Pickuptruck.com puts Bambi vs. Godzilla: Ram Mega Cab vs. SMART Fortwo
The merits of a website aptly named "Pickuptruck.com" testing a vehicle such as the Smart Fortwo are, shall we say, debatable. What's not, however, is how cool it is that said website drudged up the good ol' Bambi vs. Godzilla cartoons for their title of the "comparison test". Do you remember going to see a movie in the 80's and watching Bambi get stomped? Good times, good times...
I am not going to write anything bad about the Cummins Diesel engine. I think it is a fine engine, and well worth it for the people who need it's amazing towing and hauling abilities. However, to have that truck as your primary, or worse, only transportation option is probably not a good choice. I thought that some of their math was interesting, including the emissions per pound and mileage per pound, but I'm not sure we have an apples to apples comparison there, either. I would argue that the weight of the safety equipment versus overall vehicle weight would skew the results in the Ram's favor in that type of test. To put that another way, how much mass (steel, aluminum etc) is required to make the Smart safe in an accident versus a vehicle such as the Ram?
Bottom line time: Both vehicles have their purposes, and both are fine choices for their intended roles. Taken for what it is, this comparison is a fun read, if you've got a few minutes to spare.
[Source: Pickuptruck.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
woodman 10:44AM (4/27/2007)
Did anyone read the part at the end of the article about the ram getting 16mpg, then they say fully loaded it's 9000lbs, getting a better efficiency to power ratio than the smart? Um did I miss read it or are they getting mpg's unloaded and calculating the efficiency weight ratio fully loaded? Does anyone else find that as retarded as actually driving one of these things? By the way, my friend has the same truck, gets less than 10 mpg's.
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dr_g 7:47PM (4/24/2007)
The curb weight (no driver, no load) of a Ram 2500 Mega Cab is 6875 pounds and the curb weight of a Fortwo is 730 kilograms or 1609 pounds.
If you compare this way the ratio of Ram to Fortwo is 4.27X. The article says 4.2X.
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Chris 7:46PM (4/24/2007)
Yeah, I noticed that as well. Dumb mistake! And then, who really drives one of those trucks fully loaded with five guys? Most I see are people in the 'burbs commuting to work, all alone. For them, a SMART would make much more sense. I guess farmers and construction workers and the like could use a truck, but most people who buy trucks don't need them.
For me, it's not realistic to do a carshare thing, and I like cars too much anyway. But a truck? If I'm moving, I can always rent a truck at Home Depot or get a U-Haul. The dumb person is the one who buys a truck for status or compensation (small dick!). And speaking of stereotyping, what's with the hairdressers wearing berets that the SMART would carry?
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Jimmy 9:08PM (4/24/2007)
The best part of the article was the realistic comparison with the Jetta TDI. While I think the Smart CDI is a cool little car, a Golf/Jetta TDI is a far more practical vehicle in the USA. If you have a child or ever need to transport anything mildly bulky the Smart is just useless.
A small 5-door hatch like a Golf / Polo TDI or Yaris D-4D gives many more options with a price and economy very close to the Smart.
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FD 10:13AM (4/25/2007)
@woodman I think your friend has a gas truck not the diesel in the review. I've driven the diesel version of this truck several times with loaded trailers and never gotten below 18 mpg ... of course I drive conservatively.
But yes people driving one for their 30 mile commutes alone is rather silly. Some people can justify the truck with the work they do or the hobbies they have. I restore historic homes for example. But when you can pick up a cobalt/carolla/civic for less than $5k and get years of good commuting out of it, theres no reason not to have it and save your truck for when you really need it.
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dr_g 12:32AM (4/26/2007)
Well, looks like someone contacted those guys. They story's updated using unloaded figures to calculate efficiency. And now it looks like the Fortwo did worse.
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