Great place to take a bunny picture too....here we are in 2005. Been there many times, a bit of a tourist trap, but the fun thing is I understand they are going to take away the road to it and make it an island again. Imagine having to cross this to get out there. A different kind of trap...quicksand is all over...
I personally have no interest in back seats, but the IQ does have couple of things that I wish the smart did...like four wheel disk brakes and LED taillights. A normal manual 5 speed transmission is also available, but even better, a 4 cylinder, 1364cc diesel that gets over 60 miles to the gallon is available with a 6 speed manual too. Even if the IQ comes to our shores, the diesel will surely be missing from the lineup.
An even better deal, bang for the buck, is the Aygo. Don't know why I never hear anyone mention it here, but then it is not exactly a micro-car at 4.7m.
Last edited by 2smartArizona; 03-07-2009 at 11:11 PM.
Thanks '2smartArizona', merci beaucoup. Now I'm not the only one who tainted the Forum with French.
Nice article in its O.V., too bad the subtitles don't convey the thrust. I noticed a contradiction: the writer says that the smart is way too costly, but the chart gives its price the advantage, the only advantage above the iQ. What does that make the iQ: a luxury?
Lots of other things to say, but not now.
For those who don't relate to the French automotive media, «L'Auto Journal» is THE car magazine, like R&T and C&D combined.
I have been known to taint a few forums in this way I guess. Lived in France for nearly three years altogether, and 36 trips there since 1984, so I am a bit biased. One of the reasons I bought the smart too.
I am sure they feel the smart is too expensive when compared to other options that are much cheaper and have similar fuel consumtion.
Citroen C1 8,850
Fiat Panda 8,900
Kia Picanto 8,090
Peugeot 107 9,100
Twingo 7,990 another serious cult car
Toyota Aygo 9,000
Even most of my French friends don't consider it a serious car, but rather for trendy types and hairdressers in their opinion. I love the car myself, but they are not convinced.
The mother of my host family from when I was an exchange student has a Yaris 1.1 that she bought for less than 11,000 euro that I am very impressed with, but must admit my love for the 205, (Sacre Numero), finally fulfilled with the purchase of a 205 Junior diesel in 1994. 55 mpg and tough as nails.
Maintenant, j'ai une smart, et je suis tres content avec elle.
I have a friend with a Saturn....made in Belgium. Seems like a good car compared to his old plastic paneled one that he had before that. Saturn owners are very loyal to the company I think....not like Volvo owners are to Volvo, but still....they say Saturn is going away by 2011. Maybe sooner the way things are going for them.
While everything on "paper" makes the iQ seem better, I'm happy that the Smart is here NOW and I get to drive it NOW and I get to enjoy it NOW. Is the iQ even coming to the United States? Even if it does, it may not come til a bit too late for a bit too much. With the economy as it is, it may be a tough sell.
But you know what the funny thing is, our smarts would have sucked up the cute car quota by the time the iQ gets here, by then itll be "oh god, someone tried to copy the smart car"
We have seen the same sort of approach with the Scion xB. In the last few years, the whole "two box look" of the xB has been adopted by Chevrolet and Ford, in part or in whole. No big deal there - nothing sells like success.
However, whenever we have seen a trend adopted by US designers and builders, it invariably comes out cheapened and tinny. A good example here is the Chevrolet SSR, the mini-panel truck. They managed to create an xB analog, only without the room, utility, or quality. And, all that at a higher relative price point. Way to go, GM!
In theory, any manufacturer should be able to take a car apart, spec out the pieces, and create an identical copy. What stands in the way of this is institutional inertia. When GM brought Toyota into their joint venture, the plan was that they would transfer the immensely popular Corolla part and parcel with a US badge into American markets and all would be well.
What happened was the "all new Nova" (which was nothing more than a US produced Corolla) was gutted of all the little features that made the Japanese Corolla a best seller. Then, they made the mistake of not selling it for less than the 'real' Corolla, making the pricing roughly equivalent instead. Stupid, greedy marketing set the seal on the "all-new Nova". The "joint venture" is now defunct, by the way.
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2009 Smart Passion Cabrio
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