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Smart Car Tipping
- Thread starter bradl
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It's not like this vandalism was used as a political statement such as ruining a bank or governmental front door. Running a key down the side of a car is surely vandalism, but costs less in damage.
What is truly injust is raising the vehicle owner's insurance premium over damage from anonymous sources.
They serve no purpose. A Fiesta (and several other cars) gets better gas mileage, costs about the same, can accelerate out of it's own way, and seat 4 adults and still has space in the trunk. The only reason people buy Smart cars is for their supposed economy, because let's face it, it's not for looks, practicality, versatility or performance, and it fails miserably at that compared to other cars.
Because they pull into parking spots too deep and you think you found a spot and then this ****ing toy is in your spot.
Because they pull into parking spots too deep and you think you found a spot and then this ****ing toy is in your spot.
Oh man, I hate short cars in parking spots like this!
A few decades ago we used to move people's Volkswagens by carrying them but we never damaged them. Those were pranks this is vandalism.
As a Smart Car owner... They are fun to drive. Being so short and so light if you use the shifter properly they can be hoot to zip through curvy country roads. I live in the country - so I have so roads. I've never driven a Fiesta, admittedly, but I have owned two classic sports cars so I know what I'm talking about.
My Smart Car is a convertible, not an option for a Fiesta - at least not in Canada. Luckily I live on the West Coast where spring started a month ago.
My Smart Car is almost half the length of a Fiesta... so I can park in places a Fiesta wouldn't dream of parking. When I go to a house party, no matter how many people have arrived (and parked) already, I can always find a parking spot near the house. This is a big deal since rural driveways here are long and winding and dark at night. And we go to a lot of potluck dinners here, several a month.
There are special spots just for 'micro-cars' around here - which the Smart is, and a Fiesta is not. I love having access to convenient, cheap, and reserved parking spots in town, in front of stores, etc.
They are, in fact quite safe. And the vast majority of people are never going to be involved in a catastrophic collisions.
Because they pull into parking spots too deep and you think you found a spot and then this ****ing toy is in your spot.
I love doing that! Ha! Though, I prefer using the special micro-car spots that are near the front door. Especially in the rain.
I have a tiny Daihatsu, some people just cant seem to deal with the fact you have a small car and you like it. I would love to drive a smart car one day, I don't know anyone that has one unfortunately.
The Smart Car has very good crash test results in comparison to other sub compacts out. You won't have three kids in a Smart Car. They only seat two legally.
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety - Crash Test Results for Smart Car
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety - Crash Test Results for Smart Car
I never found its shifter to be very reactive. Even in manual shift mode, there's a noticeable lag as you up and down gears. And its auto mode feels badly staged, revving the engine quite high before shifting, without giving a good speed increase. I know it's built for economy, not performance, but still annoying. I don't find it particularly good-looking, either. What I'm not comfortable with is getting tailed by SUVs, as people driving it typically have a very poor sense of their surroundings and the space they take, a reason why I tend to drive aggressively in town to be ahead at red lights.
Still, I'm happy to drive one from time to time as it has a very good finish, reasonably quiet and overall doesn't feel cheap (it's a Mercedes, after all), and once used to its slow response, one can achieve better fuel efficiency with the manual mode.
Here there's no special spot for extra small cars, and you're strictly forbidden from parking perpendicular to the sidewalk. I bet you'd also receive a ticket if you parked two at a time in a spot designed for one larger car. And while it is surprisingly stable even at 120 on the freeway, the state of the roads here make for a very rough ride. I wouldn't do 50 km in town with it. Guess you can't go against the laws of physics of having a very short wheelbase.
In some European and North American cities you can actually subscribe to car2go, pay per minute, and all cars are Smart.
Don't waste too much time defending the smart car's safety record to someone who says they are the douchiest thing out there lol. Some people just don't know... many things.
I don't find that, but I have a 'sport' model so the software may be tuned differently.
I have a bad habit. First warning - I tap the brakes and suddenly slow down but just slightly. My intent is to warn them, not get hit. If that doesn't work I downshift so they don't get a warning. At that point they figure they're behind a maniac and give me room.
