The cheapest new car in the world

The Tata Nano has been discussed on here before I think, but it's out now in India. Here's a video review / impression of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sZitve3SUw

What do you think?

I like small cars to begin with. I also like "alternative" forms of transportation such as scoots, motorbikes, electric / experimental vehicles, public transportation, etc...

It costs under $3,000 retail, so it's less than a new scooter here. I guess the big question is 2-part.

1- would you consider driving one of these things if they were available here?

2- do you think the development of this car is a good thing? Economically, socially, environmentally?

I have mixed feelings - on one hand it could open up opportunities for people to work and find work. It may open avenues for people in poorer areas to access healthcare and other essential services. On the other hand it could open up other problems like increased pollution and traffic and crime opportunities.

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Mad Toto Scooter Club
www.madtoto.com

Can you throw a kit on that bitch?

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The "X" stands for ex-Chetak owner.

1) for the price. and 'cause it looks cool, i'd buy it.
2) developing new technology should always be a "good thing" economically? sure. socially? it only fits two people.
environmentally?
well:
al gore is full of shit... don't buy a car because some wing nut says it's going to save the earth. the eternal combustion motor/car has been around for more than a hundred years... about the same amount of time as the telephone... compare your car to that of the original model T Ford... besides the body it's the same basic thing. look at your cell phone and compare it to the old hanging on the wall crank thing it used to be. hell, just look at the change in the last ten years... but the auto industry has been sitting on it's collective ass and shoving the same old tech on us.

until the auto industry decides to get with the fact that there product tech. is from two centuries ago, and start to invest in a future... or at least catch up to the times, they are destined to failure.

this stupid "go green" thing is just a scam. there is nothing green about any motor vehicle including hybrids and especially electric... just look at the materials needed to make any of these machines including our beloved Chetaks, they're not "green"! in fact India doesn't follow any of EPA standards. from the rubber tires to the top of the painted plastic head set. not one component is "green". your global footprint will stay on this earth long after you... i have two scooters older than me and one my age... and the material to make a car is greater. and the energy(created by fossil fuels)need to produce it is greater... i always loved seeing a "love mother earth" bumper sticker on some hippie's car. the sticker made with bleached white paper, printed with plastisal permanent ink with animal-product based glue and laminated clear coat... yea, that sticker is real environmental friendly dumb ass!

if you want a environmentally friendly mode of transportation: then weave yourself some hemp sandals and walk. but stay off the side walk and asphalt. they are not environmentally friendly either! if every American made a 90% effort to "go green" it wouldn't make a .001% impact on the global "human footprint"... look it up. but then you gotta' think about how "green" that computer is?

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i'm uncool. and i'm cool with that.

You can put me on the wait list........looks like fun........I bet they will be racing them in the future also........another fun day.

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Keep the thing upright

	matty_x wrote:
	Can you throw a kit on that bitch?

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2005 Chetak

I would buy one in a heartbeat. Normal cars are far too expensive for what they are.

beetle94707 wrote:

	matty_x wrote:
	Can you throw a kit on that bitch?

Ahem bros. I'd be a'pipen that bitch, milling heads, searchin' for twin SU's, and draggin' out the Dremel to port & polish her up to 45HP no doubt. The modern Mini ... Make a box, stick the wheels on the outside edge, 4 wheel independent baby wheels make a kick-ass ralley round the flag pole car. Sign me up.

I'll have fun driving while the uber liberl, social progressive Gore-ites choke on their pablum of idiotic their vacuous ideals and the right-wing neo-frickin-lithic reverse-Menonites wing-nuts ignore reality while both do their best to support annihilation of the planet by the over-consumption of limited resourses by an ever increasing population as they wait for their respective messiahs, prophets, etc. to return to save their sorry asses.

..{Now where did I put that damned sarcasm switch????}..

Unfortunately it will not be for sale here. The following is now vying for CCITW at $50 cheaper and listen up Gore-ites, the damned thing is GREEN so that makes it cool, right Very Happy

It's all electric, will be here maybe later this year (Thank You China), and saves the planet by also achieving a top speed of 31 mind-blowing miles per hour and that's faster than the planet's glaciers are melting into the sea.

Go Green Very Happy

Go Mean

But GO REAL SLOW Twisted Evil

Introducing the TARA TINY .. http://jalopnik.com/368582/tara-tiny-is-the-new-tata-nano-priced-at-2450

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"I see a big market for designer tin foil head gear..."

"Grow up and stop posting like a 14th Century Vatican Flat Earth Zealot."

...i can't find my sarcasm key either!

...but whats "green" about an electric car?

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i'm uncool. and i'm cool with that.

	Crusader Tom wrote:
	...but whats "green" about an electric car?

A good chance that nothing is unless it's got green paint on it. There is the lack of CO2 while you're driving them, but viewed in the totality of "cost of making the electricity" to run the things ????

Personally, I don't buy the GREEN mantra any more than you do. It is possible that certain things/stuff/methods/processes ... etc are greenER than others. However, our society and our beloved MASSively insane MEDIA deplores such conditional words as greenER. It appears that all things can be expressed as absolutes, or that conversely absolutes do not exist.

