I’ve seen the unmodified versions of these things after a highway crash, and I seriously question his definition of “safe”.

If you look up the average highway fatality stats before and after CAFE standards went into effect, you’ll see what I mean…

Posted at 2:53 pm on Jun 16th, 2008 by James

This thing can’t seriously be street legal, can it?

Posted at 3:22 pm on Jun 16th, 2008 by Jeffs3rd

Getting higher gas mileages isn’t that hard to do. Cars could be produced that get up to the 60~70 mpg range by stripping off all the heavy protective framework. But those cars would get destroyed in accidents, and never meet the required safety standards to be put into production.

Recently though, they’ve started designing cars to ‘crumble’ in a controlled fashion, to improve crash ratings while remaining light, but are still fairly expensive. Or you could make your own and just pray you never get hit.

Posted at 3:22 pm on Jun 16th, 2008 by Kit

*.Safe
*.Fuel Efficient
*.Cheap

… pick two

Posted at 3:43 pm on Jun 16th, 2008 by twistedsymphony

@1: The NHTSA crash test ratings for later Metros are actually pretty good. The early ones like this one aren’t so hot, though.

@2: Why not? He hasn’t modified any of the required safety equipment. It’s still got bumpers, headlights, and tail lights. Why wouldn’t it be legal if the original car was?

Actually, this may shock you, but in most states you can actually *build your own car* from scratch and license it for road use as long as it passes a basic inspection.

Posted at 4:34 pm on Jun 16th, 2008 by Orv

This can’t be any more unsafe than cruising down the road at mock chicken on a moped.
And to refine #5 to explain why the Prius gets less mpg than this unit-
safe or lightweight

Posted at 4:54 pm on Jun 16th, 2008 by alfiesauce

@6: Yeah, true, compared to a motorcycle this thing is extremely safe. ;)

Posted at 5:18 pm on Jun 16th, 2008 by Orv

And 4 season friendly for those of us who have to deal with winter 10 months of the year.

Posted at 6:04 pm on Jun 16th, 2008 by alfiesauce

Norway:

Unleaded 95: $9,90/gallon
Diesel: $10,16/gallon

Think I’ll strip down my car now..

Posted at 7:04 pm on Jun 16th, 2008 by tanntraad

This car could make a great base for an electric conversion. It’s already light and low drag, and with all the space on the passenger side for the battery box, and posible a generator for series hibrid use, you could get some serious range.

Posted at 8:24 pm on Jun 16th, 2008 by giskard

If my geo metro wasn’t my only source of transportation, i might consider doing something like this to it. last year it cost $20 twice a month to fill the tank, but now it’s more like $35…

Posted at 10:38 pm on Jun 16th, 2008 by Dean

There is street legal and legal to sell in large scale. In most States if the car retains the basic safety items to pass annual inspection, along with the emissions inspection, modified cars generally are considered street legal. Then of course the is my home State Kansas that has no annual vehicle inspections of any kind. However that doesn’t mean you can get by not having basic safety items if LE notes that there not there.

As far back as 1974 cars where designed so the sheet metal crumple to absorb the crash energy. The fact that a car has terrible looking damage after an accident doesn’t really mean that car is inherently unsafe.

I have to be sure a person capable of creating custom transmission gears, would also be able to retain the car’s crash safety features.

Both the manufacturers and the vehicle buyers share the blame. Even if the manufacturer did offer economical auto, the buyer gets rid of them the moment it becomes affordable to consume more. Perhaps that’s about to change as gas here in the US moves onto $5

Posted at 10:43 pm on Jun 16th, 2008 by static

@9
For comparion, here are the Danish prices right now:

unleaded 92: 11.65 DKK/liter or 9.19 USD/gallon
unleaded 98: 11.97 DKK/liter or 9.44 USD/gallon
diesel: 11.35 DKK/liter or 8.95 USD/gallon

Posted at 7:23 am on Jun 17th, 2008 by Rune

Are there any good resources for aeromodding or on basic aerodynamics out there?

Posted at 3:59 pm on Jun 17th, 2008 by KP

you can lower the drag coefficient of a civic hatchback anywhere from .26 all the way to a crazy .17
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/aerocivic-how-drop-your-cd-0-34-0-a-290.html

Posted at 4:21 pm on Jun 17th, 2008 by tim