shocauto.com Blog

This article was originally published in the Utopian Status of America in 2001, but it still applies today, despite the dated prices I originally mentioned.

As the national average price of gas has shot up in the last two years fluctuating      between $1.50 and $2.00 per gallon, with the threat of hitting $3.00, people have complained loudly and often. But is this complaint warranted? While the sudden increase in cost is suspicious, especially with the oil companies reported record earnings, we still pay very little for gas.

Now, there are few people that enjoy long road trips in big gas guzzling cars more than I do, and I certainly don’t want to pay $2.00 a gallon, I’d rather have free gas, but let’s face it, while the costs are going up, they are still a reasonable value. Whether the recent price hikes are fair or warranted is another issue, but perhaps this trend will help force more car pooling, mass transit use, and more efficient vehicles (city cars, motorcycles, efficient commuter cars, etc.)  

When I was a kid, I had a GI Joe vehicle that was basically a backpack with tiny wings and a jet engine in it. At the time it seemed extremely cool, but unrealistic. How could wings so small and a tiny engine possibly allow a man to fly? Despite this, it seems that it is not only possible, but it’s now been done.

Yves Rossy in Switzerland, has built just such a vehicle, although withouth the guns that the GI Joe version had. He has lots of photos and videos on his website that are pretty amazing. Check it out:

www.jet-man.com

Seven years ago, I embarked on a project to help share my ideas and ideals, as well as some of the more interesting ideas that I’ve come up with over the years. While some of the articles are a little dated, most hold up well. I wrote a total of eight issues over about two years, and I’d like to share some of the articles I’ve written in my blog.

I’ve always enjoyed sharing my ideas with others, but I’ve done it to encourage discussion, rather than tell others how to think. Whether you agree with me or not, I hope this will encourage you to think about these issues, and feel free to offer your thoughts.

This first installment was the original welcome message, explaining what the USA was all about, and my motives in writing it.

Originally published Volume 1, Issue 1 Summer 2001:

Welcome!

Welcome to the Utopian Status of America. Lots of people like to complain about things in this country, but very few people actually are willing to find real solutions, and fewer still are willing to act on them. I hope that this newsletter will contain articles that will try to bring to light some of the real problems found in our country, and more importantly, the actual causes, and possible solutions to them.

But in writing this I want you to be entertained, and I want this to be an enjoyable reading experience. Not everything in this publication will be serious, but nothing will be a joke. The United States of America is one of greatest places in the world you could live; we are wealthy, peaceful, and most important, free. Our society is almost a utopia, but the status of our near utopia is always in jeopardy, hence the name of this newsletter. One unfortunate side effect of our freedom is that some people abuse it, leading others to try and restrict it, to stop the abuse. This abuse and restriction is not the answer.

This newsletter will help to define the status of our society, it will help define the real source of our problems, and offer logical solutions. Please help share our ideas with others and your ideas with us. These are great times to live in and a great place to live, lets make sure we live up to our potential.

I don’t know why I didn’t do this before, but I finally started a log of all of the great, and not so great, business and product ideas I’ve had over the years. I’m currently recreating it from memory and notes I’ve saved. This does not include any presonal projects but includes anything that could, should, or would bring in income.

So far, operating off of memory and a few saved spreadsheets and such, I’ve come up with about 70 things that I’ve thought about or really planned. My next step is to start adding info about what I did with each idea. Some were merely thoughts, some had rough sketches, and some I actually tried, with varying success. So far, I haven’t found “the” business idea that’s really taken hold, but it will happen. Perhaps I’ll start posting some of the ideas I’m sure I will not be using, along with my sketches and original notes.

In any case, I’m excited to revisit some of the ideas I’ve had and start to get an idea of just how many there have been over the years.

I have owned my smart fortwo for about four weeks not and have had enough time to review it. This review is my thoughts about the fortwo after several weekds of commuting and one long road trip.I will talk about what I like and dislike about the car and address some of the complaints I’ve seen about the car, and the many, many questions that I have been asked by people interested in the car. To summarize, so far I love my fortwo. It’s not for everybody, and I think that this review should help indicate the flaws and limitations that the car has, but also show why this car is the right car for some people.

