If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#61
|
|||
|
|||
My Sigma camera and lens collection
Mick Sterbs wrote: "Peter A. Stavrakoglou" wrote in message et... I've seen a couple of those cars driving around the streets of New York. A nifty little car. I owned one of the first Smarts to reach the UK. It's a wonderful and fun little car. 600cc turbo, 6 speed sequential gearbox, smooth and comfortable. Top speed about 84mph, and so short you can park rear-end facing the pavement and it doesn't stick out into the road! So you were that guy going down the A1 at 95 mph the month they came out... I hired one in Rome and nearly ended up dead. Crossing a road from a fuel station, foot on pedal (one pedal operation), Smart car coughs and struggles ten feet into road into path of truck speeding towards us - pray, press pedal again, car finally does something after what seemed like a second's delay (it was probably 1/10th of a second really) and leaps out the way. The 'intelligent' auto system just isn't worth it the day it finally does let you down. It was our final day, had driven the car for a week all round Lazio and through Rome without a hitch, from long journeys to city traffic. By that time I was very well used to the car (done about 2500km during the week) and this was out 'fill up the tank' stop before returning it to the hire depot and flying home. Badly shaken by the brief near-incident (we would have been utterly totalled by a truck doing 100km/h hitting a Smart sideways on) and decided that despite liking the car, enough to have talked about getting one at home, we would probably not accept one as a hire car in future. David |
#62
|
|||
|
|||
My Sigma camera and lens collection
Mick Sterbs wrote: "Peter A. Stavrakoglou" wrote in message et... I've seen a couple of those cars driving around the streets of New York. A nifty little car. I owned one of the first Smarts to reach the UK. It's a wonderful and fun little car. 600cc turbo, 6 speed sequential gearbox, smooth and comfortable. Top speed about 84mph, and so short you can park rear-end facing the pavement and it doesn't stick out into the road! So you were that guy going down the A1 at 95 mph the month they came out... I hired one in Rome and nearly ended up dead. Crossing a road from a fuel station, foot on pedal (one pedal operation), Smart car coughs and struggles ten feet into road into path of truck speeding towards us - pray, press pedal again, car finally does something after what seemed like a second's delay (it was probably 1/10th of a second really) and leaps out the way. The 'intelligent' auto system just isn't worth it the day it finally does let you down. It was our final day, had driven the car for a week all round Lazio and through Rome without a hitch, from long journeys to city traffic. By that time I was very well used to the car (done about 2500km during the week) and this was out 'fill up the tank' stop before returning it to the hire depot and flying home. Badly shaken by the brief near-incident (we would have been utterly totalled by a truck doing 100km/h hitting a Smart sideways on) and decided that despite liking the car, enough to have talked about getting one at home, we would probably not accept one as a hire car in future. David |
#63
|
|||
|
|||
My Sigma camera and lens collection
"Peter A. Stavrakoglou" wrote in message
t... "Gymmy Bob" wrote in message ... Might have been Fiat derivatives but wrong country. The Ladas seem to be doing fine lately. Not my cup of tea though. They tried to sue the author of "Lemon Aid" for his review that almost destroyed them. I know the Ladas were produced in the Soviet Union. I recall reading an article in Automoblie Magazine years ago that was about a particular factory in the USSR that the Russians were quite proud of. It was by far their most "modern" factory but they did not design it. It was designed by the Italians which might be why I am thinking that they were Fiat derivitives. The Yugo produced in Yugoslavia was definitely a Fiat design, perhaps the Lada isn't. No, you're right, the Ladas were derived from the Fiat 131, the Yugos from the 128. -- Skip Middleton http://www.shadowcatcherimagery.com |
#64
|
|||
|
|||
My Sigma camera and lens collection
"Peter A. Stavrakoglou" wrote in message
t... "Gymmy Bob" wrote in message ... Might have been Fiat derivatives but wrong country. The Ladas seem to be doing fine lately. Not my cup of tea though. They tried to sue the author of "Lemon Aid" for his review that almost destroyed them. I know the Ladas were produced in the Soviet Union. I recall reading an article in Automoblie Magazine years ago that was about a particular factory in the USSR that the Russians were quite proud of. It was by far their most "modern" factory but they did not design it. It was designed by the Italians which might be why I am thinking that they were Fiat derivitives. The Yugo produced in Yugoslavia was definitely a Fiat design, perhaps the Lada isn't. No, you're right, the Ladas were derived from the Fiat 131, the Yugos from the 128. -- Skip Middleton http://www.shadowcatcherimagery.com |
