Smart Car vs. 92 Honda Civic VX

[Macaw]

Lot's of older cars get better gas mileage than the smart.... however you can't buy a NEW one. Different age, different safety, emissions...etc... Apples to oranges

[onefasteg]

We cannot compare Honda engineering to Mercedes. Honda, like any other japanese producer is about precision engineering, as to why they are 50 years ahead of the world in technology.

I couldn't say the same about Mercedes, or BMW. Seen to many on trips to Vegas broken down on the side of the freeway.

[onefasteg]

Now days with gas prices, almost older is better.

[Turbo42]

dont get me started on hondas i would not drive one even if u paid me i would buy one just to crash it to prove how unsafe that car really is though

[rwjrn]

Why do we continue to make these comparisons? If I wanted to drive an old beater simply for the gas mileage I wouldn't be here. If I wanted a new car just for the gas mileage I also wouldn't be here because I'd be on the Prius forum and driving one of the world's ugliest cars. I'd be willing to bet the 92 Honda Civic didn't have a butt warmer option either.

[Turbo42]

like jeff dunham says a blue freakin prius lol

[anthony94114]

I owned a 1992 Honda Civic VX. It was an AMAZING car. Rear seat room felt more capacious than my friend's 300e, it had terrific seats, drivers airbag (comparable cars certainly didn't -ie. Tercel, Mazda 3, Escort). The pickup was swell, had a rad rear hatch just like the fortwo's (but didn't need two hands to drop the lower half). EPA says whatever, I got SIXTY-TWO mpg on a long trip on varying country roads going typically 45-55mph. Typically I got about 42 in mixed driving.

The smart is a cool, safer, much better equipped (leather, heated seats, auto headlights, wipers, power windows, locks etc) car and I'm loving my second one, but we can mostly agree, the mileage it gets is virtuous -but hardly stunning. The Honda Civic VX debuted 16 years ago. It was an exceptionally comfortable, capable, efficient wonder.

[muffin_man]

Originally Posted by babybenz

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

Mercedes engineering! Who knows what part of this car they engineered, not the engine or transmission. I would take a Honda built car over a Mercedes any day - and so would anyone else who valued reliability, fuel efficiency, and value.

As far as safety, show me any information showing recent model Hondas are less safe that Mercedes?

[Turbo42]

reinforced cage nascar and mercedes so ur going to sit there and tell me this old honda thats a beer can is going to hold up better than a smart in a crash i think not end of disscussion

[Da Woz]

It never ceases to amaze me that someone can give you examples of an older car getting better mileage than car X or car Y or car S(mart) gets today. Those 1990s cars were lighter, polluted like crazy, and had none of today's safety devices (accounting for a lot of the increased weight). Would you rather have a head-on at 35 mph in that 1992 Civic or today's smart? How about a head-on in that 1992 Civic versus a 2008 Civic, which by the way only gets 25/36 mpg according to EPA? The Yaris gets 29/36, the Versa 26/31, and the Fit only 28/34. Not phenomenal but good considering what we've gained. You'll have to go to a hybrid before you reach or exceed the mileage rates of a smart.

Sure mileage numbers have dropped but today's cars are 10 times cleaner and many, many times safer. Even today's diesels are cleaner than that 1992 Honda and some get great mileage. The Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec -- a car much larger, heavier, and, yes, more expensive than those mentioned above -- gets 23/32, only 10% less than the much smaller Civic. Not too shabby. The new 2009 Jetta TDI diesel, to be introduced this summer, is expected to get 40/50 mpg.

The 1992 Honda was a spunky little car but it is totally outclassed by today's cars -- small or large. Oh, and mileage "ain't" everything! Let's stop these silly comparisons. You might as well bring back the old Fish carburetor stories.

Joe