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Joe Atlanta

WSJ: smart WILL launch fortwo in East & West USA in 2007

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The Rabbit is a new/old name for the Golf platform 5. ... Just to please the american taste for rabbit.... haha ! No more Tdi, just the 2,5 liter. Price C$19,980 about. There will also be a ""new"" golf later this year, called Golf City (and also Jetta City). It will be the old Golf platform 4 from Mexico (gas engine only), renamed City at a much lower price starting at $15,000. Very good low price for an old new car. It is supposedly to fight the new sub minis like Yaris... but at 2850 pounds.

I had 3 Golf and was supposed to buy the new platform 5. Now I am very happy I didn't wait and bought the Smart.

I've been reading alot more on the whole Diesel 2007 emissions issue. I'm wondering if the Smart is being held back a year to allow for an immediate CDI release at its debut? If that's that case, its worth a little more time for them to settle up with the EPA and related gov't schmucks who seem to despise anything other than straight gasoline.

I was hoping since the Golf platform has grown so much in dimensions from its "rabbit" days that they'd just leave the Golf line alone and bring the Lupo stateside as a competitor. The 3 cylinder TDI would be a huge seller for flat lands commuting in my eyes. I'd drive a golf cart if I could get A/C and an enclosed cab on one, but the limited 35 mph speed of most carts is very prohibitive to regular street use in this area. Not to mention current temps in the 100's with 65% humidity and rising. It would be nice if the manufacturer's would stop jockeying the product names around and just ADD to what they have already available.

The Yaris is a nice car, but not in the dimensions I really want, not to mention only a gas model.

WHAT IS SO HARD ABOUT A DIESEL?!!!!!!!!!!!!! Europe has numerous models blowing black smoke and they're even more eco fanatics than the USA.

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The Rabbit is a new/old name for the Golf platform 5. ... Just to please the american taste for rabbit.... haha ! No more Tdi, just the 2,5 liter. Price C$19,980 about. There will also be a ""new"" golf later this year, called Golf City (and also Jetta City). It will be the old Golf platform 4 from Mexico (gas engine only), renamed City at a much lower price starting at $15,000. Very good low price for an old new car.

bingo-

new 2007MY rabbit = old golf

new 2007MY tdi = old golf

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Davek, you could be right. When I questioned those 2 test drivers in their camo smart they said "diesel". (Wed. May 10 posts, general discussion)

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I really think the stated delay of about 20 months is a reaction to the fact that in Canada, they had 8 months between official announcement and introduction, and it was not at all smooth in the first several months. And the dedicated M-B dealers were already here. Many, if not most, of the smart outlets in Canada are owned by Mercedes-Benz Canada Ltd. That helped them, logistically.Penske has to get his various dealers up to basic speed first, so 20 months seems like a prudent lead time, maybe a bit slack actually....probably they could be ready by September/October 2007 if they really tried.In other words, as much as I'd love to have the next generation car in a diesel off the bat, I doubt it's going to happen, either in Canada or the USA. But the Brabus gas version is a NICE car.....

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In other words, as much as I'd love to have the next generation car in a diesel off the bat, I doubt it's going to happen, either in Canada or the USA. But the Brabus gas version is a NICE car.....

If it can't dispose of its own motor oil, I don't want it. We run all our motor oil through micron filters and burn it in either the rigs or in our waste oil furnaces ;) The Brabus models are beyond nice, they are insane. I was outright stunned by these cars. I thought the other Smarts were fast!

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I really think the stated delay of about 20 months is a reaction to the fact that in Canada, they had 8 months between official announcement and introduction, and it was not at all smooth in the first several months.

And that they have to wait for the production of the new ForTwo to begin so they can send them over for crash testing, emission testing, etc.

OBTW, did you note they always referred to it as the sucessor of the ForTwo?

:hm:

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I really think the stated delay of about 20 months is a reaction to the fact that in Canada, they had 8 months between official announcement and introduction, and it was not at all smooth in the first several months.

And that they have to wait for the production of the new ForTwo to begin so they can send them over for crash testing, emission testing, etc.

OBTW, did you note they always referred to it as the sucessor of the ForTwo?

:hm:

They already have prototypes they can commit to emissions tests as well as crash tests. Mercedes will have no issues with this anyways, they are not one for meeting the minimal levels of anything. I won't be surprised if Penske releases several models to each dealer for demo purposes and to get interest established enough for early orders.

