Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
Why should we accept the SMART?...
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(chuckle chuckle) There you go again, Ralph...
The fact that people on this forum buy Kindles and Sony Readers is enough of an example of people who don't mind buying 1-purpose devices. The Smart is just such a car.
Obviously, the Smart is not a car for everybody in America. And no, no one's telling anyone to buy a car for every purpose. But as a majority of American households have a car that is used primarily for commuting... and as many (most?) of those households tend to have 2 or more cars... it is logical that one of those cars could be a Smart-type car, optimized for commuting, and the other could be a vehicle more suited towards other tasks (like hauling gear, or soccer teams). (When my car dies, hopefully years away, I will be in a position to make this same choice.)
In addition, many households buy vehicles for an intended purpose, which is in reality a very small percentage of how the vehicle is used. In many cases, a household could simply rent a vehicle for the occasional times they need the irregular use, and save themselves thousands of dollars over the projected lifetime of a vehicle. For example, buying a pickup truck to haul lumber makes little sense if you only haul lumber 3-4 times a year... you'd be better off renting a U-Haul for those times, and driving a more efficiant vehicle the rest of the year. (Most people in the U.S. simply do not accept this idea, because they would rather pay extra for the convenience of having the vehicle to themselves.)
Households who realize these facts see that a Smart-type car is often just the thing for them to own. It saves them money... and it helps the environment. What's wrong with that?