Antique & Classic Cars Blog
New Car for $2500?
Saturday, January 12th, 2008You probably saw the piece on India’s Tata Nano, which will sell new for about $2500. Wow. I paid $2300 for a ten-year-old British car in 1982. And the Nano gets 50 miles per gallon.
Many concerns in translating such a tot to our roads–emissions, crash safety–but it’s an interesting development. Maybe your kids will be chatting it up decades from now on the Classic Tata Nano site….
11 Responses to "New Car for $2500?"
I think it’s awesome. I’m a bit disappointed in the fuel economy though- you’d think that something that small could do better. Still, it handily beats the status quo here in the U.S. of A.
Yeah mileage surprised me too. The car looks a lot smaller than some cars with a lot more horsepower that make around 40.
Yet higher mileage comes in part from advanced ignition that’s maximizing the energy in each droplet of gasoline. This is a super-low-budget car so that degree of refinement is absent.
I read in one piece that raised emissions standards could be a problem for it, which furthers the theory of combustion waste.
I hope this points to an early mini-car future. The sooner behemoths are off the road and melted down for scrap, the better. Agree re fuel economy — very far from optimal.
The price is right, though. As we decouple from 20th century ideas of the car in response to the end of cheap energy, they’ll get astonishingly smaller and cheaper.
About the name: for unintentional hilarity, this one’s up there with Nova. A fleet of Tatas, eh? Where’s Benny Hill when you need him?
Name is a chuckle. Could have several meanings, none of them vetted for English-speaking consumers. \’Course the fact that anyone with an ambitious product is now saddled with the prospect of conducting an international trademark and word-meaning investigation is just another cost plaguing such ventures.
I think young people might have it right with skateboarding. It\’s exercise, it\’s pollution free, you can carry the vehicle in with you and you can do all sorts of tricks you wouldn\’t try at the wheel of your Chevrolet or the handlebars of your Kawasaki.
Fit a lightweight motor–maybe electric, linked to some solar panels in a bandana or backwards baseball cap, some skis and snow tires for the winter and, man, we could revolutionize commuting. Maybe even a skateboarding lane in the skyways to make up the time you lose commuting in on \’board.
This car actually reminds me of my first car, a Subaru Justy. It ran on three cylinders, got great gas mileage ($10 bucks to fill ‘er up!) and was 4-wheel-drive on the fly. I paid $1,000 for that car and drove it all over the West. When I finally landed in Minneapolis I sold it for a couple of hundred bucks to a painter with 250,000 miles on it.
I also read in a book that there was an overproduction of these cars (because the car was not selling in the American market) so some were purchased and cut in half to make hot dog stands.
Small cars rule.
(quote) “…some were purchased and cut in half to make hot dog stands.”
Love it. If you can’t claim some connection to Carroll Shelby or Nuvolari or the Mille Miglia, then you may as well throw down the hot dog-stand gauntlet. If not a car to fill grandstands, then at least one to fill tummies, eh?
Where and when could I purchase India’s new “Tata Nano” car?
You’ll have a bit of a wait. It isn’t approved for US sale–apparently it will not meet our emissions and safety regs in its current form.
It’s coming though–or at least smaller, more fuel efficient cars are coming. The Smart car, so widely sold in Europe, is already here in small numbers.
It’s a great idea whose time has come. People can go on about safety with such a small car, but what’s there to say? Scooters are becoming very popular for commuting and a four-wheel vehicle with a passenger compartment is inherently safer than that.
http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/section/news/
What Kind of Car do you drive?
In summer a 1969 MGB GT. In winter, my wife and I mainly use her ‘96 VW Golf or, when we both need cars (or for hauling), a 1994 Dodge Dakota pickup truck.
Hi
I like your idea of gathering an antique collection of cars. Its a very good habit.
rocky
Please leave a comment
MotorMouth Kris Palmer, freelance auto writer and editor, blogs about vintage cars, the collectible auto scene and just about anything else that goes vroom.
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