$2500 car

[Furby]

How many folks here would buy something like this if it was on the market in the US tomorrow for that price?
It's a 4 door subcompact car powered by a 30-horsepower two-cylinder engine.
Gets 54 mpg and does 60 mph.
No radio, no air, no passenger mirror, nothing that you don't really need.
Seats 5.

Thoughts

http://www.independentmail.com/blogs/motor-mouth/2008/jan/10/hello_to_tata/

[sawguy21]

It would not be 25 hundred dinero here after the EPA and the DOT got through with it. Interestingly enough, this is the same company Ford is courting to buy the Jaguar and Rover divisions.

[sawdust]

I thought that MDI out of France had designed that car to run with compressed air. Tata motors was going to manufacture and sell under license. I had no idea they were putting combustion engines in them.


david

[logwalker]

If that car, makes it to any market for that price it will be miraculous.

[Hi-Country Orange]

i have never seen a subcompact car that would seat 5 unless they were the size of tatto

[Roxie]

They say safety is an issue, so should we be thinking of a motorcycle with a shell around it? With the commute I make every day, I would definately take a look, and with 54 mpg, it would be a serious look. 

As long as it has windows, I can do with air conditioning and a radio.  Heat is not optional.

[scgargoyle]

I paid $2500 for my Ford pick up. No, it's not new, but I can haul stuff around in it, and if I hit a cat, I stand a good chance of surviving! 

[Qweaver]

When I was in college and only the GI bill and Sarah's meager income stood between us and starvation, we owned a Fiat 650 D.  As I recall it was about 24 HP and got over 45 MPG.  I wish I had pictures of the car with our old 14' boat with a 40 HP engine hooked up to the car ready to head for the lake.  I could pull the engine and replace the clutch in just a couple of hours... which I had to do several times because of slipping the clutch to get the boat up the ramp.  What a car.

[Roxie]

Here's a link with a picture.  (I was interested enough, I went looking) 

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/NussbaumOnDesign/archives/2008/01/indias_new_car.html

[sawguy21]

Room for your $ss, a gallon of gas, and no place to put your lunch. I see a few Smart cars running around but I still think these 4 wheel motorcycles have little more than a funky appeal to most of the U.S. and Canada. I could see it being useful in a place like Mexico City or Calcutta. As SC noted, I sure do not want to be in a collision in one, not even with a cat.

[Coon]

I have got a little Pontiac Firefly Turbo that gets 50+ mpg.  Great little economic car and a tin can at that.   I don't think I'd go much smaller than that here on the open prairies.  It is bad enough to hold on the road when I have a strong cross wind or when I met a semi unit. 

[Reddog]

It will never make it into the US in its current state.
By the time the Goverment, DOT and Insurance get done with it it will weight 4 times what it does currently and get about 30 mpg or less.

[Ianab]

Smart Car Vs Concrete wall a 70mph 

I think the consensus was that even though the passenger space remained intact, you still got killed because of the impact forces. But looking on the bright side your body was in one piece and the drivers door still opened AND closed, making it easier to remove your body from the wreck 

Cheers

Ian

[Furby]

Actually it was the passeger door on that car Ian.

[MikeH]

 I cant see Ianab's picture? 

[Ianab]

Actually it was the passeger door on that car Ian.

Yes when I look close it is - much be filmed in one of those strange reverse driving countries not the UK like I assumed

Mike, it may be your browser not showing the embedded YouTube object
You could try going to this page.


Cheers

Ian

[Furby]

Naw, it's UK the second car is backwards like your's.

[CLL]

I have $750 car that gets 46 mpg., Festiva.93 model

[Frickman]

This car is being marketed to urban folks in India that are currently making do with mopeds and scooters. It is designed for the short, intracity trips that they make, not for seventy mph on an intertate highway. It's interesting to watch this play out. I'm all for people improving their standard of living. The radical environmental lobby is against these cars, ostensibely over fears of air pollution. Their real motive is they don't believe in capitalism and people bettering their lot in life.