The Ultimate Economy Car

[LuckyTheDog]

Run time: 02:16 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIgJNTk9hh0   Posted on YouTube: August 11, 2010 By YouTube Member: familygilbert Views on YouTube: 42   Posted on DU: August 11, 2010 By DU Member: LuckyTheDog Views on DU: 1144

 
WWJ AutoBeat Reporter Jeff Gilbert takes a quick spin in the 2500 dollar Nano from India's Tata Motors.

[Donnachaidh]

1. I love these cars that look like pregnant rollerskates

My stepdad used to call my VW bug that name -- but these fit the bill much better.

[boycottfaux]

2. You're Dead

If you're sitting in a Nano and get rear-ended by a SUV . .

Nice car but not practical in the States.  You ain't got a
chance if you're involved in an accident . .

[phantom power]

3. But... where does that end?

Do we all just keep buying bigger and bigger cars out of fear?

I say, Enough!

Every time a person buys a smaller car, they're helping make roads safer!

[AtheistCrusader]

5. Depends. Mass isn't always on your side in a wreck either.

You can be killed in a suburban in a wreck that wouldn't kill someone in a ford focus. It all depends upon the nature of the wreck.

This car doesn't have the safety features you might expect, and the price reflects it. Caveat Emptor.

[OwnedByFerrets]

6. Thats a really stupid argument against them.

Thousands of bikes are ridden in the states and MOST of them get along just fine on our streets and roads. I've ridden for 3o yrs and never had an accident, but I know ppl who have died in SUVs.

[greiner3]

10. But bikes are SOOO much bigger than an SUV.

[Lorien]

13. So all motorcycles should be off the roads? nt

[Wednesdays]

15. I guess I can't walk anymore.

I'm liable to get CREAMED by an SUV.

[raouldukelives]

4. Looks safer than a Harley to me

But I am no expert.

[safeinOhio]

7. I want to see the bottom line

How many miles can be expected for the vehicles life span? Cost of repairs? Insurance? Might be a great deal, as the Yugo was.

[whathappened]

8. pint size people

when are we going get it our heads we are not little people here in the u.s. ; there is no way i could fit into something like that and have it be roomey , wish they would quit sending there junk over here for there kill on us ,

[sofa king]

9. Who wants that land yacht?

When you can have this:

http://motorcycles.about.com/od/conceptbikegalleries/ig...

There are actually several plug-in hybrid vehicles for sale already here in the U.S., but they are no-name Chinese mopeds and the press doesn't wish to acknowledge that mopeds are leading the technology revolution.

Most states permit such a thing as a 50cc moped, which usually does not require a license or insurance to operate. They permit such a thing because states don't want to have to build sidewalks and pedestrian bridges for people who can't afford cars. All 50cc mopeds are crippled by small displacement, and are dangerously slow. But, they're ridden by poor people, so nobody cares.

Most of those states also do not count electric motors as part of a moped's "displacement," so the 50cc moped was among the first vehicles to receive hybrid attention, not as a fuel saving measure, but as a performance-boosting measure.

[1monster]

11. I'd rather have a Nano. I had a moped in the early eighties and rode it to and from work, a forty

mile a day round trip. I always stayed on the shoulder (on the outside of the white side line) when there was one, didn't take chances and was generally a very safe moped operator.

But I still had very close calls. I had drivers, on a daily basis, pass me so close that, had they been going slower, I could have put my hand in the passenger side window and tapped the driver on the shoulder. I had people swerve directly in front of me, call out taunts, and make threatening gestures with their cars or themselves. I even had a big rig driver force me off the shoulder and in to the grass, then drive a half mile in front of me, stop, get out of his truck, and jump in front of me waving his arms. (If an officer of the company I worked for hadn't driven up behind me, I could have been in for a bad time.

The final straw for me was the night I was going home well off of the road in a line of empty parking spots and was hit from behind by a hit and run driver. The fact that I wasn't killed or very seriously injured was a miracle. It was the second accident for me on the moped. And it was the end of two wheelers for me for more than ten years. I did finally get on a bicycle but only ride it in my neighborhood.

The traffic today is a 1000 times worse than it was then and drivers have not gotten any more courteous, to say the least.

The moped, driven carefully and observing all of the traffic laws, should be a reasonably safe method of travel. But it isn't.

[sofa king]

14. I've seen all you describe.

Except the bump-in-the-back trick. Living in deer country seems to help; there aren't many texting drivers and traffic in general is pretty light.

For me, the greatest danger is the wet and the cold. I don't do it every day, but each week at least once I have to commute about 75 miles (37 each way), all year round. In the winter, I try to do most of my driving at night when traffic is nil, but the frigid cold is just indescribable. No frostbite yet, though, so the 30 pounds of gear I wear must be doing some good.

In the past few years local drivers seem to have become much more aware of and courteous to moped riders, probably because there are many more of them and they're known to be inexpensive. I know that there's a whole world of things I've been able to do with mine that would not otherwise have been possible.

But it's a big risk, because they are all out to get you, if only they could see you.

[Donnachaidh]

12. there are plenty of mini coops and several smart cars that manage our heavy traffic fine

Personally, those big-assed SUVs with their drivers yammering on cell phones are far more of a road hazard than these little cars. People need to stop buying *big ego compensating for other shortcomings* cars and really start thinking if they NEED the equivalent of a small motor home to get back and forth to work.

[AsahinaKimi]

16. I would love to have a car like that..

Especially around the city, but I think having an electric car would be better then something gas driven. Something I can just plug in overnight.