I just completed a 1600 mile road trip from Minneapolis to Detroit and back, and I now have over 2600 miles on it. Between city driving in Minneapolis and Detroit, commuting, and road-tripping, I’ve put the car through its paces.

My car:
2008 smart fortwo pure

Options:
Air conditioning
Heated Seats
Alarm

I’ve also added an aftermarket stereo, some rear speakers, and a ScanGauge computer that plugs into the OBD II port and reads and records a variety of data, most notable fuel usage.

Notable items included on all fortwos:
Rear window wiper and defroster
Tire pressure monitor
Four airbags (two front and two side)
Stability control

Notable options that are not available on the pure:
Power windows
Paddle shifters

Notable options not offered on the fortwo in any trim level:
Cruise control
GPS Navigation
Bluetooth hands free
Tilt / telescoping steering wheel

Engine
The engine is a three cylinder, one liter, Mitsubishi engine. It is a little loud in the car and has a distinctly non-performance sound to it. It sounds more like a truck or diesel than a small engine requiring premium fuel. This is partly because the car often lugs at low RPMs as it short shifts for fuel economy. I actually like the sound, because this is a utility car for me. For people that want to have a more performance oriented smart, this may not be an especially pleasing sound. At higher RPMs, the sound is not too bad, and does sound a little sportier.

The engine seems to run fairly smoothly, and vibration is not an issue compared to many four cylinder engines.

Power
Despite most people’s worries, the power is good. Many people look at the 0-60 time and think that it is very slow, however, it, like most cars, will accelerate much faster that most people actually accelerate. The car is also electronically limited to ~90MPH, which is more than fast enough for almost any legal driving that can be done in the US.

The car does require premium fuel, but looking at the power to displacement will demonstrate why. The little one liter is actually a fairly high performance engine developing 71 hp per liter or 1.16 hp per cubic inch of displacement. For comparison, a 2008 Corvette has a 6.2L engine and makes 430hp. This results in 69 hp per liter, or 1.13 hp per cubic inch, less power per displacement than the humble fortwo.

Economy
In the 2600 miles I’ve put on my smart I’ve averaged 42 MPG. This has been 90% highway driving, but has also included city driving, as well as stop and go traffic, and some heavy footed acceleration. Seeing as though the EPA highway rating is only 41 MPG, and the city rating is 33 MPG, I feel good to be getting significantly better than the EPA’s rating. The fortwo requires premium fuel, which is about $0.20 more per gallon here in Minnesota. My first fill up cost only $29 however, much less than the last time I filled up my Jeep at a cost of $75, which has a similar range as the fortwo. The diesel Ford F250 I used to drive would currently cost $190 to fill, although it had twice the range of either my Jeep or the fortwo.

I have been tracking my economy with a ScanGuage 2 that is very popular among the high mileage crowd. It’s a very cool tool, especially for engineers like me, which I will review separately.

If you are reading this, you probably already know how much a fortwo costs, but it’s a common question. My smart was about $13,300 plus sales tax. Most fortwos sold are in the $15k range, as most people opt for the Passion with many options. I have a loaded luxury SUV, so this is a fun commuter for me. As a result I opted for only the options I “needed”, and have one of the cheaper fortwos around.

Warranty
The warranty for the smart fortwo is 2 years, 24,000 miles. This is, honestly, horrible. I cannot think of a car that has a shorter warranty that is sold in the US. The dealer is happy to sell you an extended warranty, but this is a third party warranty. The warranty seems to be a smart USA warranty (Penske) rather than a standard factory warranty, although, this makes little difference. The warranty seems to be longer in other countries, however. I decided not to go for the extended warranty although I will certainly run out of miles before I hit the two year mark.

I’m quite unsatisfied with the warranty, but not enough to decide not to buy the car. Hopefully Mercedes ownership will mean a good build quality and that the fortwo will not have significant problems.

Safety
The smart’s crash tests speak for themselves, the car is quite safe. One of the common comparisons that people make with the smart is to the fuel economy “of my old Honda/Geo/VW/etc.” While older Hondas often got 40-50MPG, they were often underpowered compared to the smart, and were never as safe as the smart, with its four airbags, stability control, and modern design.

