Auto Trends

Well, it has worked for some celebrities… Going topless has perked up a lot of sagging careers (pun intended). But the question remains… do we really want to see the Smart Fortwo topless?

The DaimlerChrysler division has gambled that we do…

While some would describe it not much better than walking in on their grandmother in the shower, others say it is rather “cute”. We shall hold our middle ground and instead just say that it was… predictable!

There is a line of consumers waiting to get their hands on one of these, but the critics wonder just how long the uniqueness of the new look will last. Long enough for the last current buyer to drive off the lot… or will it have the stamina to bring in new buyers for the next couple of years?

Thankfully, we can all rest assure that the newest model of the Smart ForTwo meets safety regulations beyond that of the original. The 2008 ForTwo now comes with side airbags… and the front end has also been redesigned with a new fascia to reduce damage to pedestrians in the case of accidental impact…

Which as Motor Trends says, “(assuming), of course, that the ForTwo has enough power to damage a pedestrian.”

All jokes aside, the ForTwo is designed for fuel economy and easy city driving. Horsepower should never even become an issue. That is of course unless you are going to see ANY highway driving… which case, might we warn you that the 45 horsepower cdi diesel (10% increase from last year) will become bug splat on the window of some Chevy Tahoe. No ifs, ands, or whens about it!

The rest of the line also received a bit of an increase in horsepower. There are three 1.0 liter 3-cylinder gas sippers (47 on up to 78 mpg) to choose from. There’s the 61 horse, 71 horse, and finally the (dare we say) high performance 84 horse buggy.

Top speeds of 90 mph are said to be quite possible if the wind is blowing just right, and 0-60 can be had at just over 13 seconds.

We really tried not to poke too much fun here, really we did… but what’s the ForTwo going to do about it, run us over! Not anymore…

The 2008 Smart ForTwo Cabriolet is a far cry above what it used to be, so if you live in the right metropolitan area to support the usability of one of these, we say go for it! If it’s have as fun to drive as it is to make fun of, we all should own one!

There has been talk through a variety of sources that the electromagnetic field of hybrids may have some potential to cause sickness among some people. There is no solid proof mind you… but it has been said to be just something we need to keep our eye on over the next few years.

With this said, there has been talk as of the past week that some people have already returned their hybrids, stating that it was making them nauseous, sleepy, dizzy, etc. With things heating up around the hybrid front, we thought it important to go ahead and dig into this situation a bit more:

The science behind these returns and accusations is the fear that high voltage electricity produces an unhealthy EMF (Electromagnetic Field). This is something we have known for years, and thus has been the brunt of a number of studies by the cancer institute. There is some evidence that suggests a risk factors of living too close to high voltage utility lines as causing sickness in humans, including Leukemia among children.

While a hybrid isn’t exactly a high voltage utility line, it does carry substantial voltage through the car (150 to 250 volts) to the electric engines. As to date there is no government mandate as to how much EMF is too much, so manufacturers have never had to worry about such numbers.

With these accusations amidst, both Honda and Toyota have released press statements stating that their hybrids pose no additional EMF than any regular combustion car and therefore pose no additional risk.

Toyota’s Prius spokesperson, “The measured electromagnetic fields inside and outside of Toyota hybrid vehicles in the 50 to 60 hertz range are at the same low levels as conventional gasoline vehicles. Therefore there are no additional health risks to drivers, passengers or bystanders.”

After what seemed to be a clear rebuttal to these statements a number of posts popped up on the Internet from consumers who had purchased their own Trifield meter ($145) and took some measurements themselves and claim the meter tipped the scales beyond what the spokespersons were saying.

Of course it needs to be noted with just how much accuracy are these car owners able to achieve such readings on their own. But none-the-less it has stirred some souls out there and built up enough worry in peoples minds that some of them at the very least probably made themselves sick, if nothing else, just by all their worrying.

This should probably have no significant damage to the hybrid for the long haul, but it may knock off a few sales over the next few months.

Are you at all concerned about the hybrid health risks… or is all this talk just a bunch of fear mongering?

J.D. Powers and Associates reported a few months ago (based on responses from 44,931principal drivers of new cars and trucks):

“While Many New-Vehicle Buyers Express Concern for the Environment, Few are Willing to Pay More for An Environmentally Friendly Vehicle.”

The survey shows that only 1 in 10 of folks interested in doing their part for the environment were actually willing to put their money where their mouth was and splurge on buying a hybrid. Of these 1 in 10, the majority of them were highly educated women with high income levels and fell in the median age range of 50 years old.

Men are still a bit down on the whole hybrid idea. Perhaps it is the non-sports appeal that many of the current models exude, or perhaps it is because they do not have a 400 horsepower muscle car variety with a loud grumble yet available.

Beyond the hybrid scene, while many of these folks were not willing to spend the extra $5,000, most of them were in fact likely to purchase a fuel economical compact sized vehicle. Most of them in fact already had a fairly economical vehicle… just not a hybrid.

With the slow sales of SUV’s the past few months (some dealerships claim they can hardly give these things away), many of the manufacturers have turned to hybrid technology to once again hopefully pick up the consumer market on those once popular lumbering family haulers. So far it looks like consumers are turning to smaller gasoline compacts.

Of all the attention the hybrid market is getting these days it is still a surprise to find that the actual market itself is only about 2.3 percent of new cars sold. But this is almost certain to rise over the course of the years a gas buyers begin to realize that they are probably never going to see the likes of the upper $2 range per gallon ever again in their lifetime.