Anyone have a Smart car?

[max power]

Yeah.. I would imagine you'd have to. I wasn't aware that a 6 year old car was verboten for new drivers. You're a nicer dad than I am.

Her first car? Old Buick $600.

Safe? Sure

Green? Only GM green

But she can make all of her new driver mistakes and not be out anything.

This^ and that!

A 16 y.o. needs a big granny car that they can crash, because they will.

[BadTrainDriver]

I proud of everyone on this forum...not a single person has asked for pictures of the daughter!!

PS: Buy the best $10k Honda Civic you can find.

In the long run, you'll be much better off!

[max power]

I proud of everyone on this forum...not a single person has asked for pictures of the daughter!!

She's 16! We're perverts, not child molesters.

[Scruit]

Hell i didnt spend much more than that for my own 2 cars, must be nice to have a bottomless income. Never had a car handed to me ive worked my butt off for everything i have ever owned, and my kids will learn that same lesson.

I worked to pay for my first car. It was all mine, paid for by me. Only a few hundred bucks. I sank about $1k into it and in 3mo the engine seized on the freeway in the dead of winter. Had to walk 7 miles to a train station to get home, when I got home the police were waiting for me demanding I tow it off the freeway within the hour or THEY would, and charge me towing and storage until I got it towed from the police impound. Wound up calling a junkyard and giving them the car fro the cost of the tow.

Learning experience? Sure - if I have a daughter I'm not having her driving through the dead of winter in a car that cost a few hundred bucks.

I will buy my son his first car. Under these conditions:

It will be whatever he wants. He likes Subarus. We haven't decided yet.

He will get it as a gift when he turns 14.

He will need the next two years to restore it. It will be a basket case that will require him to do rebuild everything. Engine, trans, tcase, bodywork, brakes, suspension etc. I will supply parts, use of a spare a workshop bay and lift for those two years and I will always help him when he asks for help, lending my knowledge and expertise to teach him so he can do the work himself. I am not going to fix anything on that car. His car, not mine.

By the time he gets his driver's license he will have a nice-as-new restored car that he has put blood sweat and tears into, so he will know the value of that car when he decides how to treat it. He will also know how every single component works inside and out, so he will always be able to fix his cars.

[Scruit]

First car was a blue version of this... I left it dead by the side of the freeway after owning it for 3 mo. By the time I got home I had to sign the title over to the tow company to avoid police prosecution. The UK police don't tolerate broken down cars - you get about an hour to move it or else.

Second car was identical to this... Left it behind in the UK when I emigrated to the US. Gave my parents instructions to sell it (worth $1k) and send me the money. Instread, they drove it until the tags expired, then parked it on a public road with expired tags ("tax disc"). It was quickly ticketed, towed and ultimately crushed when my parents didn't pay the back tax to get it out of impound.

Then after getting to the US I bought a Taurus identical to this. It was the biggest pile of pig excrement that a company has ever put a car badge on. I burned through three speedos, power window track, dash switched would melt randomly, blew an engine (18 mo old, but out of warranty due to miles) and eventually started eating serpentine belts every 100 miles.

Traded the Taurus in on this:

Loved every moment of driving it. Ultra reliable. Drove for 7 years only had to replace a caliper and a bearing.

Traded it in on this:

5 years ago. Still rocking it today. The only car I ever owned where I might actually go to jail for assault if someone damaged it.

[shadyone]

Does the lower percentage rate make up for higher insurance of an older car?

[TRMN8TR]

I have nothing to add other than my neighbor has a Smart Car. Every time I see it driving down the road or parked in the driveway, all I want to do is tip it over. I think I could do it myself.

[SWing'R]

Thinking about buying my daughter a Smart for her B-day anyone have one or know anyone that does?

I believe they are not worth the money because I thought you could get

an average car nowadays that gets almost as good mpg or better.

Besides, have you seen them?

[fox_racing_guy]

I would check insurance rates of all the models you are considering as well. I own Civics as commuters ( drive 57 miles 1 way to work) and my 2012 model will pull 41MPG in the summer. My previous 02 model would get up to 46MPG. The 02 model was dead nuts reliable, it had 286,000 miles on it when I sold it to my B.I.L. for his own 16Y.O son as his first car. Both cars are 5 speed manuals and the 02 model still has the original clutch.

Civic's are kinda expensive to insure, my 2012 model is just under $600 a year for 100/300/100 full coverage. The are pretty popular for stealing and 16 Y.O. kids as first cars who crash them regularly, neither of those doesn't help with rates..

[ohiomike]

LOL, I read the title of this thread and thought...no car is smart... but once again I learned something. There really are 'smart' cars. I checked and their gas mileage isn't all that for sure. You can get as good by buying a little more substantial vehicle which will probably last far longer. Our Camry's get 34-35 or so and my son's Civic gets around 40. He found his car with super low mileage and got it for like $5k or so.

If it were me I would be steering my child toward something a little more substantive for when (inevitable) she gets involved in some sort of crash. But that's me.

[conn-e-rot]

Like I said we are just starting to look and the Smart was at the top of her list and I knew nothing about them.

[TheBrown57]

Friends mom has a smart car and mounted a train horn in it

Seen a video with them crashing a smart car into a concrete barrier at 70mph and IIRC if the human body could survive that quickly of a stop you would survive.