Many people also ask about how safe it feels. While I’m no worrier, the car feels very safe. I do not feel like I am in a small car when driving it. The seating is very high and upright, like a minivan, and most of the part of the car that is “missing” is behind you, where you don’t notice it. The end result is that the fortwo does not feel small at all. I have driven behind, in front of, beside, and been passed by semis and other cars and never felt uncomfortable about the size or safety of the car.

Transmission
One of the complaints I’ve seen several times with the smart is how it shifts. I don’t have a problem with it’s shifting, but let me first explain how it shifts, to help explain why it seems to shift slowly, or jerkily:

The fortwo has a manual transmission, not an automatic transmission; however, there is no clutch pedal because the car automatically shifts the manual transmission. This means that there is still a clutch that must be engaged to pull the car out of one gear and into another. This results in a brief period during each shift where the engine is not driving the wheels, just like a manual transmission. Most Americans are used to automatic transmissions that do not have the same pause between shifts because of the fluid coupling between the engine and transmission. This fluid coupling is much less efficient than a direct mechanical one which is why modern automatic transmissions have a “lock up” mode to lock the engine and transmission together. Even so, automatic transmissions generally get poorer fuel economy due to their inherent inefficiencies. This is partly why the fortwo has an automatically shifter ( or semi0automatic) manual transmission rather than a standard automatic transmission.

That being said, when you drive a manual transmission car, you generally let up a little on the throttle when shifting, so that the shift is not as abrupt. If this same trick is used with the smart, the shifts will feel much smoother, and much nicer. The car still shifts somewhat slowly, with the time between gears greater than many of us are capable of shifting a normal manual transmission, but it’s not really an issue to me.

It’s certainly not ideal, but it’s more “different” than actually being a nuisance. The transmission still takes some getting used to, particularly in stop and go traffic, where you are on and off the throttle. It can feel a little jerky, like a manual transmission.

The car does seem to shift when I want it to, however. If you leave from a stop slowly, it will “short-shift”, keeping the RPM low for economy, but if you give it a little more throttle, it will shift later allowing for faster acceleration. To down shift, quickly tap the throttle harder and it will immediately down shift. This feature works very well. And if you just don’t trust the car to shift for you, you can enter manual mode and shift it yourself with the console shifter or the steering wheel mounted paddle shifters on the passion model.

Interior
It’s surprisingly roomy. There is significant headroom and legroom to fit almost any driver. The storage area is also surprisingly spacious. There is room for plenty of groceries or even luggage for at least a long weekend for a couple. The one dimension that is slightly lacking is the width. I’m a fairly wide guy and have had a few passengers that have been a little tighter than what we are normally used to.

There are little cubby hole storage areas on either side of the steering wheel, as well as the glove box for storage. At the angle I sit at, the speedometer is a little obstructed, a tilt wheel would be a nice feature here. You can see my view in the pictures below.

The seats are firm and little narrow, but comfortable. I spent twelve hours in my smart one one drive last week with no real discomfort. One complaint I have about the seats is that they are mounted a little too high up for my comfort. I need to duck my head when getting into and out of the smart, although the headroom, once I’m inside, is great.

The bigger issue with the seat height is that it is hard to see some traffic lights because of the angle. I often need to lean over to see up to a traffic light, which is not something I enjoy. I will try to modify the seat base later to lower my seat in the future to eliminate this issue, and give me even more headroom. This is not possible with the premium radio because of the subwoofer mounted under the seat, but there seems to be plenty of room under my seat to make this change.

The biggest features lacking on the Pure model, in my opinion, is power windows. I suspect this is one of those features that they include only on the Passion as a way to convince you to buy the more expensive model. Rolling windows up and down is slightly annoying, and since it is easy to reach the passenger door from the driver’s seat this is not a huge concern. What is most annoying about the window cranks is their location, exactly where my knee wants to rest against the door.

The other major annoyance in the interior is the sun visors. They are fine for blocking sun at the top of the windshield, but totally worthless for the side window. Apparently the first generation fortwo’s visors didn’t rotate to the side window, but the new model’s coverage is so poor, this is hardly an improvement.

