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Nov 29, 2008 - Ask Dub Schwartz!

Time again to serve up the turkey of the year!  There were many candidates for Grandma Schwatrz to choose from for her dinner platter, but she decided to go no-frills and serve a turkey with almost no trimmings this year.

As much as some people are passionate about the smart, even some of them see the drawbacks:

As much as I love the Smart and probably will get one, the idea of a 3 person version of a similar car is the only real factor that's holding things up.  
 
- If Smart had a flatter rear floor (perfectly flat) and a bit of work, it might be possible for them to fit a third person in the rear sideways behind the passenger (6 inch thinner dash and everything moved up 6-8 inches for the passenger might be enough space) 

So other than a total redesign, you're ready to buy one? And I'm sure that third person in the car will be very comfortable shoe-horned in sideways with nothing but a bit of glass and sheet metal between him and the front end of pretty much any vehicle that might rear end you.

Another factor in Grandma's choice was the "blanket defense" of the smart, no matter what the question raised about it happens to be. Take, for example, the smart owner who changed his oil at 1200 miles and was concerned about the "metal bits and particles floating around in the oil" and had decided he was going to be safe and change his oil every 1000 miles. The response of the smart fanatic was as predictable as it was amusing:

Those "fine metal particles" may be the very thing that helps seat the seals and valves best, for all you know...

Mmm... OK. Of course, this "advice" came from a fan of the car and not an owner. It's so easy to get caught up in the hype when it's not your money on the line.

Throw in the need for premium fuel, increased insurance due to safety concerns, mileage that's not really any better than you can get from cars that are far more versatile and useful to far more consumers, and the insistence that the smart is the wave of the future - remember the Segway? It was going to make the automobile obsolete! - and I'm sure that Grandma made the right choice, but then again, Grandma always serves up the best turkey!

From us and ours to you and yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

6:54 am | Categories: ask dub schwartz, humor Permalink | Alert Administrator

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