Imagine you had a sudden influx of $12,000 and simultaneously your existing commuter car had a massive failure in the engine that was unrepairable. In essence, you must buy a replacement vehicle.
Now, at 33 mpg city and 41 highway, you could own a brand new SMART car, a two-passenger car pictured on the left.
Conversely, you could also purchase this 2007 Honda Civic LX that holds 5 passengers (fairly) comfortably and gets 30 mpg city and 38 highway. You'd save $100 dollars.
So which is a better deal? The SMART car gets bettere mileage, but enough better to justify the extra $100? A little math, and assuming the current national average price of gas, $1.96, will remain constant, then you'd spend $107.95 powering the Civic the same distance you would powering the SMART car with $100. In essence, you'd have to travel 24,390 miles before you'd have offset the extra $100 you spent on the SMART car.
Further, car insurance on a new vehicle is invariably higher than it is on a used model. Property tax is higher for a new car as well. So you lose your offset in increased peripheral expenses. So you might be driving a more fuel efficient car, but you are actually paying more per mile for it.
And my God, but this car is ridiculous looking. It looks like some sort of ejection pod for two from a larger vehicle, like if the A-Team van had an ejection capsule in it, this is what it would be. Right now the wait list is 27 months long for this wind-up toy, but I have seen a few around here. When I do, I have to laugh. They are all being driven by retired Boomers. Another chink in the Toyota Prius' armor, perhaps. Needless to say I'm not on that wait list. I want a car that actually has room for my wife and my daughter at the same time. And 1-3 mpg improvement doesn't really help me.
And since this car isn't a hybrid, it's really not an environmental boon, because the gas engine runs the whole time.
But deep down, my real problem with it is that it offends my manly American machismo, which lusts for this:
_
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