Is This Toyota Smarter than a Smart?

[Oldsmoletick]

I slammed into a toyota corolla with my old 87 jeep cherokee (stock, samll XJ). The person decided to swing a left directly in front of me, my left front caught their right front at about 30 mph. Took out both fenders, hood, head lights grille, just about ripped the front bumper off, and shifted the whole front end over at least 6 inches, fluid everywhere (yeah the toyo didn't fair too well, basically my jeep obliterated its front end). Needless to say the toyo went home on a flat bed, I drove home with nothing but a bent bumper, dented fender, chuck out of my grille broken turn signal lens and a crack in my header panel . (No One was hurt by the way) But I'll be damned if I drive one of those little microd things, I was leary about the small size of the cherokee up until that accident (was used to full size trucks and A/G body cars).

 

[MD13ailey]

I think its a great ideas for japan and maybe europe were the streets are 6 feet wide and the average speed is 15mph. And even here driving around a city. I have watched some crash test videos on a 78 regal on youtube and it did way better than the smart car. For its size yes it did good but for its size but you wouldnt ever find me in a car that I could build out of one of my regal doors. I have a roll cage in my car with harnesses and that I will trust over any air bag any day.

 

[79GP6.6L]

i agree with the technology, but i guess im just too stubborn to drive somthing that if i get hit in, i will more than probably die. and not being able to b*tch about gas mileage will probably bum me out too...

It is actually safer in an accident than a G body due to how it was designed. The G body would be lucky to be a one star car in a modern crash test, the fact that that little thing gets 5 is damn impressive.

Years ago, my G body destroyed a Nissan Altima in an accident. I stopped at a light and the car behind me was not paying attention and drove right into me. Pushed my car about 50 feet forward, tilted my bumper downward a bit and rippled the right quarter slightly.

I was super-pissed, til I got out of my car and looked at my car and then the other drivers car.

The front of the Altima was gone. I could not tell what kind of car it was, looking at the front of it. Beneath the mangled mess of metal I saw huge puddles of coolant and oil. I doubt the engine survived unharmed.

I drove away from that accident after all the reports were filled out. Based on my experience, I would say the G body would fare a little better than your statement suggests.

Oh, and no freaking way would I ever even get into a Smartcar or any other vehicle of that size.

 

[megaladon6]

well lets see. toyota safety...killer floor mats, hybrids that can kill you while doing an oil change, hybrids that auto-start while doing an oil change, hybrids that randomly breakdown, then run over the tow driver, to change rear shocks on a prius you have to sit ON the battery pack...(and this is just the recent stuff)
oh they couldn't hack racing despite the MASSIVE amount of money they sank into it,
oh and while i'm bad mouthing japanese cars, one of the biggest complaints about GM cars is the rattling dash. i'm sitting there getting new snow tires, reading about the 350Z/370Z. guess what? both had annoying rattles from the dash and doors. and on the 370Z the trim didn't even line up due to shoddy workmanship and shitty materials.
from being a mechanic and a tow driver, GM's have major failures less than anyone else.--defined as something serious enough to tow the car. granted GM's had more stupid ignorable annoying problems than anyone else. but at least you could drive the cars.
GM has gotten alot better since the 70's/80's and the japanese have gotten a LOT worse since the 90's and they keep going down.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

The problem I have with American cars is that they do not make a good small one. All of them have gigantic engines of more than 2 liters, and too much weight. When I shop for a new car, I have a few requirements like a manual transmission, 1.6 liter or smaller engine, A/C, preferably radio delete, white paint, 30 mpg city and 40-50 mpg highway, and no more than 2600lbs curb weight. Now, the smallest thing GM has is the Aveo and it is awful, so I would not even look at it. The Dodge Caliber? Please. It's huge, and made by Chrysler...(shudders in horror). However, I do have one American car on my list depending on it's specs when it gets here: The Ford Fiesta. It's a European Ford product and may be in my price range. I will also have to consider the Nissan Versa 1.6 S, The Toyota Yaris hatchback, the Fiat 500 (Sold at Chrysler dealers next year, and with a 1.4 liter Multiair engine, so it's better than the others) and maybe the iQ. The Smart does not figure into my equation because for it's size it is not fuel efficient enough and it needs premium gas. I would also love to have a VW Polo TDI, but that is not sold in this market. The Golf is just too big and pricey for me. Will I buy anything at all? I don't know. But anyhow, my point in the original post is to look at the way the iQ was packaged, not to say anyone should buy it. Frankly, it's size scares me a little, but then I would drive an original mini so to me it is less of an issue. I will also agree that GM has made great strides in their US models, primarily by bringing the good European models to the US (Vauxhall/Opel Insignia= Malibu, etc.). I also agree that the high point for the Japanese was the 1990's and that their quality has suffered since then, particularly Toyota and Nissan. With new cars, I see them only as appliances and judge them as such. Whatever has the lowest operating cost and is the most convenient and cheap gets my money. Fun to drive and safe are nice too, but when you deliver pizza for a living, the bottom line is the bottom line.

