Wrong again

The new issue of Popular Science has a cover story that raises my ire. "Where's My Flying Car?"

It's at gulfstream, along with mine.

I was going to overlook this egregious lack of originality until I got to page 18, in the What's New | Cars section. It says, "SUB-SUBCOMPACTS Inexpensive and efficient, the smallest cars are finally available in the U.S." Nope, wrong again. Feel free to do a google search on kei cars, or better yet, just check out the wikipedia page. Or I can just tell you about it. A kei car is a special kind of car, typically Japanese (but not always) that fit an important niche in the automotive market. These cars are especially small and gutless but are thriftier on fuel than my old Chevrolet Metro. The engines are not allowed to be over 660 cubic centimeters, they can't be over about 5 feet wide, and their length is not to exceed about 11 feet.

Popular Science lists the "Most Compact" model as the Toyota Yaris, at 12.5 feet long, 5.5 feet wide, and it has a 1500 cubic centimeter engine. If it were up to me, I'd have an R1 or something similar. While it is not specifically a keicar, I'd look bad ass in a Nissan Figaro. Sadly they are no longer in production. Even more fun would be a Suzuki Cappuccinno, also no longer in production. Alas the good* people at the NTSB say nay.


* By good I of course mean good for nothing.