You're living in a bubble SM...

These vehicles you keep speculating about are horribly impractical for the real world. In Southern California they would get mangled...in the Northeast they would be frozen to death on a trip to the market....in Arizona they would be baked like a potato with their innards swelling...

You need to get out and around a bit...take a bus tour of the USA see some of the ways people live and commute.

As a California native I can tell you that from New Porsche Beach to Chu-lowrider Vista, these vehicles will never pass muster. These areas LOVE cars they LIVE cars - a car is a direct extension of their personality and self-worth in these regions.

Yes, the Ed Begley Jr's of the world may buy some of these deathtraps...but they account for a very small number indeed. In short the maker of the vehicles would quickly be out of business. Look at the massive failure of the EV1! No one wants a tiny contraption...well almost no one!

The SUV market grew substantially when GM shut down their full size plants in Texas which were producing Fleetwoods, Impala SS and a host of other big (sort of by my standards) cars.

Lincoln shrunk its Town Car in 98 - again forcing the big car buyers into the present mid-size Town Cars or into the bigger SUV's. Message: Bigger IS better.

I have a number of convertibles - and the reality is - out here in Arizona they have much less use to me than they did in SoCal...because 6 months out of the year it's just to hot to drive topless and the radiation would quickly promote skin cancer.

Lesson learned: Each environment has its transportation of choice. In Scottsdale, here I have never seen so many Town Cars and 93-95 Fleetwoods in my life...they even outnumber the ones you might see La Jolla, CA or Newport Beach - because the older driver wants a larger car. Literally, at a busy four way intersection you may spot 4 or five at any given time! None of these people would EVER buy one of these contraptions and they have the bucks to pretty much by whatever strikes their fancy. Imports are very rare here - small cars are rare here. It is 6 hours from LA yet the transportation needs are ENTIRELY different.

Richard Straman has made a great living in Costa Mesa, CA chopping off the roofs of cars and turning them into well-fit professional convertibles. That's great if one's cruising around South Coast Plaza - but he would not sell nearly so many in Scottsdale - even though the income disparity would be nil.

These tiny fuel-misers you seek are swell and fine for someone who doesn't drive much or drives inside a bubble - or among a bunch of cyclists in China or in some burg with a population of 3000.

In Canada I would imagine the owner of the contraption you posted would freeze half to death most of the year depending on his locale. Where does he put his groceries? How does he pick his mother up from the airport?

The bottom line is - it is a TOY.

He would need another car or would have to use public transportation anyway to do all these other things!

The insurance companies will make it so expensive to insure that you could easily afford a normal car and gas! Perhaps Raoul could give us some guesstimates.

So unless you want to ride unprotected and "naked". These things will end up costing you more than picking up a normal, safer, more practical car.

I hope you win the Canadian lottery - and pick up a Suburban and a Koenig Twin-Turbo - or a RUF Porsche you can race John for pinks at this wonderful highway I know...

SDAI-Tech1

Once you feel the wind tearing your hair out at 130mph going topless - there is no going back to bicycles...