An explanation of American distaste for some cars

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sniffs
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Sniffs
THAT is what is left of a Smart Fourtwo.
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I'm pretty sure it isn't. That's not a standard, or standard-sized, ForTwo wheel and it's a five-stud hub (ForTwo is a 3-stud) and there simply isn't sufficient metal on a ForTwo to account for the twisted metal we can see there (much of the bodywork is plastic - only the black/silver frame is steel).

I'd put money on that being a crossover/small SUV like a Ford Escape.
 
Jesus Christ!

That was a guess, based on Ford pattern alloys and the amount of metal I could see...
 
...which just goes to show, any car will come off badly when it ends up between two trucks. They may not be "big" but they're still going to be bloody heavy...
 
Especially dump trucks like those. Some of the highest weight-per-foot in their classes, even empty. Very Heavy-duty.

Of course, even they'd be hard-pressed to stop a Train.

Anyway, calling that a "Smart" is just another case of some conservative trying to take a shot at environmentalists.
 
Jim Prower
Anyway, calling that a "Smart" is just another case of some conservative trying to take a shot at environmentalists.
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OMG too many assumptions - head... exploding.

Didn't realize driving a "Smart" made you an environmentalist.
 
It also shows that Americans can be pretty blind when they think that bigger automatically means safer.
 
Danoff
OMG too many assumptions - head... exploding.

Didn't realize driving a "Smart" made you an environmentalist.
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Usually it makes you an estate agent/realtor.
 
Danoff
OMG too many assumptions - head... exploding.
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I must admit, I thought the same as Jim at first. I know Sniffs isn't like that and was probably just innocently posting a photo of what he thought was a Smart, but that sort of picture and accompanying caption is very typical of the general attitude towards small cars over there - the "OMG it's crumple in a crash LOL" sort of view.

Didn't realize driving a "Smart" made you an environmentalist.
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It doesn't per se, but again it's used as a symbol of "wet, liberal, leftie pansies" so gets lumped in with the Prius et al.

And yeah, what Famine said.
 
Danoff
OMG too many assumptions - head... exploding.

Didn't realize driving a "Smart" made you an environmentalist.
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It doesn't. but tell that to someone who's staunchly Conservative.
 
don't yell at me, I just got that in an Email literally this morning. and, btw, the Escape is STILL a "small car" to some people. I didn't know a Smart was mostly plastic. have they blown over in a strong breeze?

HOW did you guys see any wheels? all I saw was a crumpled pile.

EDIT: i see the wheel, now. i actually woulda said it was a Cobalt or something
 
Sniffs
the Escape is STILL a "small car" to some people.
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Yep, the people who'll never accept anything smaller than a Mercury Grand Marquis as a car.

Sniffs
I didn't know a Smart was mostly plastic.
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It's not. The bodywork is plastic, but the substructure is steel - the "tridion safety cell".

Sniffs
HOW did you guys see any wheels? all I saw was a crumpled pile.
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Spider sense :D
 
Sniffs
don't yell at me, I just got that in an Email literally this morning. and, btw, the Escape is STILL a "small car" to some people. I didn't know a Smart was mostly plastic. have they blown over in a strong breeze?
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The Escape is a crossover based on the CD2 platform, which is based on the 626... which is/was a midsized car. So, by rights, it's a midsized car.... though category drift has occured since the Escape was launched a decade ago. Some of these new midsizers are immense. We parked a CX9 beside an Expedition, and the CX9 looked to be almost the same size. :lol:

Sniffs
HOW did you guys see any wheels? all I saw was a crumpled pile.

EDIT: i see the wheel, now. i actually woulda said it was a Cobalt or something
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Actually thought they were Nissan wheels... after Famine posted it, you could tell... that's a distinctively shaped Escape rear hatch back there.
 
I guess we are all losing sight of the fact that there is no way any passenger or the driver would of survived this. And I don't think any passenger vehicle is going to fair much better--I mean look at what it did to the Escape. And imagine what it would of done to a car with crappy crash test ratings too! (or the Chinese cars)
 
Famine:Grand Marks are bloody rare, now. there was a rumor for the longest time that Mercury was for the chop, here. it and the crown vic are the only survivors of what used to be the trademark American car style.

Niky: I'm not positive, but I believe the 626 is considered a "compact" over here. the Escape is an overdue replacement for the Ranger-based Bronco II, which was cramped as crap by American standards (especially trying to get in the back seat, believe me :P). it probably would have sold like hotcakes outside of the US if it was marketed as a LR style 4x4, I think. (and limited to the 2.2 4 banger)

JCE: even my mother commented on that (she gets a duplicate of the mails I do). what worries me more is why weren't the TRUCK drivers paying more attention to what they were doing. the fact that this would happen to some vehicles with a bumper tap is why the Chinese can't get a foot in the door, here (I'm suprised that India is even attempting it). this is also another reason that americans don't trust small cars.
 

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