This is why Ford of Europe make money......

[jamesb121]

As the topic says, who wouldnt want to buy either of these small cars right now with the way the economy and enviroment are going?

Are these not just fantastic looking little cars? The KA is the baby and new Fiesta slightly bigger, plus for the first time the Fiesta is coming to the US.

Who needs an SUV now?

[hondarobot]

Those micro cars are actually kinda freaky. A go-cart with a roof. Now that Russia has just stormed into South Ossetia, I'm sure gas prices will not be going down soon, though, so I suppose we'll be seeing more of them.

[muhmuh]

the ka looks even worse than the old one
the fiest is the first one that looks good... although this is largely thanks to taking a 206 blueprint and streching it a bit

[rvince]

My 1st car was a 1979' Ford Fiesta... Nice little car and had a great mileage too...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:FiestaFestival01.jpg

[Richctdude]

Yeah im stilling holding out for a plug in hybrid

[dbev]

If US vehicles had the average mileage of European cars, you would save two thirds of your money, that is, you would keep it in your pocket.

Plus, the environmental effects...

[hondarobot]

Those little cars seem like death traps to me. A semi-truck could roll right over one of those. I say for economy and the enviroment, bring back the Zeppelin. In my case, I'd have to fly very close to the ground, but it could still be workable.

[muhmuh]

Those little cars seem like death traps to me. A semi-truck could roll right over one of those.

too bad that just about all pickups and suvs crumple into a complete mess

[hwbs]

i am str8 with all of that...studies show that hybrids lose more of their value than most cars....u are only really truly saving money if u are driving the car over 5 years....most of these cars u pay 5-7k more for the hybrid engine....

[SarahG]

Those little cars seem like death traps to me. A semi-truck could roll right over one of those.

too bad that just about all pickups and suvs crumple into a complete mess

Crumple zones and crumple away zones are an intentional part of American car design in recent decades.

There is real physics behind the crumple zones, it absorbs a lot of the energy from the impact and mitigates it, to protect the occupants. Sure beats a lot of the older cars that would survive a wreck physically, but leave the driver's internal organs in a shattered state. Around WW2 the safety test for even European cars was rolling them off cliffs, if the car ended up intact on all 4s at the bottom, then it was deemed safe.... sure, the car survived, but that didn't mean its drivers would have.

The problem with crumple zones is when they are designed improperly or are in a wreck so bad that the forces exceed the design specifications. In this situation the crumple zones crumple away and you're left with the occupant compartment which then either continues to crumple away, or folds up into a collapsed coffin killing and/or trapping its occupants inside.

These small cars do not have the room for crumple zones, so they don't have any. I think this is why people complain that they look unsafe. You don't have 3 or more feet of car in front & behind you to absorb wreck forces. So what happens here is you have to make the tiny car bounce out of the wreck- this is what Chrysler did with the Smart car.

The next problem is that if the car re-focuses the forces of the wreck by bouncing, you're doubling the gforces that the passengers have to live through. So you have to put in a pile of hi-tech airbags, restraints and other devices & hope that its enough to protect the passengers.



The problem is that if you don't have the technology right, it really does make small cars a major death trap. Some of the Chinese and Russian economy cars of recent years have had such difficulties, and if you look at the older Chery crash tests on youtube you will see just how bad these eco cars were before Chery "got it right".

If a semi were to fall onto you, I think you're pretty much fucked even in the "sacred suv" especially since most suvs are just pickup trucks with custom bodies made to make them look strong (h2 and h3 are prime examples of this, it's really not anything like the military hummer).

But the big difference between the US and Europe is geography. The US is fairly vast, it has significantly larger rural areas- and it takes more distance to go to place to place. There are European countries you can drive across in a day's time without difficulty and so small eco cars are a better fit logistically. You're not going to be going 75+ miles to get to work in many cases in these tiny European countries, which can't be said for everyone in America. If you live in a city, work in a city, and rarely go beyond the near by suburbs fine, I can see a small eco car being a good fit (or even an electric) in the US, but if you have to commute long distances you're going to probably find a preference prevailing in favor of bigger vehicles even when those vehicles are never used for towing, offroading, or the things they're advertised doing.