yet its sponsored by cars.com?

Last edited by forestacademy; 09-14-2009 at 09:15 AM.
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Old 09-14-2009, 12:28 PM   #3 (permalink)
 
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but the deal-breaker for me is the fact that, despite its high mileage, it needs premium gas
Deal breaker? $1.60 a tank will keep someone from owning a car? That's about $112/yr for a 20k yearly mile driver. Someone isn't thinkin' with their dipstick!
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Old 09-14-2009, 01:32 PM   #4 (permalink)
 
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I didnt read the article but let me guess bad car terrible handling ect ect ect..... Honestly I will read the acticle but I really dont care what this magazine things about the smart in all honestly. The would recommend a hummer or a c130 to go 50 miles before they use there brains as long as it makes them look good. And people are just looking for a reasons to hate the smart and they have to look at every like thing to find it.

OK maybe I am wrong but I am kinda tired of the constant tries from the press trying something wrong with the smart.

Last edited by T12121; 09-14-2009 at 01:35 PM.
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Old 09-14-2009, 01:33 PM   #5 (permalink)
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John_H View Post
Deal breaker? $1.60 a tank will keep someone from owning a car? That's about $112/yr for a 20k yearly mile driver. Someone isn't thinkin' with their dipstick!
further more they are using a canned response on the use of premium gas. as it stands today here in florida it would cost me a whopping $1.44 more to fill the smart with premium than regular!!!! OMG.. should I sell the car! what people have to realize is that in general we are filling up with $20 to $25 bucks at any given time. this car does not have that gas caverns that people with a Lincoln navigator or other behemoth are forced to fill.. to get a similar mile range.........
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Old 09-14-2009, 02:24 PM   #6 (permalink)
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T12121, read the article, it's short.... at least read the smart parts. It's not a bad one, believe it or not.
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Old 09-14-2009, 03:32 PM   #7 (permalink)
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John_H View Post
Deal breaker? $1.60 a tank will keep someone from owning a car?
Not necessarily a deal breaker, but it does reduce the financial fuel economy of the vehicle more than the $1.60-$1.80 per tank might suggest. As an example let's say we have a Yaris and a fortwo. To make things easy, let's assume that both have 10 gallon fuel tanks. We will use today's AAA average fuel prices:

Regular unleaded: $2.572
Premium unleaded: $2.828

Yaris highway rating = 36 mpg
fortwo highway rating = 41 mpg

So, the Yaris would cost us $25.72 to fill, and we'd travel 360 miles per tank.

The fortwo would cost us $28.28 to fill, but we'd travel 410 miles per tank.

As you can see, the fortwo allows us to travel 50 miles further, but costs us an extra $2.56 to fill. That $2.56 (the additional cost of running "premium") can purchase another gallon of fuel for the Yaris, which will then be able to travel an additional 36 miles. This leaves the fortwo with effectively only 14 additional miles "per tank" over the Yaris.

Looked at another way:

Yaris
$25.72 = 10 gallons of regular unleaded
10 gallons x EPA 36 mpg rating = 360 miles
36 "price-adjusted" mpg

fortwo
25.72 = 9.095 gallons premium unleaded
9.095 gallons x EPA 41 mpg rating = 372.89 miles
37.29 "price-adjusted" mpg
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Old 09-14-2009, 04:44 PM   #8 (permalink)
 
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If you break it down into a common unit, the real cost comes out:

Regular unleaded: $2.572 / Yaris 36 MPG = 7.144 cents per mile.

Premium unleaded: $2.828 / Smart Car 41 MPG = 6.898 cents per mile.


The cost per mile is LESS in a Smart Car.


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Old 09-14-2009, 04:56 PM   #9 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by T12121 View Post
I didnt read the article...
Then why comment?

I'm not one to post the bad press about our cars... nor am I one to jump in and try to defend it on sites that have this crap. If you don't drive it - you can have an opinion on its looks, that's about as far as you can go in my book.

That being said, the video (which is pretty much reading of the scripted article) was positive. They applauded the shifting of this one as being better than the last model they tested, and they also said that they were surprised how well it kept up with the other cars on the road, contrary to what they thought it might do.

Even the original review (below) was rather positive (there's not much that can be argued that they complain about either)
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Old 09-14-2009, 05:01 PM   #10 (permalink)
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BobDiaz View Post
If you break it down into a common unit, the real cost comes out:

Regular unleaded: $2.572 / Yaris 36 MPG = 7.144 cents per mile.

Premium unleaded: $2.828 / Smart Car 41 MPG = 6.898 cents per mile.


The cost per mile is LESS in a Smart Car.


Bob Diaz
I actually did originally have the cost per mile in my post but I ended up leaving it out. Clearly the cost of the fortwo is less, since the calculations still show the fortwo achieving a higher "price-adjusted" mpg. However, the point was that the seeming 5 mpg difference between something like the Yaris and the fortwo shrinks significantly from an economic standpoint when you factor in the actual fuel cost differential.

Thanks for finding the video, mdfortwoguy! Fun to watch, and I'd say a very accurate and fair review.

Last edited by Padawan; 09-14-2009 at 05:08 PM.
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