NEW MODEL TOAD

[captain ron]

I have ridden motorcycles for over 40 years. I feel that if you remove the cell phone talking, burger eating, kid baby sitting, newspaper reading etc etc drivers from the road, that you would make riding a bike as safe as driving my coach.

Air bags, safety bumpers, seat belts etc don't make cars safe,,, good drivers do!

Kudos, Bravo, Thank you, Applause, and Standing Ovation. Very Well Said.

[edvanland]

John
I also have ridden motorcycles since 1956, telling my age, and you are right.  Those same people who are on a cell phone and doing other multitasking things when they should be paying attention to driving are the ones who get away with murder when they kill a biker.  When they hit another car then it is a more even chance they will get killed or hurt.  If a biker is killed, even though they are a father, mother, brother, sister, or any other relation then the general public shurgs their shoulders and say he wasn't wearing a helment if he wasn't and therefore he deserved to die.  Now when someone is ejected from a car, read no seat belt, then that is another story.  Yes I wear a helment and use seat belts.  Don't belive in laws saying I have to.
That is my 2 cents
ED
MCI 7 and 1995 Harley ultra glide touring with loud pipes but not overly so

[Green-Hornet]

My Sprite gets about 40mpg and probably is not the safest car on the road, but it is fun!

If I take the roll bar off and windshield frame off it should fit in a lower compartment!

[JerryH]

So why the heck can Canada get these things first? Is it the Oil Companies who are slowing the process, in hopes of not allowing the US market of having a fuel saving vehicle

Why is it that big business gets the first blame when the epa & safety requirements are more restrictive?

Kyle:

I have no doubt that the NHTSA wants to do their due diligence in making sure a vehicle is safe – hence delays.  Do they take possibly unusually long time to do this?  Possibly.  Is it plausible to think that certain or some oil concerns could help delay the process?  I think it's quite plausible.

Here's my wacky thinking.  If a vehicle, however odd, was introduced in the states offering HUGE fuel savings -- despite certain trends, etc. as suggested -- it would gain attention.  Years ago when the American Consumer HAD to have SUV's, the market was there, but not like it is today.  What happened, virtually EVERY automaker jumped on board making an SUV.  I doubt the oil companies had ANY issues with gas guzzling SUV's – heck, they'd embrace them.

WHEN the American Consumer (not all) get to the point where they are willing to make (certain) concessions for fuel economy with the introductions of more creative transportation options like the Smart-Car, it'll spark other Mfg's to (much like the SUV craze) get onboard and help create something more and more fuel efficient.  They won’t want to lose market share – snooze or lose.  But certainly not without (in my humble opinion) road speed bumps from the Big Oil Companies.

Conspiracies?  Yeah, call me silly -- but I think they exist in the world of Oil -- and it goes beyond just Mfg's of autos.

SO, wanna talk about Area 51? 

Jerry H.

[Dreamscape]

Green Hornet,

I had a 60 Bugeye for about ten years, wish I still had it. What a fun car to drive. Even took Donald Healy for a ride in it when he was alive.

Happy Trails,

Paul

Dreamscape

[Jeremy]

"WHEN the American Consumer (not all) get to the point where they are willing to make (certain) concessions for fuel economy......."

Trouble is, that point is a probably a very long way off - for a whole variety of reasons history suggests that in reality fuel economy is way down most people's list of priorities. Innovative, fuel efficient car designs have been around for decades, but in the vast majorty of cases were commercial failures. True design landmarks such as the Citroen 2CV are laughed at by drivers of profligate modern cars whose designs do not even address problems that the 2CV solved fifty years ago. In the 1950s and 60s BMW were famous for building excellent little microcars - now they build luxobarges and are embarrased by their past.

My own choice of 'fun but will get squashed in an accident' car is a Fugitive:



Eventully my Fugitive (mine isn't the one in the pic - that's just an example I found on the web) will be a toad behind the bus, unless I figure out a way of hoisting it onto the roof so I can take the car with me and tow a boat as well. (The Fugitive weighs hardly anything, but I just cannot figure out a practical way of lifting it 11 feet in the air).

Lastly, just because I came across the photo:



Jeremy

[kyle4501]

Big companies got big because consumers bought what they were selling.
Pro affweets make millions+ per year because people will pay big bucks to watch the game.
I work in textiles & the job opportunities in the US are disappearing faster than a snow ball in hell. Why? Because consumers are buying cheaper forein made textiles, NOT the US made.

It is all about perceived cost. Some include quality, others place more emphasis on quanity.

I do believe in some conspiracies, the biggest is the patent royalities (for DuPont) on freon-12 expiring at the same time the study came out that said it was bad for the ozone layer. Miracle of miracles, DuPont had 134-a ready to go. Too many holes & flaws in the logic to convince me. . .

Big oil knows that we will burn as much as they can produce, so why do they care what we burn it in? Big oil also knows that most Americans are spoiled rotten brats & selfish enough to believe it is up to someone else to clean up their mess.


Bottom line,
I am also selfish in that I'm planning on using my 8V71 in my bus & not update to a more efficient 4 stroke just to save a few gallons of diesel.

But that's just my opinion . . . 

[Len Silva]

some yes........some no.

Mine can get out of it's own way right quick 462#+ me at 250# and 125 HP......a blip of the throttle will get you out of alot of trouble....plus I can be heard....I am sure the smarty car is a quiet little thing  and has a wopping 50HP.....couldn't find what it weighs

probably very nice in Europe where they maintain thier roads nicely for the most part..........likely not very nice with the short wheelbase on our great american roads........I know I hate riding in my buddy's Jeep YJ pre coil springs....harsh ride and aweful on any road with frequent joints.

Note they desribe it as a metropolitain car.......Read London, Munich, Barcelona, Rome

It may be only 50 HP now but you can bet somebody will try to make at 100.

Len