Like the Smart car? You’ll love the Tata

Good day all. Today I’m going to discuss automobiles. In this case, the Indian Tata Nano. This is a very cheap car made for the Indian market, and is designed to compete with scooters and motorcycles.

Well, guess what? The Tata corporation has announced they’re going to export this underpowered little deathtrap to the United States market. The car is currently powered by a two cylinder, two stroke rear mounted engine. The transmission is a 4-speed manual and it has a maximum speed 65 miles per hour. What they don’t say is that achieving the maximum speed takes a little longer than most people are used to. Basically, if you floor it on the first of the month, you will reach the top end speed sometime around the end of the following month. You can increase the acceleration rate if you drop it off the top of the Hancock Tower ((The John Hancock Tower)), and attach a JATO ((Jet Assisted Take Off)) rocket to it…Maybe.

Since the Tata Motor company wanted to make this thing as inexpensively as possible, they did cut a few corners.

• The Nano’s trunk is only accessible from inside the car, as the rear hatch does not open.
• One windscreen wiper instead of the usual pair
• No power steering, unnecessary due to its light weight
• Three lug nuts on the wheels instead of the usual four
• Only one wing mirror
• Radio or CD player is optional
• No airbags on any model
• 624cc rear engine has only 2 cylinders
• No air conditioning in base model

From what I’ve seen on some of the pictures, the crumple zones ((How Crumple Zones Work)) are located inside the passenger compartment. This would make installing an air bag a moot point. The car does meet the emission standards of India. Of course they won’t even come close to the American standards. If you’ve ever been near a working 2-stroke engine, you’ll see why in about 3 seconds.

The base model runs around $2000-$3000USD, but if this thing is upgraded for the American market, the price will have to go up. Right off the bat, they will have to make the Nano a bit larger for a 4-stroke engine with anti-pollution devices, airbags and actual safety features that don’t rely on the passengers to absorb the impacts. At a guess, this will add at least another $7000USD to the base model. Also, with a standard engine, the mileage will go down as well.

I have no doubt that someone will buy these little things. I have seen Smart cars, (driven by reincarnated Kamikaze pilots), traveling on the highway, usually in the slow lane. I consider them to be a danger and a road hazard. These little toy cars are fine in crowded cities, but most people in America spend a lot of time on the Interstate highway system. The Nano will just get in the way.

One of the common jokes among American car owners, when talking about these four wheel pedal cars, is that the biggest problem is pulling them out of their grill work. (usually big rig drivers) If this go-cart shows up on American roads, I suspect that even Mrs. Webmaster will be making a similar comment. (She drives a Honda Civic)

Now I am not in favor of regulating these things off our roads. If some idiot wants to drive one, let them. When they get killed, the families can just bury the squashed remains in the family plots. It will be a lot cheaper than buying a coffin. *evil grin*

Thatisall

~The Angry Webmaster~

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Postscript

As I was writing this post, I had a picture of the aftermath of a Nano vs deer collision. The deer will probably get up, dust himself off and continue on his his way. The Nano and it’s passengers will be hauled away to the county morgue in the back of a small pickup truck. (The Darwin theory of survival of the fittest)