Wednesday, June 21, 2006

What kind of car??

This is my Dad in Rome... what kind of car is he pointing at? Anyone know??

12 comments:

  1. I don't know!...but I want it! It's so adorable!!!

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  2. It looks like a crunched up Beetle. Hmmm, maybe a Fiat or a Peugeot? Renault?

    I don't know!! I'm not very car savvy, especially when it comes to European cars.

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  3. Your dad is so cute. That might be the "Smart" car... those are built by a subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz. Not sure though!

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  4. that's the latest MicroMachine model.:p why? you wanna buy one? lol.

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  5. Nope.
    I have a smartcar and it doesn't look like that.

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  6. I don't know but your dad is hot!

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  7. Is a motorcicle. In Spain are various companies making them, Piaggio, Vauxhal (or something similar). You can drive them WITHOUT a licence as they are 50 cc.... but (always there is one) they are tooooo expensive.

    Montse

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  8. Oh I love Roma!
    What a beautiful city.

    I love Italy because you find ice cream parlors everywhere that sell Vegan soya ice cream, sometimes with soya whip cream. And I just love the fact that the food is so good and there's so many vegan pizzas you can eat there at every corner bakery.

    Morrissey lives there now. I need to go stalk him soon!

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  9. This may surprise you but that is not an European car at all. In fact it is a micro car, as much as it sounds as a joke. They are not produced by big euro car manifacturer: they are often produced in Asia (Korea and Japan). Those cars have really small engines and do not go faster than 50 km/hour. They are allowed only for in city usage and they are thought to be driven also without a full driving licence, since their usage is really limited (and by law they are not considered cars: they just look like!).

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  10. Cool!
    Thanks for all the info.

    Do you know the car's make?

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  11. T, you can drive them as a bike (if you see the pic it is parked in a bike parking area) and, at least in Spain, you can use them in non fast roads as if you were driving a 50 cc motorcicle. In fact, the ones you see here can run faster than 50 km/h, about 80/90 km/hour is fair normal.

    Here you can find, minivans (three-wheelers) also in this fashion, really useful in the city.

    The ones I have seen here are Europe made (Piaggio are the most popular), but I am sure the Asiatic market is doing their best to (hopefully) sold them cheaper (6000 € for a bike is quite too much now).

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  12. Hey Sarah, I have looked and looked, but could not find the make. As Pituto mentioned, Piaggio makes a lot of them (and virtually ALL the three wheeled old fashions Apes you can see in Italy which have now cult status!), together with Lieger(absolutely most selling Euro make) and another French make. And then there is a million Asian makers I would not really recognize.

    Anyhow, as Pituto says, these SHOULD have a driving speed of max 50 km/hr, as for all 50 cc motorbike engines (however, this little car has a proper seat and all), but as with most motocycles with those engines, they... cough cough cough.... erm... drive at 80 or 90.... which is not really legal, but what the heck!

    Now, I am pretty shocked at how much I have learnt about engines in the years... I do not even know how to ride a (human powered) bike!

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