Referring to the second generation as a successor is slightly frustrating, for its intended purpose, I saw NOTHING wrong with the curreny model. Drive it with the understanding its a smaller vehicle and keep pedestrians out of the street, doesn't sound that difficult for owners and the traffic safety admin's to accomodate to?...

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Read the book "smart thinking" and you will gain some understanding of how complex it is to bring a new brand to the market.

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The Rabbits are here, in Madison, WI anyway. They sold 3 in 2 days and had 2 left. Both 4 drs. one black and one (YUCK) the sage green, I was hoping for the dark green color. I was not impressed and what they are asking is kind of high I think,,,oh well, maybe I will just have to hold onto the jetta and wait for the SMART! And why are they not selling diesels? Its not as if there aren't any one the road and if you have ever had diesels(I had 2 ) they are not that much different and they get much better mileage. Maybe its too hard to train the workers on how to fix them!

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Maybe its too hard to train the workers on how to fix them!

Very little difference to worry about with the TDI's verses gas from a repair point. Tech bulletins have eliminated even the most unable repair tech from getting lost. Plug in diagnostic port, read computer screen, replace parts as listed on screen. The larger light duty truck diesels are a little more involved, but its still turning into a parts replacement technician industry, just add computer :rolleyes:

The main issue with the Diesel's in the USA is the slow to trust consumers who are still stereo typing diesel's by memories they still hold from the 70's and 80's. GM was the most blatent disgrace to diesel's that the US has ever had, the 5.7 gas engine "engineered" for diesel fuel was the start of mistrust by consumers. GM's 6.2 then 6.5 and the current now Duramax model is not doing any better from the gross failure rates I have seen first hand.

From the diesel rabbit memories I have growing up, I am not surprised VW has refrained from optioning the TDI engines into the "new" rabbits. Even now, the older VW's coming back on the road in light of the fuel prices has shown the black belching smoke clouds again. The TDI's are a much more impressive engine in all respects, but only the truely open minded followers of diesels are thinking of them as a replacement to gasoline powered engines.

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I have owned a 1984 MB 190D and a 1990 Golf Diesel as well as my diesel smart. Loved them all

I remember the GM fiasco. The average engine life was about 6 months. GM bought most of them back

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Rick, all your previous/present vehicles were great cars in my opionion.

Few american's bought the Mercedes diesels back then, despite their high quality level. It was not a main market car for the typical owner of most GM diesel owners. Most customer's of mine still shy away from the Mercedes brands due to the "high" cost of parts, even though their need for parts is much further on their odometers than any GM vehicle I have worked on to date. Now all the back to earth hippies with bio diesel stills in their garages are running the older Mercedes cars. If running unregulated and inconsistent batches of B100 in these cars with 100,000 to 200,000 miles on their odometers doesn't speak for the Mercedes quality of engineering I don't know what will.

The VW's diesels were always good cars, they just got a bad reputation for blowing black clouds of smoke by most who didn't want to spend money on maintenance and just drove them into the ground for all the community to see the results :steamed:

Given the choice of a modern light duty truck or car diesel engine, I would choose them in this order first: Mercedes, VW, Cummins, Navistar (ford's contracted engine manufacturer). (Duramax's are not a part of this list in my opinion, GM will never see my money again, unless its for part to maintain a customer's rig). Given the fact there is not a single domestic built passenger vehicle engine in a diesel configuration, it pretty much leaves the "made in Mexico big three" out of my buying selection.

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The roadster was discontinued in November 2005.

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...which has always made me wonder.

fortwo pre-forfour = city-coupé.

Will the new generation fortwo, now that the forfour, roadster, et. all are doomed/gone... have a new name? There's no other kind of "for" in the family, ya know what I mean? You can only get a smart for two. I'd love a new name. fortwo is cute, but dated now that the rest of the family is gone.

-Iain

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my first thought, duck, was 'nguba' because the tridion (how IS that pronounced?) shape was based on a nut and the front lights are shaped like offset peanut shells - my favorite peanut shell shape, at that. but i don't think 'nguba' would go over well. then i naturally moved on to 'jimi' (as in president carter, who is smart and grew peanuts). i think 'jimi' is really cute and small, just like the smart, and 'jimmy' is no longer made by GMC.

then i thought of many other names based on how smart owners relate to their cars and "zip" comes up often, so i thought 'zipi' - has a euro flair to it. and, of course, 'smile' because every smart car driver does.

others: buni (bunny/bunny hop), brava, kita, savi (savvy), runa (runner/take a quick run out), wikid (MA thing), ofé (au fait), muse, et c.

when do we get to vote?

ramblin' rose

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