Freaky Gear: SMART Hybrid

[Andrew Robinson]

Another dead end for Smart, in my opinion, it's just a PR dodge to avoid taxes.

The hybrid drive barely makes up for the loss in fuel economy when
they dropped the original high-tec 600/700cc engine and put in a
rather unsophicticated 1 litre lump a year or so ago. It doesn't do
anything clever like regenerative braking, and the whole package is
still shaped like a brick, meaning it's LESS economical than my 5
year-old Smart Roadster, which is a far, far nicer car (I owned an
'normal' smart too, and the roadster is a million times nicer!).

- Andy_R

On Mon, Jun 2, 2008 at 5:29 PM, Jay Vaughan <jayv at synth.net> wrote:
> So our big fat Mercedes went into the shop today for some badly needed
> maintenance in advance of our summer driving holiday (w00t!) and in
> the meantime I've been given a little SMART Hybrid to drive around.
>
> Let me tell you, there's something very definitely *WEIRD* about a car
> that turns itself off when you hit the brake and come to a stop, even
> a crawl, then powers back up when you hit the gas .. very freaky
> stuff, but after 10 minutes in the Vienna Gürtel I see the big fat
> point right away: if every car did this, we'd be a hell of a lot
> better off ..
>
> Still, its bloody small.  Too small, even, for a spot for Flynn, so
> I'm glad there's only a couple days of it to go and then we revert
> back to pure decadence ..
>
> ;
> --
> Jay Vaughan
>
>
>
>
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