smart versus other cars in Europe

[Rubik]

All the talk about alternatives to the smart, its mileage, and CO2 emissions made me wonder how it compares with the other micro/subcompact cars in Europe. The site http://www.cars-of-europe.com/ is a great place to learn about these other cars, almost all of which we cannot buy here. The site doesn't let you do side-by-side comparisons, so I made my own in the spreadsheet linked below. The spreadsheet includes only gasoline-powered cars with similar horsepower to the smart (the diesel cars' mileage would bum you out - we must get it together to get them here). Note that the specs. for the smart are the European ones from that site and differ somewhat from what we've learned for the American model. The only car recognizably available here is the Honda Jazz, a.k.a. Fit, though it has a 1.5L engine here in the states.


http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?k...9S6zivJw&hl=en

[strider63]

This car beats the smart car. Its a super micro

Smallest Production Car

[dennyrex]

As far as US goes, there's an article in the NYT today that quotes the website greenercars.org which released a list of the "greenest" and "least green" cars.
The smart fortwo ranked first in non hybrid or non CNG cars available, and scored third overall. Scoring was based on mpg, CO2, recyclability, et al. Nevertheless, the lower scoring Toyota Yaris got the photo op in the story. They mislabeled the fortwo as an automatic transmission.

[Rubik]

Yeah, the EPA treats the smart as an automatic as well, probably the P-R-N-D. By rights, EPA should test in both automatic and manual mode and publish both. At the same time, smart does do well versus other automatics.

[JPaul]

Originally Posted by Rubik

probably the P-R-N-D

Or the absence of a clutch pedal.