43 replies to this topic

[DOOGLE]

id buy 1 and lash a 230bhp vw motor in it,.

[Ethel]

I'd defy anyone to go faster than that in India anyway.

Doesn't the Smart car brag about being glued together - as are formula 1 cars?

True at that price it will still be out of reach for many Indians but for how much longer?

Same length as a mini but a foot wider, room for 8 or 9 passengers then

[Garagiste]

Rather unlikely to ever make it to Europe, given the safety standards it would have to pass.
Like the idea of a bum-basic, hardly anything to go wrong, snail of a motor being launced this century though!

[Jammy]

I have to agree, I'd very much like to see the results of a Euro NCap test performed on this car!

The Smart in comparison performs rather quite well in accidents!

[THE STIG]

And why is it so cheap???

its not £1200 in india is still a lot of money

[Dan]

As said I doubt it could be sold here as is even if Tata planned to which they don't, it's nothing to do with the N-cap it simply wouldn't make type approval. I don't think N-cap is a requirement anyhow, it's just a voluntary test.

The passenger cell of a Smart is welded and made from a really tough alloy, not sheet steel plastic and glue. Speaking of the Smart, when it was first announced it was supposed to be really cheap. Swatch announced that it would be easy to get hold of and cost around £3,500.00 new. This was a time before the blanket lowering of car prices in Britain when you couldn't get any other car for less than £8000.00 I don;t think. When it was finally launched here it cost more than twice that simply because nothing is ever allowed to be cheap in this country. The Tata would never cost a bag of sand here.

I don't know why it's causing such concern with environmentalists, it's designed to replace all the 2 stroke mopeds with a four stroke engined car. 4 strokes are inherently cleaner and even though it displaces more than a moped engine it will still be cleaner.

Oh yeah, and:

Design Ideas stolen from anywhere??

Stolen from somewhere else first? This is Spiritual, one of Rover's ideas for a Mini replacement in the '90s.

Edited by Dan, 11 January 2008 - 12:41 PM.

[*Raz*]

It looks like a squished up K.A in that red pic!

My favorite cars

Edited by *Raz*, 11 January 2008 - 03:59 PM.

[Mini_Magic]

[Silicon Skum]

You know, I think I *WOULD* have one of those cars, it would be ideal for some of the short haul runs I do, where my speed never tops above 30mph.

Thing is though, it's designed to run on indian low grade fuel (which is part kerosene), and it would prolly blow up with the higher end fuel in the UK. Still, it does mean you could "water down" your fuel with low grade naptha / kerosene / etc. Talk about cheap fuel!


Think I would be tempted to swap the engine over to an electric motor, and position the batteries around the frame of the car (a few up front, a few at the sides / under seat areas, and a few more in the rear. With the car being mainly plastic and having no exccess wheight or power steering, the car could prolly go quite far on a limited battery supply - sepecially if still keeping to the 40 odd Mph speed of the original (could use a MUCH smaller / cheaper motor!).
I'd be tempted with that idea!


Also considering it's limited top speed of 43mph, I don't suppose the crash protection is TOO important (unless you get hit by some drunk twunt in a 4x4 doing a ton... then again MOST cars would have problems with that anyway), and that top speed would restrict the types of roads that could be used (even most dual carrageways are 50mph) to mostly inner city driving where the chances of a high speed impact are VERY limited. I can't actually see any safety issues with that - it's no more dangerous than any other car, or even riding a bike on public roads for that matter!

At that price, and those speeds....I think that car could have a real chance at some market share in this country. Problem is a lot of people would be put off by the possible questionable safety reports / NCAP test data (if any gets done).

SS

[Aria Aradhea]

Thing is though, it's designed to run on indian low grade fuel (which is part kerosene), and it would prolly blow up with the higher end fuel in the UK. Still, it does mean you could "water down" your fuel with low grade naptha / kerosene / etc. Talk about cheap fuel!

Would be perfect for here, then..

[Sam Walters]

if they wernt to poke up the price, for 2 grand over here the potential market is frightning, HOWEVER its so dammed ugly, thats the kinda things that i get in night mares.

that and being chased by giant baked bean cans.

[Ethel]

Just heard TATA claim there will be a European version in 4yrs time.

[kwacktastic]

I'd buy two and strap one to each foot!



Kwack

[coop]

The real modern day Mini?

no because the mini actually looks good

for me it is all about the looks....and that looks horrible. i am one shallow girl LOL. so i would definately not get one.