I have the advantage of living in an enlightened social democracy, I guess
. Also, since I live in an unincorporated rural area with - literally - no parking bylaw officers
. well, we can get away with a lot. Which includes parking perpendicular to the shoulder. We have a large and popular agricultural fair here. I just zip up to the front gates, and start looking for a gap between two pickups and back in. Never walked more than 100m to get in. Ha! There are a lot of Smart Cars here, and it's fun to see some of the creative ways we get close to where we want to be.It is rough no argument.
Vancouver has those. I get free membership (but not usage) for being Smart Car owner. I haven't actually used the service, but I will soon. I can take a float plane into the city harbour and rent the car just for when I need it. Makes for an easy day trip.
Seriously?
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Because they pull into parking spots too deep and you think you found a spot and then this ****ing toy is in your spot.
YOUR spot?
Tipping cars...brilliant.
An extremely intelligent way of expressing displeasure.
The future of America is in such good hands...
An extremely intelligent way of expressing displeasure.
The future of America is in such good hands...
Yes they do. Not everybody feels the need to compensate for some kind of personal shortcoming.
Makes sense. Those available for rent here are probably vanilla models, modified to include the card reader and navigation system. Gosh, many of them even don't come with heating seats!
I wouldn't do that in a rented car, since the driver is responsible for the first $500 of damage (a LOT of money). And city traffic doesn't really allow for such maneuvers. SUVs drivers also tend to text and drive and don't know how they're dangerous to others.
Not Invented Here! Parking spots for these rented cars are annoyingly rare downtown, and even in most residential neighborhoods, one has to always keep an eye on the one-hour-forbidden parking that happens a given day of the week: if the car is not gone before that time hits, then the last person who has parked it there is responsible for the parking ticket, +50% fee. They claim it's a time used to clean the streets (which they barely do properly), I think it's more used as a way to hand over parking tickets to working people who chose not to get their car on that day. As pretty much all residential streets have such rules, it also ensures a minimum volume of moving cars at any given time, surely helping chronic congestion issues!I have the advantage of living in an enlightened social democracy, I guess
Both the lack of approved parking spots where it's difficult or long to get by in public transit, and responsibility for moving a car before the one-hour no-parking time are the two main irritants of the service here, to the point I prefer not to go by car than having to deal with these. Being able to park it in any approved neighborhood regardless of zone permits is nice, but doesn't go far enough. Shared and environmentally-friendly cars should have some advantage over 1-car-per-inhabitant.
To the point doing a quite conservative 40 in town can still result in the driver losing sight of the road from the bouncing?
Wow, free membership to previous owners Not Invented Here! Still, I also got free membership during the launch promotion. Otherwise it's $35.
That's not right.. something is wrong with the car then. I've driven a number of Smarts, my own, my late wife's, the loaners when it's in for service virtually all the models. While they have a stiff suspension I've never had it bounce that bad. You feel the road for sure, but then that's part of the 'sport' feel. But never bouncing so hard you can't follow the road.
Victoria (a small city) has 25 city parking spots for micros (Smart Cars and motorcycles), plus whatever the malls install. Motorcycles don't tend to use these spots because they have their own free spots just for motorcycles.
Clearly you haven't driven here. Even the same streets in a delivery truck shakes it so much papers and loose items fall in the cabin. There was no strange noise from the bouncing in the car, and the same one fared really stable at 120 on the freeway.
I would like more malls to have reserved spots for these rented Smarts. Currently only one has 40 spots.
Ouch. Nope.... apparently I haven't lived there. And I thought our streets were rough, eh?!
And I though Ivory Coast country roads were rough lol. Here the city has enacted a law long ago stating they couldn't be legally held responsible for damage to vehicles caused by the roads' state. I guess they're saving thousands a year just from this law.Ouch. Nope.... apparently I haven't lived there. And I thought our streets were rough, eh?!
Driving there, you have to have your parallelism checked about once every 10 000 km, no car has a suspension in decent shape, and it's not unusual to find ones with spread apart front wheels, broken, in the middle of the street, waiting to be towed away.
That would be me then. Though I live in a rural community, there is one highway I'm on once a month or so where the usual speed is 120 to 125 kmh (that's about 75 mph - though legally it's rated at only 110 kmh). It's a lovely drive, very scenic. Mountains to the west and water to the east. One of the things that surprised me was how high you sit in a Smart Car. I'm often looking down into other small cars.