I bought my fortwo without a factory radio, so I cannot speak to it’s quality, but after installing an inexpensive Sony stereo, the pre-installed speakers sound fairly good. Their location in the door is poor because, like the window crank, that’s exactly where my leg wants to be, so it’s covered up. The speakers themselves are extremely light, with a plastic frame and tiny magnet. I plan to replace these with component speaker that will allow me to mount tweeters higher up. I also want to mount to speakers in the back, possibly in the B pillar, where they will be at roughly head height.

Driving
This is probably where most people are curious about the car.

City driving – Like other small, “under-powered” cars I’ve driven, the lack of power is hardly noticeable in the city. It accelerates well away from a stop, and seems no different than most cars. While I have not had much chance to enjoy it yet, the size is quite useful for finding small parking spots that other cars cannot fit into. While in downtown Detroit I was able to share a large parallel spot with another car due to the fortwo’s tiny size. My understanding is that this is legal in the U.S. similar to parking two motorcycles in one parking spot as long as somebody pays the parking meter if needed.

Highway Driving – Despite most people’s assumptions, the fortwo is actually very capable on the highway. I drive at about 70MPH to and from work every day and it’s quite comfortable and capable doing it. The car will do about 90MPH, and I’ve had mine up to 80MPH. and it will do this all day long. On my recent road-trip, I spent 12 hours in the car, on the highway, and 65-80MPH and I can say that I had no issues doing it. The satellite radio and my dog, who rode in the “hatch” area, kept me company on the long drive home.

The smart fortwo is a small, inexpensive car, and as such, the road noise is noticeable. At highway speeds there is some wind noise, and a bit of tire noise. It’s not bad, but it’s certainly more than most higher end cars.

My biggest complaint about driving the fortwo on the highway is that there is no cruise control. I love cruise control, and I really miss it on this car. It’s not hard to maintain a speed with the fortwo, however, so it’s not a requirement here as it is on many cars where I might find my speed drifting up well over the speed limit. With the fortwo, the opposite is the problem, where your speed tends to drift down. This is annoying, but far safer than drifting up. I also believe that cruise control will help fuel economy on the highway by eliminating the slow down and then speed up cycle that happens without it, another reason I want it.

Stiffness – This is a German designed car, so it’s stiff. The suspension is stiff, the seats are stiff. Potholes are an issue. During my road trip, I managed to have a rock fly out of nowhere and hit my windshield. I didn’t see any damage at first, but, partly because of the stiffness of the suspension, the windshield quickly cracked, and continues to crack a little more every day as I wait for a replacement windshield.

The result of the stiff, sports car like suspension, is that the car seems to hold the road quite well, and I have not noticed any significant body roll.

Rain – I drove the fortwo around Chicago on the highway at 70 MPH with rain varying from light to very heavy. The car felt very stable and never gave me any reason to have concern about the control or stability of the car.

Wind - A short wheelbase, lightweight, and tall body mean this car is not wind friendly. During my road-trip I experienced a lot of crosswind, which would often push the car around. This was never an issue under 70 MPH, but could become almost scary at higher speed. The winds I experienced we as high as 30MPH, so this was not a breeze, but a full wind. I followed a Prius for a while and noticed it having a similar issue, so I don’t think that this is unique to the fortwo.

For a while, I was able to get that wind behind me, and a 30MPH tailwind resulted in 50MPG at 80MPH, which was pretty amazing. The car was very stable at 80MPH with the tailwind.

The smart fortwo is a smart move for the U.S. I am not about to sell my SUV, as many people are not about to sell their larger comfortable, or utilitarian vehicles, but at the same time, there is no need to drive those vehicles on short trips, or on a commute. Having a small, efficient, and safe car option has been missing in the U.S. Gas prices, currently around $4 a gallon, will convince many people to buy smaller, and the popularity of the smart will hopefully convince other manufacturers to at least offer these small cars here, especially since they already exist in Asia and Europe. I am enjoying my smart fortwo as a second commuter car, and am happy I plunked down my $99 way back in April 2007.