VIDEO: My friend Paul tries out the Smart Car for the first time

[Neonspinnazz]

Originally Posted by BobDiaz

The video received a weird comment:



This set off my BS meter, because in all the accidents we've seen, the Safety Cell does not get crushed.

My answer was:



If you do a quick double click on the video, it will take you to the Youtube page to post a comment.


Bob Diaz

I've put my .02 in (Do'h a spelling and grammar error!!). I didn't say much because you said everything I would've said. Still can't find a crash report or news report.

EvenSteven2004 (10 hours ago) Show Hide
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I saw a wreck last week where one of these smarts got crushed by a Nissan Armada. It wasn't pretty, that's for sure. I don't know if the smart driver survived or not, but it certainly didn't look good. The Nissan had a dented bumper grill and the hood buckled slightly. Personally, I'll take safety over economy, but that's just me.



Neonspinnazz30 (6 minutes ago) Show Hide
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That makes little sense Steven, smarts have hit and have been hit by larger vehicles and were able to keep most of their shape. And either way the Nissan would have a great amount of damage if it "crushed" a smart.

Not even a wrecking ball could crush a smart. There's a video of it somewhere on here.

I can't wait for my test drive though, I wanna feel the car!!

[BobDiaz]

For some reason Youtube didn't take my message, maybe because I put a link in it. So, I reposed the answer and it took.

I'm not sure why someone has to generate a lie just to put down the Smart Car. I guess he had no idea that people would see through his lie.


IN OTHER NEWS:

The funnest part of going to the dealer with my friend Paul was the fact that the second we walked in the door, I started telling my friend Paul all about the Smart Car. It wasn't until later on that I realized that I sounded just like a salesmen for Smart. Even the sales people got a laugh out of it...


Bob Diaz

[Neonspinnazz]

Originally Posted by BobDiaz

For some reason Youtube didn't take my message, maybe because I put a link in it. So, I reposed the answer and it took.

I'm not sure why someone has to generate a lie just to put down the Smart Car. I guess he had no idea that people would see through his lie.



Bob Diaz

Yes, YouTube will not let you post links in comments but if you'd like to you'd have to type them like this:

w w w . smartcarofamerica . c o m

Works every time!

[BobDiaz]

Regarding the message from EvenSteven2004 in my Youtube video:

EvenSteven2004

I saw a wreck last week where one of these smarts got crushed by a Nissan Armada. It wasn't pretty, that's for sure. I don't know if the smart driver survived or not, but it certainly didn't look good. The Nissan had a dented bumper grill and the hood buckled slightly. Personally, I'll take safety over economy, but that's just me.

I challenged his statement and here's his response:

Sorry, I don't have a "link" to the accident. I didn't see it online or in the news, I saw it on the side of the road. Traffic was backed up for miles because so many people were rubbernecking, so I only know what I saw as I passed by. The car was clearly a smart as it unique door was still very recognizable. And the SUV was definitely an Armada which I know very well. This happened in upstate NY. If you don't believe it, then I guess there's nothing else to discuss. Okay.

Here's my answer to him:

(1) Like many other people who see an accident photo with a small car, they assume it to be a Smart Car, but upon closer examination, we see that the car is something else. So, it's an unintentional but common error.

(2) The statement is a lie.

Because the Smart Car has the tridion safety cell, there's no way an Armada could "crush" a Smart Car. Photos of Smart Car accidents posted on the Smart Car Forum always show the car's safety cell intact.

Google: Smart Car Forum
for photos.

Bob Diaz

[Bum-bling-B]

Nice review Bob.

I'd guess it is a non-power steering car. Only since it is a non convenience group car is why I'd guess that. I wonder what the percentage is for non convenience group power steering cars? IMO, I prefer no power steering as far as how the car handles.

I did a test drive this weekend at a car show by letting a member ride along to put out signs. After 8 miles he couldn't stop ranting and raving about it. This was only as a passenger. Now this isn't a regular guy. This guy HATES new cars. His latest model is a '77. He went back and told his wife all about it which she couldn't believe, so now shes excited thinking he is actually finally considering a new car. She publicly voiced her excitement as she announced all the awards I won.

