KBB's 2009 top 10 green cars . . . Smart is missing

[Carl242]

KBB Green: Top 10 Green Cars for 2009 - Official Kelley Blue Book Site

KBB came out with their top 10 list of green cars for this year. The Smart is not on it, while other gas-powered cars like the Fit and the Mini are. Hope this is not a repost

[smark]

Carl, read the second to last paragraph. It about overall performance and comfort.

[Carl242]

Originally Posted by smark

Carl, read the second to last paragraph. It about overall performance and comfort.

My smart is SUPER comfortable . . . but I guess it would lose in a utility competition against a Fit or a Mini, and that would make sense why that Tesla Roadster is not in there either, as the commentors on the sight point out. Still, its good to see some diesels on the list.

[smark]

Carl, I love our Smart, but out of the both the cars we own. Performance, quality, comfort, utility and resale value. Our Honda Fit is light years ahead of our little Smart car. The article is about over all green value in the cars you can buy today, for the average person/ family needs.

[Jordon]

Yeah, I hit the X the second I saw the picture of the Prius. Adding in shipping, battery materials, ect. isn't the Prius one of the worse?

[BigWarpGuy]

Perhaps if there was a list of green and affordable cars, the Smart would not only be on the list but be near or at the top? Being a Smart owner, I might be a little biased.

[fpage77]

Why is the smart being ignored so much when it comes to good things except for the people who want to bash it.

[Woody14619]

Originally Posted by Jordon

Yeah, I hit the X the second I saw the picture of the Prius. Adding in shipping, battery materials, ect. isn't the Prius one of the worse?

Yup... touted as green, but if you look at the manufacture process and disposal issues, it's one of the worst out there. The nickel used in the batteries is mined in Canada. Then shipped to Europe to be refined, then to China to be turned in to a foam. It's then shipped to Japan for assembly into a battery and gets integrated into the car. And finally the car is shipped to the US for sale. That's just the path for the battery.

There were several stories about this floating around years ago (some biased, some not). Reality is that it's not much more "green" than a normal car, and when you consider the disposal costs and component toxicity, the Prius is worse than most standard cars because it has two drive system (and a much larger additional caustic battery).

Even when you figure in the gas savings over a standard 7 to 10 year life cycle, it's not enough to offset the rest of it. You can paint a coal burning plant green too, but it doesn't mean it's environmentally friendly.