SMALLEST CAR IN THE WORLD... would you buy it?

[trautotuning]

Hey guys,

anyone rememeber the smallest production car in the world?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/isleofman/conte..._feature.shtml

If a modern company would make a new one, with good appearance, about 200mpg, and for less than (lets say) $2,000 do you think people would buy them?!?!


I mean with new technology 200mpg is very possible with this size and weight of such a car, and top speed could be increased to about 70mph easily.

???

[93dagsr]

i would buy 2!!! seriously!

[93dagsr]

i think it would have to be around $1,500 though for me to actually invest in one.

[RoadWarrior]

Originally Posted by trautotuning

and top speed could be increased to about 70mph easily.

I dunno about easily, I would imagine that in clear air the short wheelbase would make it unstable at speeds over 50, and I can see it getting tossed into the highway median by the draft behind a semi.

Edit: oh, putting the price in perspective, the Peel was launched at 199UKP and the the BMC Austin/Morris Mini (The lets get all these damned bubble cars off the road and give people a REAL small car car) was priced at 399UKP at about the same time. So seeing as the cheapest small cars are around $9000 these days, the equivalent price would be $4500.

[RightontheMarc]

Perhaps if I lived in a very crowded city. When I was in Holland I saw someone driving something about as big where it had floppy plastic windows, like they have on jeeps. In a country where right of way is given to cyclists in almost every situation it was probably as safe. It was cool how one could be different there without so much judgement from others. In the US we suffer too much of that.

[93dagsr]

Originally Posted by RoadWarrior

I dunno about easily, I would imagine that in clear air the short wheelbase would make it unstable at speeds over 50, and I can see it getting tossed into the highway median by the draft behind a semi.

yea you're right, maybe adding another wheel to the front would help?

[93dagsr]

Originally Posted by RightontheMarc

Perhaps if I lived in a very crowded city. When I was in Holland I saw someone driving something about as big where it had floppy plastic windows, like they have on jeeps. In a country where right of way is given to cyclists in almost every situation it was probably as safe. It was cool how one could be different there without so much judgement from others. In the US we suffer too much of that.

i think that judgement is everywhere, people just don't really care about what you think in other countries. here in the u.s. we are so hell bent on personal appearance and what other people think that we forget to have fun and be different every once in a while.

[cfg83]

Hello -

I saw this on Top Gear :

Top Gear: Smallest Car Ever Made
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RDkqkrwuKi4

CarloSW2

[Baranfin]

that is incredible, his review of this car isnt nearly so nice...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quHzOK9chx8&NR=1

[Hateful]

Would be well worth it as a second car.I could use one on at least half the drives I take. Even though the speed is 45mph most everywhere I go, a lot of it has repeating lights and I usually only get up to 37mph anyway. The speeds this smallest car is capable of are the speeds that kill FE in regular cars.

[DarbyWalters]

50cc ...200mpg...and 70mph? That would be quite a stretch. My scooter with a 50cc and top speed of 37mph gets 118.9mpg. I think something like that would be useful...maybe slightly bigger with a 150cc 4 stroke and 120mpg...then I would think about it...not a 3 wheeler tho!

[RoadWarrior]

There's something that's kind of close available now...

http://www.allpropowersports.com/baj...-vehicles.html

[Hateful]

those are three times the price and not nearly as cute.

[lunarhighway]

i don't think these things would mix well with modern traffic, unless perhaps in very crowded city traffic. similar vehicles would have a use in citys where conventional cars where banned. mobility, parking space, and pollution issues would much improve, and safety issues would be far less (in fact this vehicle would be the bigges player in the field so you'd have to pay attention to everyone else).

the vehicles that comes closest to this would be the BMW C1 scooter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_C1

not a car and not fully enclosed, but arguably with more or less the same confort level and much improved safety

at the bottom of the wiki page there a link to crash test footage, with a nice comparison to a convetional scooter.

over here these are selling for 2000 to 4000€ used
get's around 78mpg.

[DaX]

I would require cabin heat. I can deal with a window down in hot weather, but I won't deal well with no heat in the winter.

