A fan site dedicated to the worst product from the U of M

After lunch today we had a rather rousing discussion about Smart Cars (pictured above), since a few have been spotted around town.  Our discussing mainly focused on crash tests, comfort, storage, gas efficiency numbers, and performance in snow.  Since Chucker didn’t research it like he said he would, I did.  Below is a video of the Smart Car’s crash test.  At 2:20 they get it up to 70 mph and crashed into 20-tons of concrete block…..and while it appears to get obliterated, it actually holds up kinda well.

These cars start at $17,000, are about 100 inches in length and designed to achieve 33 city/41 highway mpg according to 2008 EPA standards (the gas tank of the smart fortwo is 8.7 gallons).  The majority of the smart’s weight (engine and transaxle) is over the driven wheels resulting in better traction overall. Wider rear wheels and tires allow for better grip and traction in marginal weather conditions. Narrower front wheels and tires allow for less traction loss by penetrating into snow and ice deeper for improved steering control. All smart fortwo vehicles come standard with all season tires. Surprisingly, the fortwo has 8 cubic feet of storage space – 12 feet if you load up to the roof line. This area can easily fit numerous bags of groceries, gym bags and other items that are commonly transported every day, including golf clubs! The rear storage area can also accommodate many sizes of luggage making trips to the airport convenient. The front passenger seat also folds down creating additional space for other items such as skis.

Here’s a link to the Smart Car website.