[madcat6183]

Please tell me this was a bad joke per OP? You actually considered buying your CHILD a smart car? Do you hate her? Is she pregnent by someone you hate? Did she like threaten you or something?

I mean "safety ratings" along with Consumer reports etc. are all BS and biased depending who pays the most to the publisher/reports, I don't care what anyone says. They are. On top of that these things are Fugly, ghey, and dangerous as can be. I'd rather have my kid drive a Honda Del Sol than a smart car, longer hoods, longer rear end, so there is a SLIM chance they would survive in a wreck, a smart car, I hope that no one ever has to lose a family member in, but the chance is too great.

When I first went to Europe they were just coming out with the interchangable body panel, plastic clips, thats it. Over there they make sense due to parking and how people just leave cars in N with the parking brake slightly on so people can move them when backing in etc, where as with these you can just back in.

However, in the US, anything that hits a Smart car will kill whoever is in it, like literally. My truck tires would run over the car and I would think I hit a dog. My wifes stock SUV would drive over the car too, and that isn't even lifted yet or anything.

I hope after reading everyone elses thoughts you didn't get her one, and you will never mention a Smart car again, actually that goes to anyone. Oh and for the record I can fit 2 in my truck bed.

Yes I was a D*ck there because I care about your daughter and I care about your mental health.

[SCQTT]

I'm looking at getting a Yaris. There is one at one of the Columbus dealers, a 2009 with 10K miles for $11K. I think you can put another 190K miles on it for the cost of tires & oil changes.

If she wants little & cute I think the Scion IQ is another option, but I hate the transmission in the thing. There are already a few of those used on the local market and they just came out last year.

Honda or Toyota are the way to go for longevity & cost of ownership.

[magley64]

I'm playing JRMiii's game

My first car was actually a truck... if you could call it a truck.

I bought a 1988 GMC s15 with a busted frame for $250

Bought a frame from the local scrap yard for $80 and spent the weekend building a truck. (swapping engine/transmission and cab over to the new frame)

it had manual everything (transmission, steering, brakes, windows, locks)

The 2.5 liter was torquey enough to get the little truck away from a light quickly, but when I tried to get her up over 85 on the freeway, she started gurgling, then smoothed out when it blew a head gasket.

$330 for my first car, and a weekend of wrenching. I also built a wood bed for it because the bed that came with the truck was rusted to crap, and was too short for the frame I bought anyway.

[Dying Shadow]

Tacoma FTW!

[motozachl]

wow this girl is a spoiled turd. get her a mid 90's civic

/thread

[conn-e-rot]

I'm looking at getting a Yaris. There is one at one of the Columbus dealers, a 2009 with 10K miles for $11K. I think you can put another 190K miles on it for the cost of tires & oil changes.

If she wants little & cute I think the Scion IQ is another option, but I hate the transmission in the thing. There are already a few of those used on the local market and they just came out last year.

Honda or Toyota are the way to go for longevity & cost of ownership.

I have been considering another Yaris the one we have is great... just when she was asked the Smart was the first she mentioned like I said I know nothing about them and she's a 16yr old girl she thinks its cute

[conn-e-rot]

wow this girl is a spoiled turd. get her a mid 90's civic

/thread

Yes she is spoiled by my choice.... haters gonna hate and I really don't give a fuck

[conn-e-rot]

Anyone know how reliable the KIA line is? I've never known anyone that had one

[magley64]

Anyone know how reliable the KIA line is? I've never known anyone that had one

Kia/Hyundai was among the worst for reliability less than a decade ago...

There have been claims that they are much better now, but I'm skeptical.

They've also recently been the target of lawsuits for claiming much higher fuel economy than they actually produce.

[Scruit]

Kia and Hyundai have come a long way in reliability. Still, for a dependable inexpensive first car with good mileage you can't go wrong with a Civic / Corolla / Altima* / Impreza.

The Smart is more suited to the smaller European roads. Too many DBs driving in the US who think that having a pickup with the wheelbase of a school bus and the exhaust pipe of a Peterbilt makes them somehow better than those of us who recognize that we only need to drive used 4-cylinder sedans.

Although the Smart is safe (pound for pound) than pretty much any other car, it still has to obey Newton's laws. If a Diesel Dually Douche crashed into you then the passenger compartment is gonna hold up better than most cars, but the acceleration forces caused by the size disparity between a Smart and the compensatory truck is going to be very dangerous. The only way to be relatively safe is drive a vehicle with more mass, so eventually if we keep going in the direction of "bigger is better" (A uniquely American concept that covers houses, cars and waistlines etc) then we'll all be driving around in Mack trucks.

Yes I was a D*ck there because I care about everyone who drives normal cars in and around DBs who can't disassociate the size of their vehicle from their life worth.

*Tbut will disagree with this and tell you how unreliable his has been. I'd prespond that my MIL has driven a couple of Altimas for years, and my Maxima was ultra reliable for 7 years despite being a 140k car that was 11 years old when I sold it.

[conn-e-rot]

civics are out the ones in the price range are too old or too many miles

[conn-e-rot]

Aren't repair costs on subarus pretty steep?

[magley64]

Japan's big 3 are hard to beat, (honda/acura, toyota/lexus, and nissan/infinity) but if she's like me, she'll want something a little "different" than what everyone else is driving. Cars are safer than ever, and those mishaps are what insurance is for.

I say go for it.