I like the P50 - got to see Jeff Lane's P50 and Trident last year.

My wife and Jeff's P50:

[cfg83]

trautotuning -

I voted no because it couldn't survive LA traffic at 40 MPH max. I'd rather have Honda Rebel.

CarloSW2

[DarbyWalters]

BMW Isetta ...I would take one of these any day...

[RoadWarrior]

I was always more of a fan of the Messerschmidt tiger, seemed safer/more practical to me.

[white90crxhf]

At least you'd die right away in that thing. i would never drive it unless i lived in a community where all other sizes of cars are banned.

[DaX]

Originally Posted by RoadWarrior

I was always more of a fan of the Messerschmidt tiger, seemed safer/more practical to me.

The tiger is so cool and much better than the Messerschmitt KR200's - but they're VERY expensive now (probably $60,000 for one in very good shape). I just think it would be awesome to drive something with a bubble canopy on it - just like an airplane.

[RoadWarrior]

Hmmm....
http://www.modernmicrocars.co.uk/prices.html
Just thinking I'd find it easier to register a KR200 as a custom motorcycle maybe, tempting to think about getting a shell and putting a diesel motor in it...

[gto78]

I think cars like that would gain popularity if they had a "safe" zone laid out for them. For example I'm thinking of sections of cities that have restricted speeds, vehicle sizes, and maybe even special lanes on the highway. It wouldn't be economically possible to do this now, but in the future anything's possible. Big cities that have major parking problems and congestion where biking is faster- those kind of places. I personally would never buy one due to safety, but if I was only using it in an area where all the other vehicles were the same size I'd have no problem at all.

[101mpg]

Yeah, I keep wishing that California would make a special HOV lane for small vehicles on Interstate 5 between Redding and Los Angeles (also through Sacramento). Imagine a 2-lane road to the side of the freeway restricted to vehicles 1500 pounds and under. Lightweight a CRX and regear the tranny - only have to shed 250ish pounds on a 1st gen HF, and have 4th & 5th regeared to get you in excess of 75 MPG.

I wish cities would start doing something like that.

I also wish that SUVs would get taxed to death, and that you'd get an "occupancy ticket" if you drove an SUV with less than 2-4 people in it. Never will happen, but hey.

Too bad the auto manufacturers don't realize that if they started making carbon fiber vehicles with aluminum chassis on them that they would have a high-profit, high-mileage vehicle.

[DarbyWalters]

They don't need to tax them to death...they just need to make the car companies build them to get better than 15 city/20 highway! Now I do think that taxing all vehicles by a "(weight factor/mpg combined) - combined mpg" would be interesting. You could even have them pay it up front...limit the tax to 5 years. After that you are off the books.

(4500# Hummer H2/15 Combined) - Combined 15=$285 a year ($1422)

(4300# Jeep CRD/21 Combined) - Combined 21=$179 a year ($895)

(3158# Ford Fusion/24 Combined) - Combined 24=$107 a year ($535)

(2875# Civic Hybid/42 Combined) - Combined 42=$26 a year ($130)

(190# Scooter/95 Combined) - Combined 95=$0 a year ($0)

[white90crxhf]

Originally Posted by 101mpg

I also wish that SUVs would get taxed to death, and that you'd get an "occupancy ticket" if you drove an SUV with less than 2-4 people in it. Never will happen, but hey.

they do get taxed to death. 13mpg = paying alot of gas taxes. not to mention the price of those tires!

what if you're going to pick up your kids up at grandmas do you still get a ticket? it seems unenforceable.

good Lord why do people want to tax everything? do you not like your own money?

[baddog671]

It reminds me of those plastic cars by Fischer Price for toddlers...

No, I wouldnt no matter how much mpg it got. That wouldnt be able to go up the mountains around here, it wouldnt be able to drive in snow, i bet it hydroplanes like insane, and god forbid you even get lightly touched by another vehicle.

And the streets are so bad here, it would probably come off the ground at all the bump..

[8307c4]

No, I wouldn't, first lets skip looks and just pretend I like it, fine but now it becomes a matter of principle... How can anyone sell a vehicle touting fuel economy when just from the look of things it can't hardly defeat broken wind?

