Smart Car vs. 92 Honda Civic VX

[onefasteg]

92 Honda Civic VX
Engine: 1.5L 92 hp I4
HP: 92 @ 5500 RPM
City (mpg) 48
Highway (mpg) 55

Benefits:
4 seater
plenty of leg room
plenty of trunk space

Smart fortwo
Engine: 1.0L 70 hp I3
HP: 70 @ 5800 RPM
City (mpg) 33
Highway (mpg) 41

All comments welcome

[Macaw]

the Honda is using the old EPA you must adjust for new 2008

2008 epa adjusted for the Honda

39-city
49 highway

[Macaw]

and for the Hond VX if you could find one

Safety Features Antilock Brakes: Not Available Four Wheel Antilock Brakes: Not Available Depowered Airbag: Not Available Passenger Airbag: Not Available Head Airbag: Not Available Side Airbag: Not Available Child Safety Seats: Not Available Traction Control: Not Available Stability Control: Not Available Crash Test Results NHTSA Ratings Passenger: 4 stars Driver: 3 stars Side Impact Front: Not Tested Side Impact Rear: Not Tested Rollover Rating: Not Tested NHTSA: 5 star, 4 star, 3 star, 2 star, 1 star, Not Tested

[Kermit]

You've got just as much chance of finding a real nice VX as you do finding a Smart for under MRSP.

The Smart is quite a bit safer - airbags just for starters.

The VX you can achieve way better than those OLD OUT OF DATE EPA ratings. Of course most of the people I know with those VX's also have worn out "loose" engines. CRX HF is a good contender, Metro XFi is also in that batch. The Smart isn't an awesome mileage machine - it is a somewhat cute, safe car with extremely acceptable mileage.

[16d @ 4]

48 and 55!
Are these numbers right?
Can someone verify these figures?

I bought a brand new Civie Si in 92', and I though it was 31 and 36 for the Si.

[Macaw]

48 and 55 are correct for old epa 39 and 49 new epa. the vx was honda's high efficiency lean burn engine.

[Turbo42]

ok here is the big comparison a beer can to a reinforced steel cage need i say more


oh not to mention honda to mercedes engineered just another factor

[onefasteg]

msn.com, autos verifies the stats, also the CX model is almost the same. Yes, it has a driver airbag for safety, I believe also the 94-95 model had dual front airbags.

This is just a comparison, not to down talk the smart car.

This is just to let everyone know that there was small, compact cars in the 90's getting better/good gas mileage as to the newer models.

[Belleveu1]

To be fair to the whole thing, I must say that we have thought about onefasteg's comments. We have a 1984 Honda Civic Wagon. I don't push it and rarely exceed 3200 rpm. It has 150,000 miles on it and it is carbureted. Lately we have been tracking the mpg and find that we get 34 to 35 with a combination of city/highway driving - maybe 60/40 highway to city. It uses regular unleaded.

Our new Smart - only 1 legitimate tankful - got 38.5 with more like 40/60 highway to city driving. I realize that most claim that the mileage will go up after a few thousand miles. The Smart has a pizzazz factor that is quite lacking the old Honda. No one at work ever asked me to take them for a ride in it while I've had several requests in the Smart.

I guess if you are in the market for a new car and you don't have a large family to transport all of the time, the Smart is a pretty reasonable choice. It's a little quirky shifting and steering, but then I'm quite used to small cars. I'm amused at how you can maneuver in tight spots. Still getting used to parking and finding that I could almost put another Smart in front of me.

[Turbo42]

maybe but i still stand behind my comment bc it is so the truth