For some time now, I've felt that what the world really needs is a new commute car. Why does the world still not have a car that:
- Seats only one person
- Is only 1 person wide
- Is battery powered with a range of maybe 80 miles
- Costs less than $20,000
- Is as safe as your standard SUV
I kid you not - I would buy that car today (if it existed and I had any money). Instead I am forced to look at dog ugly wonders of the design world such as:
The Hyundai Santa Fe - very ugly
The Acura MDX - non-descript blob of a car
Lexus RX300 - Who allowed this car to be made?
There are a number of very cool cars in this world. Most of them happen to be little cars made in Germany. They include:
Plenty of muscle in a tiny car - truly beautiful. Great commercials, too ("sometimes my fast and my girlfriend don't get along", and "un-pimp your ride").
Audi A3 - has just recently started showing up on US roads.
Smart ForTwo - All over Europe, tiny, great gas mileage, what's not to like? Who cares if Smart is a hopelessly doomed money-losing venture by Daimler. As long as they're making cars, export them to the US and let me buy one. Oh yeah, make it run on diesel, too, please.
I hasten to add that there is a company that claims that they have a solution. I would buy this car if it didn't cost $100,000. (click here to see why George Clooney likes this car)
Enough car ranting. Some random pics from this week below.
6 comments:
Scott--
Often see "Smart" on the road--daytrippers from Canada. My kids love it. Want me to buy you one? We'll stick it in the back of the suburban and drive it down to you.
I know just what you mean. A few weeks ago I was riding with a university student in Scotland who said that she liked her Ford focus but wanted something smaller. Smaller than that? I marveled. But then I got back to the States and noticed that all of the cars are absurdly large.
I have the dubious distinction of having ridden in Smart car. We rented one in the Netherlands for the day. It was really not that bad. The one serious flaw this, and all other cars like it seem to have is that they are still very expensive. And, of course, that you are constantly calculating, using physics learned from the evil physics twins Miles & Dresser, which probably is flawed, but one is not sure, what will happen to you if the 18 wheeler, only a meter off your port bow, makes a little mistake and drives over you...will he feel the bump?
Hey, are you going to publish again? I always hate leaving comments like this, but you're depriving me of great reading - I never take that laying down.
Did your typing hand get caught in a lawn mantis? I'm sure you're busy, but I'm typing this in scubs (not the hip kind that Stu picked up from the Gap).
Did your typing hand get caught in a lawn mantis? I'm sure you're busy, but I'm typing this in scubs (not the hip kind that Stu picked up from the Gap).
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