 

[outsider_27]

It may be just me, but IMO, nobody builds a good small car. The Focus is probably the best I see, but I hate small cars. Anything less than a 3 liter engine to me is not big enough. I love my V6's and V8's and won't give them up for 4 cylinders.

 

[SafariWagon]

I repspect that some people don't care for small cars. I do a fair amount of driving so my daily is a 2008 Scion XB. 2.0 litre Camry motor. 5 Speed. For a small car it has more than enough get up and go. When I test drove the first one I was afraid they would be powerless. But to my surprise I got 3rd gear rubber. After beating on it I told the salesman........ I want that one over there! Not this one. I'm 6' 4" and have plenty of head room as well. Gas mileage...........25-26. I'm actually pretty happy with the ugly box. SIde air bags standard as well. I have no idea how it would hold up in a crash, but if my times up, let it be up I guess.

 

[79GP6.6L]

...ugly box.

Call me picky but I would not be able to get past the appearance of that particular vehicle, even if it ran 11's while getting 40 mpg. Come to think of it, I have that problem with most small cars. Perty they ain't.

outsider_27, it is not just you.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

The only problem I have with small cars in the US is that they aren't really all that small. I mean, if I was in Europe, I could get something around the size of the original Mini, not the fat, bloated new Mini made by BMW. It's almost 13 feet long! That's not a small car in my book. Plus, in the US, you can't really even buy a car for less than $11k. I would take a 0.9 liter 2 or 3 cylinder engine in a 1800lb car if I could get it for around $8k.

I sort of miss my fugly 1995 Nissan Sentra right about now. It weighed 2350lbs, was fully loaded with options and got 55mpg on the highway. As for crash protection, that is the reason I no longer have it. I couldn't stop from 55mph fast enough to avoid the Rav 4 that pulled out in front of me, and it died protecting me. The car did it's job, despite having been cut and spliced back together previously by a novice that had never sectioned a car before (me). I walked away with minor injuries due to the fact that the under dash knee pad was not installed at the time (my fault). The front of the car (driver's side front offset hit) was destroyed, the bumper was broken in two, but the safety cell remained intact. That is how the car was designed to work and it did it's job. I could even open and shut the door afterward. If I was in my Cutlass at the time, I probably would not have fared as well. The poor position of the shoulder belt (pivot is too high) would have caused neck and shoulder injuries, and I probably would have ate the steering wheel. The car would not have crumpled as easily and would have transferred more of the energy to my body instead of absorbing it, resulting in greater injuries.

The front end of a car engineered to crash well should be thought of as a sacrificial pillow. It is there to soften the blow you would otherwise take. Yes it means greater vehicle damage in an accident, but cars are cheaper than medical bills and lives. Having dissected down to the bare structure modern cars with crumple zones and older ones without, I can safely say that the way the newer ones are put together makes much more sense. You can actually tell where they have been made strategically weak and progressively stronger in order to dissipate energy in a collision. This is why, if you look at a new car with the fenders removed, you will note that the first foot or so of frontal structure is made of unboxed steel on the top frame rail. As you get back to the strut tower it gets boxed, and then further reinforced a little behind that. Likewise the grille, headlights, etc. are plastic and designed to be destroyed on impact as is the rather flimsy upper support on the radiator support. Engines in some models are designed to slide under the car in a severe crash (first seen on the Citroen DS)so as not to intrude into the passenger space. Very few older models are designed this way (Mercedes W123's and W126's come to mind), but it makes the most sense in terms of survivability.

 

[turbo78]

i wonder what the results on this topic would have been had you polled it?
anyways, ill also take my chances in my g-body, godforbid it should ever happen.. i better go live in a bubble with my car