GM new 2 wheeled car.

Car? Impossible to crash? Hmm, I think they are playing fast and loose with the english language...

Something tells me a bike-wrecker like you could have that thing turned over before you got to the paved road. :D

Looks like an interesting concept, and uses some cool technology. Still, I don't see it as very practical until all vehicles are in that size and weight range, which ain't likely to happen in my lifetime.

On the plus side, there's now a "car" that the Smart Car can totally own in a wreck. :p
 
Hi,

I love small, agile, comfortable, easy to handle, and go like a bat automobiles(My history with "sport cars" includes a couple Triumph TR-2s and TR-3, 3 VW bugs ((one that would wave at you*)) Porche Americana, and Austin Healey 3000). During WWII I did things with a Jeep that would probably give most of you white hair. It didn't offer much more protection than my Hog. But hey, I was 18 and had not yet developed the brains that I have been losing again as I get older.

I have had heavier cars like Jags, Chryslers (Big waggon for hauling kids). I tried a Lincoln Continental. However, it handled like a dart running on Jello. It wanted to go straight and it floated along like there wasn't a road.

All that is leading up to is that I now drive a 5 year old Hyundai Sonata. It is big enough and has enough air bags that I am comfortable in it. I am no longer comfortable in the small cars; physics say that in an accident the small car is the one that is most apt to lose.

I have talked with two Smart Car owners. I think they are crazy driving a little, light car that cost more than Glenn's Civic, gets worse gas mileage than Glenn's, can't haul as much and is no way near as comfortable.

The Segway is even more at risk and it certainly is a lot breezier than most autos.

* The VW bug that would wave at you had a magnificant 25 HP. If you were driving 50 MPH and floored it absolutely nothing changed. However, in a few minutes you would be doing 65 and be floating like the Lincoln Continental, only nearly air-borne to boot.

You could flip a lever and a small, lighted arm would stick out of the car and point the direction you intended to turn (one arm on each side of the car for left and right). You could do flip, flip, flip with the lever and the little arm would wave at your friends.

There was no gas gauge. You had to get out and open the hood, open the gas tank and stick a stick in the tank to see how deep the gas was. They also sold little plastic dingies that you could turn wheels on to make numbers show. You buy 5 gallons of gas. You know you average 40.2 miles to the gallon so you do 5 * 40.2 and set the dials for that mileage. When the odometer got near that number you purchased gas.

One time Reader's Digest had a little squib about the guy that has a small foreign car and bragged about his gas mileage. His neighbors got a bit tired of the so they would go over at night and pour in a gallon (or some other amount) of gasoline. Finally the guy's gas mileage became so high that he was afraid to brag about it.

Anyway, one week-end Myrna and I went up to Santa Barbara (I'm guessing 135 miles one way). The morning after we returned I went to the filling station to get gas. They had to work hard to get-one gallon into the tank. We figured that several neighbors came over and put some gas in the tank without knowing that other neighbors had done the same thing. Anyway we got close to three-hundred miles to the gallon on that trip.

Bradley---it is long past time to shut-up.

Goodnight and Enjoy,

Jim
 
Great story, Jim. :p So were you the guy with the small foreign car in the Reader's Digest piece, or were your neighbors just borrowing the idea? :rolleyes:
 
I watched another video on youtube, linked on the side; a review from cars.com. In that one they actually put TWO adult males in this car. Their shoulders were touching, and both seemed squished and not entirely fitting inside. Look back at the first video and I see that in that one the guys left shoulder is also just protruding from the side.

So it seems a bit on the small side, to me, for two people. And as has been mentioned, I think it needs to be fully enclosed and weather proof to really be a useful vehicle in Canada or the US.

On the other hand, as I was watching this I was thinking "wheel chair". I wondered with some tweaking if this technology would work well in a wheel chair. It would give them a bit more speed and maneuverability that might be welcome? I dunno?
 
Not for me. Seems more suited to running around a large warehouse than on the road. My neighbor has a SMART car. Again, not for me. Most glaring (bad) feature is that the front end protection in event of a head on crash are your legs. :eek:
 
Not for me. Seems more suited to running around a large warehouse than on the road. My neighbor has a SMART car. Again, not for me. Most glaring (bad) feature is that the front end protection in event of a head on crash are your legs. :eek:

When I had my Hummer I would go to the local store on Sunday for my paper and a cup of black coffee and a home made cinnamon donut. The guy with his Smart car would usually park next to me and while he was drinking his mocha fiber enhanced skim milk latte and eating his egg white and bean sprout sandwich on a multigrain cracker, would continually give me nasty looks and shake his head. :D
 
Top