Smart City Test Drive Compartment 1998 - 2002 hatchback
On the site of young animals
Everything that is shorter than 3.6 m and already 1.6 m has four wheels and a motor, in Europe is classified as the first, or a-class. The necessary preface
The idea of \u200b\u200ba small car is old, like the car itself. A weak motor, a random mechanics, a simple body cost manufacturers and customers are very cheap. In addition, the owner of the baby could save on taxes and fuel. Another advantage appeared when parking problems began to arise in large cities. However, there were enough shortcomings for the kids: at the first opportunity, their owners were transplanted to something more powerful, more spacious, and more.
Modern first -graders on the vast majority have far away from primitive ancestors. They are comfortable in advance and equipped with quite powerful 1.1-1.3-liter engines. True, in the European first grade there are also preschool children - less than 3 meters with a 4.5-5.5 liter motor. With. In France, they can be controlled without a driver’s license, but the release is small, and the price is not entirely car - about 10 thousand (!) Dollars.
On the Russian horizon from domestic babies in the proud loneliness of the eye. The rest are either in piece production or in projects. Nevertheless, talking about folk micro -lining does not subside. Having collected several completely different cars, we tried to assess the viability of the concepts reflected in them in relation to the specifics of the Russian market. The reference point was our eye.
Soldier bread An angular body, above the head - an awning, under ... with a body a flat chair, upholstered in dermatin, shakes a 13 -horsepower airborne behind. In the twenties, the Germans nicknamed the Komissbrot - soldier bread, that is, a ration, less than which is already hunger. In rational motor skills, Europe left crises and post -war devastation. As an example from post -perestroika Russia, we took the Kineshma of the Auto Gang factory.
The creators managed to make it four -seater, but loading the car with passengers and luggles is scary - it will have to be heavy, for nothing, from American garden technology, Briggs End Stratton's motor. For the same reason, the off -road capabilities of the crew are reduced. Meanwhile, a long -flowing suspension, good geometric patency, wheels with primrose and large road clearance provoke fearlessly move off the asphalt.
If the Kineshma motor becomes noticeably more powerful, other problems will appear. Now the car is still harmonious. A motorcycle box with fuzzy gear shifts and closing neutrals, a non -informative gas pedal, a dependent suspension, brakes and steering correspond to just such an engine.
Kineshmu is forgiven for disabled people. But people with limited physical abilities all the more need a machine with easy control, easy to maintain. Here, in order to perform one of the points of the instructions during a daily inspection - check the oil level in the engine, you will need to remove the spare and remove the rear seat. Wow! However, even a completely healthy in Kineshm is uncomfortable. On modern streets and highways, the Tikhokhokhhod is a foreign element, a dangerous interference with a dynamic flow of transport.
A motorcycle (this is how Kineshma should be called) - a vehicle of local importance. On it you can go to the store or fishing, bring the load, not afraid to stain the salon, in extreme cases, get from one village to another or pipe through a small provincial town. By the way, French and Italian micro are used just for such purposes. The machine that has retained the concept of post -war times is not really destined to become mass in any way, even taking into account the low, about $ 1,000, prices.
KINDER SURPRISE
On the pole opposite from ascetic motor -coarse - ultra -modern technologies, rammed, on the envy of Faberge, in the testicle length (or radius?) Only 2.5 meters. An example of how perfect and ... expensive you can make a city micro -car - a dandy smart from rich Europe. Convenient planting of two riders, surprisingly spacious luggage compartment, powerful engine, tenacious brakes with ABS, high active and passive safety. Electronics, saving the clutch and gears, sorting through the programs that in manual, in automatic mode with calm thought.
In addition - appearance and salon, created, it seems, to cause a good -natured smile. But the fun of the curious quickly disappears when they learn about the price in Russia - about 11 thousand dollars. The maintenance and repair of the gold testicle will also cost a penny. But the money is not the only fee for a gifted first -grader. Sustainability and controllability are paid excessively stiff, even for Moscow asphalt, suspension, small road clearance, different front and rear wheels. Smart - for wealthy Europeans who left one (or two) full -fledged cars at home to go along smooth, sometimes narrow streets for shopping or on business. We can only rely on the sympathy of the very rich - they buy a piece of Mercedes as a toy - charming, also a groovy.
Bear and everyone else The project of a new folk car, conceived by the ASM-Holding, embodied in the NTC and showed at last year's car dealership in Moscow. A golden bear represents - what do you think? - Tuning OKU, no more and no less. From the concept of a supermine car, with some motorcycle chopper under the hood, refused at the stage of developing the first prototype. And they did the right thing - you won’t be saturated with soldier's bread today.
The bear is just a layout, but at the same time it illustrates the bizarre of domestic research in the field of folk car. A nice design, thirteen -inch wheels, better than the regular Okovsky twelve -inch, adapted to the rail of our roads, a high roof over the rear seats, a smooth floor of the trunk, a separate glass of the rear luggage door - all this is good for the baby. It is unlikely that only to the place the rich panel of devices and the upholstery of the doors.
Of course, we, like nowhere, value versatility: the vast majority of Russian families have the car, which means that it is for work and to the cottage with weighty luggage, and for purchases, and on vacation with the whole family. The minimum Russian car for this life is Zhiguli. But if the new five is still not enough, and it is scary to take the old one if the costs of gasoline are invoice for the family budget, and you have to travel mainly around the city - Bear (sorry, Oka) is a completely acceptable option. Let the engine are not too strong, the devices look unmalous, seats and upholstery made of cheap material, in the cabin, undisguised iron. The main thing is that all this should not flow, lump, fall off. For one and a half or two thousand dollars, the consumer has the right to demand a simple but solid car.
Maybe this will disappoint someone, but brought to mind - the first and, alas, while we have the only real contender for the title of Russian people in the Mini class.
It is unlikely that first-graders in Russia will someday become massive in the full sense of the word. In the west they refuse them, because we get rich, we treat the babies skeptical, since they do not satisfy our requirements for universality. The place of Tavria is still empty. But this car did not suit us with the quality of manufacture, and not by design. Vazovskaya viburnum is aimed in class in class, and the new bear grew to almost maximum sizes for first -graders. It would not be too clever with a rich rattling finish and how to work out the technology properly.
The editors thank the ASM-Holding, Autonomous Okrug Auto Gagrat, CJSC Daimler-Kraisler Rus cars, NTC for help in the preparation of the material.
Sergey Kanunnikov, Anatoly Karpenkov
A source: The magazine "Driving"