Similar to the equally idiotic "Risk Of Death" mantra you have hear from the medical media in reference to certain lifestyle practices. Last time I rolled up the numbers on ye olde end result of having been born is that DEATH was the only absolute that you could count on. Yet, the medical media insists on ignoring this bit of common sense and says .. "If you engage in {insert lifestyle here} then you INCREASE YOUR RISK OF DEATH. Crying or Very sad

Not an early death, because GOD FORBIDE that would be conditional, but the risk of death itself. [apparently some are partaking in immortality that I am unaware of ????]

Obviously I need to return to a good college campus and brush up on language, semantics, mathematical and philosophical logic in order to 'catch up' with these nuances of modern thought and communication Wink

Course I could just turn off that damned TV too, I suppose .... Cool

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"I see a big market for designer tin foil head gear..."

"Grow up and stop posting like a 14th Century Vatican Flat Earth Zealot."

Look at it this way, Chetak in India was about $550

So this thing would have to be around $6,000 to $8,000 here (probably more). DOT wouldn't even think of allowing it on the roads here.

About going green.... whatever.

Some of it is hype, some of it isn't, Here is how I look at it. If we try to reduce pollution and greenhouse gasses and global warming is just a load of (methane producing) B.S., we will have cleaner air and water with a decrease in pollution related diseases (like asthma, cancer etc.) and a better place to live. Now what if Global warming is real and we can have an impact if we do something but fail to act, hello new iceage.

Green is the new red. Conformity is the new individuality. Embracing diversity is unquestioning acceptance. Open minds are those that think like all others.

We wake every day in blatant denial of our demise. Death only happens to other people.

Conclusion? I'd drive the shit out of that car.

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The "X" stands for ex-Chetak owner.

Last edited by matty_x on Wed Mar 25, 2009 10:26 pm; edited 1 time in total

Yeah, to bring one up to US DOT standards, it'd nullify the attractiveness of the low cost.

And the only environmental impact I was referring to was this - if say 50% of people who couldn't afford a car at all are now going to be driving these things, is it a good thing that we're going to have a bazillion new cheap cars on roads and contributing to emissions, smog, landfill waste, and an even more increased demand for oil in the developing world? Does that impact outweigh the potential benefits that this tiny car could provide?

I wasn't trying to make a statement either way on the cost / benefit analysis of "going green". For the most part, I think it's BS too, BTW.

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Mad Toto Scooter Club
www.madtoto.com

what kinda gas mileage does get ?

50 mpg.

Thats 50 miles per gallon ..... or .... 50 more people going in cars. Confused

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"I see a big market for designer tin foil head gear..."

"Grow up and stop posting like a 14th Century Vatican Flat Earth Zealot."

I saw a write upon this and it described the affordability of production being made possible by plastic contruction and use of glue instead of welding even on the metal parts of the frame structure. Very Happy

SOUNDS TUFF. (like the eighties plastic Tonka Toys, not the old school Nylint metal stuff.)

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It was just an innocent gas pump fight...who would know it could be dangerous?

I think that these cars are no going to be much more of a strain on the environment than scooters currently are. They are 4 stroke. so it is possible that many people that have 2 stroke scoots may upgrade to this car. It is comfortable compared to a scoot - with is the primary mode of mechanised transport for the class's that are going to be buying these cars. Safer than an entire family getting on a scoot. I like them. I say bring em on. I think this could have a huge impact. Making a car affordable to those who recently could not afford them. Who knows maybe in a few years it will be even cheaper to have them manufactured in the US and exported to India...?? Look at all the jobs that would create for our "failing economy"

Rob,

The advances we are making materials science, nano-tek, etc. are about to leapfrog our bonding techniques. With new materials and bonding agents will allow us to g'lue' together panels that we can use to make airplanes safer and fly for hundreds of years without repair .. similar changes will effect all transportions vehicles. Metal welding, nuts, bolts, and rivets are now old skool.

AJ,

Holler if I have re-stated your intended question incorrectly.

Here in America we are being offered the same "opportunity" that the Tata Nano represents in India and each will have a huge impact on the future.

A cheaper, greenER car in India will allow their citizens to raise the transportation bar. What say.?. 10 million people move up to a Nano and 10 million more can buy their used Bajaj scoots. All types of benefits and detriments to their society as a whole need be effected by the new dynamic.

We in America are being asked to support our failing economy (as Dan said), auto industry jobs AND to purchase a ..well.. let's just say greenER autos. What say.?. 10 million people here move up to a new Chevy Monza, and 10 million older cars hit the street, allowing us to cascade 10 million (presumably un-green) really old cars into reclamation yards.

Without discussing the good/bad social morality of this, this is a reality and is happening as we speak.

Which society has done the smarter/better thing, or is either a smart choice, or are both equally wrong for different reasons?

Paz Cool

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"I see a big market for designer tin foil head gear..."

"Grow up and stop posting like a 14th Century Vatican Flat Earth Zealot."

beam me up scotty...

