Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
(chuckle chuckle) There you go again, Ralph...  |
(Quoting Sheriff Bart in Balzing Saddles). I like to keep my audiences
riveted.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
(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.)
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Most households have
two cars used primarily for commuting, not one. In addition, Murphy's law will bite at the worst possible moment. (I need car 'X', but it's at home. So I have to go home, get car 'X', come back to do the job car 'X' is needed for, then go back home. Or spouse/SO has the car I need, same juggle. Or both I and my spouse and SO need the same car at the same time...) What price is my time worth?
There is always a market for single purpose tools. But there is a bigger, more vibrant market for multifunction tools. (Ebooks are a
very niche market. But I love 'em!)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
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.)
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How many times have you rented a U-Haul? My average checkout time is 45-1 hour. That's not use time, that's the time it takes to get the U-Haul. And where do I leave my other car? At the U-haul shop? I have to get there first. If I pull a trailer, there's the hitch setup time. (and backing up with a trailer, extra driving headaches, ect.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
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?
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It also may maim/kill them. I don't see those costs in the calculation. If I seem thin-skinned about this, I have a 2nd cousin about my age. He has been a quadraplegic for 18 years from a Suzuki Samari rollover. (He didn't know that they were so dangerous when he bought it. It looks economical and fun...)
The Smart car is like a canoe. A wonderful design for a Canadian stream, but not particularly practical for Lake Superior. If you limit it to small, slow streets, a la small German or other old European town streets, it's great. You put it on a 120 KPH freeway, it's a deathtrap. And in Texas, at least, freeway driving is
necessary, not a luxury.