Men Free Blog

Cars represent freedom, right? Sure, but shouldn’t that same freedom be available to those who can’t justify purchasing their own car? Daimler thinks so, and has created a new pilot program called car2go that allows subscribers to rent a smart fortwo for just 19-cents a minute or less, depending on how long you need the car. The initial roll-out is taking place in Ulm, Germany and begins October 24. The cars can be reserved at a moment’s notice from the internet, a mobile phone or in passing using an electronic chip that’s given to the user upon the account’s creation. There are no limits as to how far the car car be driven, and it can be parked and relocked wherever the driver’s trip ends as long as it’s within the city limits.

At the outset, there will be 50 smart fortwo’s in use by car2go. For a trial period, only Daimler employees will be able to use the service, but the automaker hopes to expand to all Ulm citizens in the spring of 2009. We imagine the car2go service will expand into other locations based on how successful this pilot program proves to be, but don’t hold your breath for smart rentals in the U.S. anytime soon.

Though Men’s Vogue has already attempted to disprove the theory that only women can get away with driving one, it seems that smart has seen the need to dispel some rumors about the fortwo, their little urban runabout. Specifically, many people apparently question how large of a person the smart can easily handle, how safe a car this small could be, how much room there is for stuff and what features the fortwo is equipped with. In all honesty, the smart would probably work for a large percentage of the population of both the U.S. and the U.K., but certainly not for every situation likely to come up in everyday life. As a second car or strictly for commuting, we imagine that the smart would meet the needs of quite a few drivers who would never even consider a vehicle this small.

Just for fun, why not check out the truth about smart here. Even if you hate the car, you may enjoy seeing it mildly-mangled by a wrecking ball.

[Source: the truth about smart]

The new Green Party mayor of Tübingen Germany is fully in support of the city’s “10% less CO2 by 2010″ policy and he’s got a new ride to demonstrate it. Boris Palmer has selected the Smart ForTwo MHD as his official ride when on city business. The MHD version of the Smart features micro-hybrid drive, which essentially an automatic start-stop system. The Smart MHD is the most fuel-efficient gasoline-powered Smart averaging 54.7mpg (U.S.) on the New European Driving Cycle. That’s an improvement from the 50mpg achieved by the conventional gas unit. Carbon dioxide emissions of the Smart MHD are only 103g/km. The micro-hybrid turns off the engine whenever the car comes to a stop and automatically re-starts whenever the brake pedal is released. Although the U.S. market won’t be getting the diesel-powered Smart anytime soon, we probably will get the micro-hybrid in a year or so.

[Source: Daimler]
On time for the start of his new climate protection campaign entitled “Tübingen goes green. 10% less CO2 by 2010″ Boris Palmer, the mayor of Tübingen has taken delivery of his new business car - a smart fortwo micro hybrid drive (mhd). The administrative head of the university town opted for a smart – a brand now sold successfully in 37 countries – first and foremost for environmental reasons. With its innovative start/stop function the smart fortwo mhd is particularly economical and consumes just 4.3 litres of fuel over 100 kilometres (CO2 emissions: 103 g/km). It therefore meets the high ecological demands of the committed Green Party politician in the executive seat of the historic town on the river Neckar.

Ecological projects are very important to the 35-year old mayor and this is why he always drives cars that are particularly climate-friendly. Last year at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt he ordered a smart fortwo mhd as his personal business vehicle. To mark the start of a new campaign with which Boris Palmer aims to reduce CO2 emissions in Tübingen by ten percent by 2010, he took delivery of the most economical petrol variant of the compact smart fortwo.

Boris Palmer says “The smart fortwo is the ideal car for towns and cities and the start/stop function now makes it even more environmentally friendly - because why should I pollute the environment when I’m stationary at traffic lights? I look forward to driving my new car.” The smart fortwo micro hybrid drive rated at 52 kW/71 bhp features a clever start/stop system that uses the engine’s idling phases. In conjunction with slightly modified gear ratios, this leads to a fuel saving of approximately 8 percent in the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC). The standard consumption is reduced by 0.4 litres – from 4.7 litres to 4.3 litres per 100 kilometres. There is also a corresponding reduction in CO2 emissions from 112 grams to 103 grams per kilometre. Depending on the traffic situation, e.g. heavy slow urban traffic, a fuel saving of up to 19 percent can even be achieved.

Anders Jensen, responsible for smart brand management says “The smart fortwo mhd is a clever and affordable fuel-saving solution for customers which we were able to realise in a short space of time.” This is the fundamental idea of the smart brand. smart was created because we asked what the car of the future should be like - how much space it should take up in our towns and cities, how fast it should drive, what impact it should have on the environment. With its well-directed use of resources and the conscious use of energy the mhd embodies this guiding principle.”

To achieve this, the new smart fortwo micro hybrid drive automatically shuts down the engine whenever it would normally be combusting fuel in idle position. At traffic lights, level crossings or in stop-and-go traffic - as soon as the driver releases the brake pedal the engine starts automatically and the journey can continue immediately. The driver doesn’t need to do anything out of the ordinary. In conjunction with the automated manual transmission that comes as standard, the new start/stop technology guarantees comfortable and straightforward driving with reduced fuel consumption.

[Source: Daimler]

For Chinese car buyers interested in a Smart ForTwo, the real deal will finally be available. Daimler AG’s head of sales and marketing, Klaus Maier, said yesterday that the city car will be available in China starting in the middle of 2009. For a while now, domestic manufacturers have been selling vehicles that look suspiciously similar to the ForTwo (some with a battery-powered drivetrain, see here and here). Daimler has apparently realized there’s a market for the city car and Maier told journalists yesterday that, “I am happy to announce that Smart, the original micro compact car, is coming to China next year. If you’ve spent any time on the streets of Beijing, you know that it is the perfect place for creative solutions to urban mobility.” Or uncreative ones, if you’re not too concerned about intellectual property.

[Source: Reuters]

Take a smart fortwo, cut it in half just behind the doors, and spend 300 man-hours over the next month adding nearly nine more feet to the vehicle’s length. The result is the world’s first smart fortwo “limo” that is about as long as a Mercedes-Benz S-Class! The images show a prototype model from Carbonyte, a UK limo specialty company, that was designed as a promotional vehicle (we see more than just a little resemblance to a popular energy-drink company). As expected with a custom fabrication, the customer can choose his or her own design, seating capacity, and intended use (if you have the need, Carbonyte is looking into creating a electric fortwo hearse). We know what you are thinking. Adding all this mass to a smart must slow the fortwo to a crawl. Right? Well, Carbonyte claims the original 600cc engine can still propel the contraption to a blistering 80 mph. Maybe so, but not with us in it.

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