The story doesn't end there. I needed to get one of the cars home so I asked if he wanted to drive one (not Kermit, I told him driving that car was out of the question). He got to drive the other car to my house and was ecstatic about the car. We'll see how that turns out.

One other test driver this weekend. I had to get the car to the show and I had promised a ride in my street rod or Corvette to my daughter's boyfriend as she came up to spend the weekend with us. It was raining and I said those two weren't going to the show so only the smarts would be. I needed someone to drive the smart. Her boyfriend is naturally scared of me so he wanted to drive her Yaris ( I suppose I can be intimidating at times ) . As they were leaving he told her he wanted to at least see inside of it. I said he should of drove it earlier where he admitted he was a bit scared of me . Next I told him to take it for a spin - this was my test. He accepted, came back 15 minutes later and said he loved it and had been considering one and would like to pick up a used one. So, I may be looking for a used one soon. Oh....and the test. SCANGAUGE! I was able to tell his max speed etc.

So two test drives this weekend that worked well. That doesn't include all the people from the show.

[Neonspinnazz]

Originally Posted by Bum-bling-B

Oh....and the test. SCANGAUGE! I was able to tell his max speed etc.
.

And what was that? 120mph?

(that's considering a downhill slope and gearbox in "N")

[BobDiaz]

Some people are just weird, the EvenSteven2004 came back with:

One of the doors was still intact, and it was DEFINITELY a smart. No doubt about it. No other car has doors like the smart. But you can believe whatever you want. Too bad you weren't there to see it. You seem way too defensive almost to the point of denial. Some day you will see pictures of a destroyed smart, safety cell and all. Until then, keep thinking whatever makes you feel good.

The he added another message about the Smart has smaller crush zones, than a regular car, so it must be unsafe. At that point, I felt he's a Smart Car hater and is out to say anything negative he can.

I answered with the following:

The reason I don't believe you is that it goes against all the other evidence that I've seen. US Government crash tests, IIHS crash tests, European Crash Tests, Smart Car Accident Crash Photos in the Smart Car Forum, and even a TV show where they crashed a Smart Car into a solid concrete wall at 70 MPH. In EVERY case, the Smart Car's tridion safety cell did NOT crush. An accident so violent that would crush the safety cell would kill and appear on the news reports, but there's NOTHING said.

One nice thing about YouTube is that in your own videos, I can block a user from posting anymore. I then deleted his nasty little post about the reduced crush zone, because it was getting pointless to answer his stupid comments.


I'm not really sure what drives people to such hate against the Smart. What does it matter what car someone else drives?


Bob Diaz

[Neonspinnazz]

Originally Posted by BobDiaz

I'm not really sure what drives people to such hate against the Smart. What does it matter what car someone else drives?


Bob Diaz

That is a good question, but remember the hype of when the 2nd Generation Prius came out? Teens were all over that one by calling it a "NERDMOBILE" and just bashing the kinds of people that would drive one.

The smart is not only getting this hype but now since it's so small it's also being bashed on for that too. It usually starts off in a high school or in a MySpace blog

I don't care what people think of what I drive, as long as I like it they can go somewhere!

[NukleoN]

There will always be ignorant people who'll react negatively to something new and different, even if it's a great (or true) idea. Here are a few things ignorant people railed against in the past:

Women's rights, civil rights (had a civil war over it), gay rights, birth-control and education, environmentaliam, Japanese and other foreign cars, any foreign-made products, small cars, unleaded gas, religious skeptics, minority religions, alcohol (failed prohibition), universal health-care, certain books, competition, free-inquiry, unpopular dissent, secular democratic republics, germ theory, television, space-exploration, evolution, unexpected astronomy, paradigm shifts and yeah, the smart car.

I'd say we're in good company.

[BobDiaz]

I can't remember who said this or the exact wording, but it was something like this:

The road to great ideas is always being blocked by dimwitted minds, sworn to protect mediocrity.


Bob Diaz