Mercedes C class .vs. SmartCar

[Fly320s]

Is that a Corvette engine in a Miata?! 

[Fly320s]

Well, it is obviously not a Smart car despite the blogger labelling it as such. A VW, can't pin down the model since there are so many variations, Toureg, Tiguan, Passat SUV, something. And it's foreign. And most of the websites that come to tineye are foreign or re-posts for "funny pictures."
Smart car or not, I'm thinking no one lived.

I'll bet no one was injured, much less killed. If anyone had been in that VW, it would have been peeled apart by a rescue team. That scene is a little too casual for a fatal accident to have occured.

[Regolith]

I think I'm gonna stick to motorbikes.

Not a bad idea. You get roughly the same safety and cargo capacity AND get better gas mileage. 

[brimic]

Is that a Corvette engine in a Miata?!

I've heard of people sticking turbo'd Hyabusa engines in Miatas, but I had no idea that a chevy small block could fit...

[Gewehr98]

Looking at a SmartForTwo here as a fun commuter. 

Ain't much different than my Harley when it comes to kinetic energy impacts, so that derisive argument carries no water with me.

Rule #1, don't collide.

Rule #2, see Rule #1 above.

Rule #3, physics always wins, whether you're on the Harley vs. semi-truck, or Smart Car vs. semi-truck.   

[lupinus]

I've heard of people sticking turbo'd Hyabusa engines in Miatas, but I had no idea that a chevy small block could fit...

Where there is a will, there is a way.

[drewtam]

There is a kit!

http://flyinmiata.com/V8/

[White Horseradish]

Not a bad idea. You get roughly the same safety and cargo capacity AND get better gas mileage. 

Better safety, in some respects, I think. I had a little incident a couple of months ago where I am fairly certain I could not have avoided a collision if I was in any sort of a car.

Also, I look way cooler on a bike than in a Smart. 

[Tallpine]

Ya know - back when I was kid there were these little cars called "Isettas"

They were DumbCars back then, too 

[Hutch]

You sir, leave the Miata alone.

It is the poor man's sportscar, and is quite capable in talented hands.
http://youtu.be/s19387t5QHY?t=2m17s


And also capable of awesome mods...

Whatthehell kinda engine is that?

[drewtam]

Whatthehell kinda engine is that?

Seriously?

GM's LS3...
6.162L
436hp
~430lbs

Awesome engine. Probably THE best engine out there, for mass produced sporting engines. In terms of weight, power, packaging, and cost.

[zahc]

I've heard that you don't even need to mod the suspension, because the all-aluminum corvette engine isn't really heavier than the stock engine.

In other news, there is a company shoving an all-aluminum, dual-turbocharged V8 putting out like 1200HP into a Lotus chassis, which out-accelerates the Bugatti Veyeron to 200MPH--with rear-wheel drive, no traction control, and a regular 6-speed. I thought a chevy V8 was an odd choice but apparently the modern aluminum ones are pretty amazing in terms of power-to-weight. Apparently, there really is no replacement for displacement.

[kgbsquirrel]

I've heard that you don't even need to mod the suspension, because the all-aluminum corvette engine isn't really heavier than the stock engine.

In other news, there is a company shoving an all-aluminum, dual-turbocharged V8 putting out like 1200HP into a Lotus chassis, which out-accelerates the Bugatti Veyeron to 200MPH--with rear-wheel drive, no traction control, and a regular 6-speed. I thought a chevy V8 was an odd choice but apparently the modern aluminum ones are pretty amazing in terms of power-to-weight. Apparently, there really is no replacement for displacement.

Read about a guy who modded a skyline all to hell and gone. Was putting out over 1000hp when he was done. The one thing that really stuck out to me was the mention that they had to put slosh baffles in the oil pan to prevent loss of lubrication due to the car accelerating at 1.5 g's.

[Chuck Dye]

If you are stuffing this into that, easily the best car I have driven is a '68 Corvair with a heavily tweaked aluminum small block Buick engine where the back seat was.  The suspension was also heavily tweaked.  The result was very nimble, very fast, very thirsty, and a very great deal of fun.  I wonder what it might cost to do the same today...

[erictank]

I've heard of people sticking turbo'd Hyabusa engines in Miatas, but I had no idea that a chevy small block could fit...

Someone in the 90s put a Ford GT40-equipped 302 engine in a Miata; I don't see why a Chevy small block wouldn't fit. There's apparently a good bit of room in the engine compartment.

That pic of the LS3 engine in the Miata was... beautiful.

[HankB]

Local guy took a Smart on TX130 - he said it barely got up to the 85 speed limit with the gas pedal firmly on the floor, and he managed an indicated 94 on a downgrade. Wonder what the Hyabusa-engined modded car would to. (I imagine it was a little twitchy even at 85.)

As far as mods are concerned, one of the quickest "custom" street cars I remember from my youth was a Chevy Vega which had a modified 454 dropped in. Guy told me he had to rebuild the entire frame to accept the new engine & drivetrain - I don't remember what he claimed he did (other than boring the engine out to 492) but I think most of the exterior sheet metal and the seats were almost all that was left of the original car.

[mtnbkr]

Local guy took a Smart on TX130 - he said it barely got up to the 85 speed limit with the gas pedal firmly on the floor, and he managed an indicated 94 on a downgrade. Wonder what the Hyabusa-engined modded car would to. (I imagine it was a little twitchy even at 85.)

My very mildly modified 72 VW Beetle would easily do 85.  I had it up to 100 briefly once (not recommended).  My 93 Toyota Paseo (1.5l 5sp) would cruise at 85mph all day long in the mountains and still get 40mpg on the highway (got 25-30 in town).  Both sets of figures were measured and consistent tankful to tankful (I kept records of that sort of thing back then).  It had a trunk and back seats (though the latter were a bit cramped for adults).  The Smart Car isn't exactly a step forward on any front.

People seem to forget there have been good cars in the past, that you don't have to buy a gimmick.

Chris

[grislyatoms]

A friend back in high school ran autocross in a MG Midget with a Chevy 350. His Dad was an engineer on a tugboat and machined a lot of the parts himself. Sweet little car. It had white paint with fade-away stripes; sounded great, too.

[RocketMan]

That whole physics thing doesn't work in your favor when driving a fuel sipping car unless you compare older engineering to new engineering.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPF4fBGNK0U&feature=related

What a waste of a nicely restored classic automobile.  I absolutely loathe people that do that sort of thing.