I don't doubt it gets great mileage, but WHY make it square?
That to me just defeats the whole purpose, it's like skiing uphill.
After all if it gets 200mpg square wouldn't it be even better with some aerodynamically beneficial contours?

Doesn't have to be solar power wind resistance efficient, but somewhere in between, make it look like it at least wants to get good mpg.

I'm not getting into safety factors, but it is a death trap, I could even forego this to a point... I think the Euro A-class Mercedes Smart Car is as likely to remain the smallest.

Originally Posted by 93dagsr

i think that judgement is everywhere, people just don't really care about what you think in other countries. here in the u.s. we are so hell bent on personal appearance and what other people think that we forget to have fun and be different every once in a while.

Oh the USA isn't the only stuck up country with a caste system in this world, far from it.

[8307c4]

Originally Posted by 101mpg

Yeah, I keep wishing that California would make a special HOV lane for small vehicles on Interstate 5 between Redding and Los Angeles (also through Sacramento). Imagine a 2-lane road to the side of the freeway restricted to vehicles 1500 pounds and under. Lightweight a CRX and regear the tranny - only have to shed 250ish pounds on a 1st gen HF, and have 4th & 5th regeared to get you in excess of 75 MPG.

ahhh no that won't work if we allow folks to modify their vehicles how is the 1500 pound limit to be enforced, weight scales? But I do like the idea, however we're just now coming around to having a FEW bicycle lanes, and finally I'm starting to see the appearances of round-about intersections.

We're making progress, just 5-10 years later than Europe.

[101mpg]

High taxes often equal aversions to things - that's why people often suggest them.

The problem is that SUVs are encouraged to breed rather than small vehicles being encouraged.

How about a tax credit if you own (yes, weight scales are good) a vehicle 1500 pounds or less? Easy loophole: buy a scooter, drive a Hummer. See why it wouldn't work?

We need aversion therapy for the SUV hogs out there. Hitting people in their wallets often seems to be the most effective. Look at Japan and kei cars.

[101mpg]

Make it ten times those prices, you would suddenly see Detroit (and others) coming out with carbon fiber vehicles that cost the same as an SUV but without the additional taxes on them. $3000 per year extra to own a Hummer vs. $100 per year to own a CRX or Insight would make them a LOT less attractive to own. Just build it into the licensing fees. That way, no "tax" as people hate taxes being raised. Weight / MPG * 10 dollars equals:
Hummer - 4500/15*10=3000
CRD - 4300/21*10 = $2048
Fusion - 3158/21*10=$1503
CRX HF - 1718/54*10=$318
Honda N600 - 1126/50*10=$225
Honda Accord CVCC - 2000/54*10=$370

Anything 2000 pounds and under - no extra fee? Maybe THAT would help. Note all the Hondas would then pay zero fees vs. in excess of $1500 per year. THAT would stop people from needlessly buying & driving monster vehicles with one occupant. Note - you start putting four or six people in an SUV, van, minivan on a daily basis and its benefits far outweigh the added cost.

Think about it - when was the last time you saw a Hummer in the carpool lane? SERIOUSLY, when was the last time you saw that? Last time I was in Southern California, I went to the supermarket and counted 34 SUVs in a row next to each other before I hit another vehicle. Chevy 3500 truck. 24 more SUVs before I hit a Civic. I had time to kill so I waited. Only ONE of the SUVs that left in the next half an hour from the row (two sides) had more than one person in it!

As slow as traffic moves in Southern California, it's no wonder why the Prius is popular there, but it is dwarfed by the SUV.

Originally Posted by DarbyWalters

(4500# Hummer H2/15 Combined) - Combined 15=$285 a year ($1422)

(4300# Jeep CRD/21 Combined) - Combined 21=$179 a year ($895)

(3158# Ford Fusion/24 Combined) - Combined 24=$107 a year ($535)

(2875# Civic Hybid/42 Combined) - Combined 42=$26 a year ($130)

(190# Scooter/95 Combined) - Combined 95=$0 a year ($0)