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i'm uncool. and i'm cool with that.

rufusswan wrote:

Rob,

The advances we are making materials science, nano-tek, etc. are about to leapfrog our bonding techniques. With new materials and bonding agents will allow us to g'lue' together panels that we can use to make airplanes safer and fly for hundreds of years without repair .. similar changes will effect all transportions vehicles. Metal welding, nuts, bolts, and rivets are now old skool.

AJ,

Holler if I have re-stated your intended question incorrectly.

Here in America we are being offered the same "opportunity" that the Tata Nano represents in India and each will have a huge impact on the future.

A cheaper, greenER car in India will allow their citizens to raise the transportation bar. What say.?. 10 million people move up to a Nano and 10 million more can buy their used Bajaj scoots. All types of benefits and detriments to their society as a whole need be effected by the new dynamic.

We in America are being asked to support our failing economy (as Dan said), auto industry jobs AND to purchase a ..well.. let's just say greenER autos. What say.?. 10 million people here move up to a new Chevy Monza, and 10 million older cars hit the street, allowing us to cascade 10 million (presumably un-green) really old cars into reclamation yards.

Without discussing the good/bad social morality of this, this is a reality and is happening as we speak.

Which society has done the smarter/better thing, or is either a smart choice, or are both equally wrong for different reasons?

Paz Cool

I guess my consideration is that if we in America are buying new green"ER" cars we're, for the most part, trading cars. Current owners will just buy a different car to replace their old one. So those older cars may be reused in the used market, and those that they replaced will find themselves into junkyards or recycled and so forth. The big difference is that we're not going to be putting 10 million NEW cars on the market - meaning cars that were not there before. In India, families / people who were riding scooters and small motorbikes will trade up to a car. One that takes up more space and uses twice as much fuel, oil, rubber, and steel. So, for those 10 million, or whatever number, we'll see a 50% increase in demand for petroleum product. That will be detrimental for us in the US and will certainly present a new set of problems for Indians.

On the flipside, this car will provide opportunity, help build wealth, and probably lead to more innovations down the road.

I dont' have a view or preference on it either way, nor do I assign any morality to the topic. I just thought it was interesting. There isn't much to be done about it either way. It's happening, it's going to happen, and we're just going have to live with it.

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Mad Toto Scooter Club
www.madtoto.com

sounds like this car is going to be India's Volkswagon Beetle

Or Subaru 360

What I like best about the idea of GREEN is the idea that I can be more self-sufficient. I would love to have a all-ICF house (all concrete) with an entire roof of solar shingles and 3-4 vertical wind turbines. I think I could generate $500-$1000 a month of electricity for the grid, pay for my utilities and make a little money on the side on windy sunny days Smile

This will all be done WHEN I hit the lottery . . . tomorrow or . . .yea right.

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Jamie B.
'85 Honda Elite 250 "The She-Beast"
'01 Suzuki DR650
'09 KLR650 - For SALE!

<rant>

The whole notion of "green" is nothing short of mind control.

Note how everything is green now. I went to the car wash the other day and they had suddenly turned green. "Our chemicals are eco-friendly" Bullshit. Their chemicals are perceived as less poisonous when dumped into the ecosystem in a diluted form. Because the solution to pollution is dilution.

Saw a commercial on the TV, some woman selling soap that is now 20% greener. I'm pretty sure she was referring to the color and not to the environmental impact because the only change made to the product was a new marketing tactic. I'm sure the sheepsumerists will feel better about parting with their hard earned money now that they have been spoon fed an excuse to help mitigate their capitalist guilt.

The long and short of it is that the entire notion of "green" is a sham. The only green I see in the whole operation is the cash that corpo's are swindling people out of under the guise of altruism, environmentalism, social responsibility, etc. Reducing your impact on the environment is not something that is conveniently purchased at your local Megalo-Mart for a buck-0-five, consumed and then added to a landfill. Reducing your impact on the environment is a significant change of mentality and lifestyle. It's about DIY and not buy-it-now. It's about repurposing, hacking, voiding warranties, eschewing the status quo and thinking like an individual who was gifted with reason and not with a herd mentality. Want to "go green"? Read a book, try some online tutorials, break a sweat. A "green" marketing label won't save the world. Build your own skills: gardening, circuits, open source, mechanics, LED lights, biodiesel, home brewing. Grow your own. Build your own. Learn yourself.

Now get out there and ride your green machine. That Bajaj is more eco friendly than any Toyota Pious ever.

</rant>

(No offense to Wombat - this isn't intended as a personal attack. Just another crazy on an Intarwebs rant.)

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The "X" stands for ex-Chetak owner.

	Quote:
	Build your own skills: gardening, circuits, open source, mechanics, LED lights, biodiesel, home brewing.

I'm damn near Ed Bagley Jr.!!!!

We had tomato sandwiches out of the garden last night, I've rebuilt all sorts of electronic equipment (including a Trident Pinball machine), I have a 1960 ranchero that I use as a foul weather driver, the lights on my bicycle are LED, our TDI VW is able to burn B80 (if anyone around here sold biodiesel) , and my English style Bitter just went into bottles last week Very Happy

oh, And I ride a Bajaj.

I'll wear underwear for a week before washing it.

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It's better to be silent and let people think you're a fool than to speak and remove all doubt. -- Mark Twain