#65
|
|||
|
|||
My Sigma camera and lens collection
"David Kilpatrick" wrote in message ... Mick Sterbs wrote: "Peter A. Stavrakoglou" wrote in message et... I've seen a couple of those cars driving around the streets of New York. A nifty little car. I owned one of the first Smarts to reach the UK. It's a wonderful and fun little car. 600cc turbo, 6 speed sequential gearbox, smooth and comfortable. Top speed about 84mph, and so short you can park rear-end facing the pavement and it doesn't stick out into the road! So you were that guy going down the A1 at 95 mph the month they came out... I hired one in Rome and nearly ended up dead. Crossing a road from a fuel station, foot on pedal (one pedal operation), Smart car coughs and struggles ten feet into road into path of truck speeding towards us - pray, press pedal again, car finally does something after what seemed like a second's delay (it was probably 1/10th of a second really) and leaps out the way. The 'intelligent' auto system just isn't worth it the day it finally does let you down. It was our final day, had driven the car for a week all round Lazio and through Rome without a hitch, from long journeys to city traffic. By that time I was very well used to the car (done about 2500km during the week) and this was out 'fill up the tank' stop before returning it to the hire depot and flying home. Badly shaken by the brief near-incident (we would have been utterly totalled by a truck doing 100km/h hitting a Smart sideways on) and decided that despite liking the car, enough to have talked about getting one at home, we would probably not accept one as a hire car in future. David Reminds me of the old VW's that had a, "reserve lever" on the fuel tank instead of a gauge. I was always afraid that it would run out of gas at the exact instant that I had pulled out from a stop sign into a fast moving stream of traffic, and instead of being able to accelerate up to the speed of the surrounding traffic, I would be sitting there with egg on my face, faced with having to switch the lever and restart the car..... |
#66
|
|||
|
|||
My Sigma camera and lens collection
We'll see if they can even meet the safety standards to be in North America.
The VW was almost booted years ago for that ramp front end. They brought out the Rabbit and discontinued the Bug shape before legislation was passed. "William Graham" wrote in message news:IOWGc.39824$%_6.13006@attbi_s01... "David Kilpatrick" wrote in message ... Mick Sterbs wrote: "Peter A. Stavrakoglou" wrote in message et... I've seen a couple of those cars driving around the streets of New York. A nifty little car. I owned one of the first Smarts to reach the UK. It's a wonderful and fun little car. 600cc turbo, 6 speed sequential gearbox, smooth and comfortable. Top speed about 84mph, and so short you can park rear-end facing the pavement and it doesn't stick out into the road! So you were that guy going down the A1 at 95 mph the month they came out... I hired one in Rome and nearly ended up dead. Crossing a road from a fuel station, foot on pedal (one pedal operation), Smart car coughs and struggles ten feet into road into path of truck speeding towards us - pray, press pedal again, car finally does something after what seemed like a second's delay (it was probably 1/10th of a second really) and leaps out the way. The 'intelligent' auto system just isn't worth it the day it finally does let you down. It was our final day, had driven the car for a week all round Lazio and through Rome without a hitch, from long journeys to city traffic. By that time I was very well used to the car (done about 2500km during the week) and this was out 'fill up the tank' stop before returning it to the hire depot and flying home. Badly shaken by the brief near-incident (we would have been utterly totalled by a truck doing 100km/h hitting a Smart sideways on) and decided that despite liking the car, enough to have talked about getting one at home, we would probably not accept one as a hire car in future. David Reminds me of the old VW's that had a, "reserve lever" on the fuel tank instead of a gauge. I was always afraid that it would run out of gas at the exact instant that I had pulled out from a stop sign into a fast moving stream of traffic, and instead of being able to accelerate up to the speed of the surrounding traffic, I would be sitting there with egg on my face, faced with having to switch the lever and restart the car..... |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|