There are more than eight million people squeezed
into New York City, which doesn't leave a lot of room
for autos. Our solution? Think small. (To paraphrase
Frank Sinatra: If you can park it there, you can park it
anywhere.) . Illustration by
Kyser.
EVERYBODY HAS AN OPINION on whether
New Yorkers should own cars. At the mere mention that I was
thinking about ponying up the bucks to buy (or lease) four
wheels of my own, a friend who lives upstate insisted that
it would be too much of a pain, saying that if I live in
the city, I should stick with public transportation - why
subject myself to car payments and parking hassles? But,
oh, the dream of a car. Of having a small space of my own
in which I could be out in the world, blasting '80s music
(sans headphones), without having to wait, wait, wait for a
train, a bus, a this, a that. Of skedaddling from town at a
moment's notice (if the traffic isn't too bad) without
checking the Long Island Rail Road timetable. Plus, to be
honest, sometimes I just get sick of rolling jugs of cat
litter home in my grannyish shopping cart. Oh, for the
chance to go to Target, to buy the giant tub of litter and
an eight-pack of paper towels and be done with such
shopping for a while! My dreams had been deferred for far
too long. It was time for an experiment in big-city auto
ownership. I borrowed three small cars - perfect for
swooping into the smaller-than-they-appear parking spaces
in my neighborhood - and a Segway Personal Transporter,
capable of terrifying small dogs at 12.5 mph. Here's how
they, and I, fared.
THE VEHICLE: HONDA
FIT
THE LENGTH: JUST OVER 13
FEET
THE PERSONALITY: PEPPY LITTLE
BUGGER
MSRP: $13,950
A pathetic admission: Upon delivery of the Fit, I headed straight
to a
Starbucks 20 blocks from my apartment. And then I went to the
mall. Yes, it seems that the real reason I want a car is to live an
adult version of my suburban
New Jersey youth.
But the joy that quick ride brought! A first flash of freedom. The
gray skies were threatening to drop some drizzle, and I didn't even
have to weigh the pros and cons of making a trip against the chance
that I could get caught at a shelterless bus stop in the rain. And
if I'd purchased some item but hadn't wanted to drag it back up to
my apartment, I could've left it in the car overnight (one of the
truly great car things that most auto owners don't even think
about). Tooling down the street in the rather roomy
Honda
Wheel Talk › All New
Yorkers
are obsessed with real estate
prices, but car-owning borough
residents are the truly obsessed.
They talk about parking and
insurance prices and day trips
with wild (and sometimes boring)
abandon. Two writers have
put their own spin on the
topic.
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Calvin Trillin's charming novel
Tepper Isn't Going Out is a great
way for non-New Yorkers to learn about borough residents' quest for
a bit of personal space. The Alternate Side Parking Reader log
(
alternatesideparking
.blogspot.com) is one woman's
exploration into New York City
life with a car (and life in general).Fit, I envisioned a week of
stuffing the hatchback full of necessities. Within minutes, I
started panicking about the end of the experiment: How would I be
able to give up all this freedom?
That feeling lasted until I returned home, a venti soy latte in my
driver's-side cup holder. Then a new sense of dread came over me:
It was time to parallel park, an activity I had pretty much avoided
for the past 14 years. Though I rent cars when I travel, most of
the places I go feature wide-open spaces and lots of lots. That is
far from the story in my Queens neighborhood, where people will jam
a car into a spot from which even the guys in that annoying Mentos
commercial couldn't dislodge a vehicle. My goal was to find a spot
within four blocks of my apartment - in any direction - that didn't
require an early-morning move for street cleaning. Don't worry, the
story has a happy ending. It took me just 15 minutes to find a
place, and I made fast work of the actual parking. I was back up on
the horse, and it was a good horse.
THE VERDICT: The Fit makes sense for daily
life and is comfy enough for a serious road trip. I'd buy one,
though not in the dreadful Blaze Orange Metallic of the test car.
Eek. Make mine Nighthawk Black Pearl, please.
THE VEHICLE: SMART
FORTWO
THE LENGTH: 8.8
FEET
THE PERSONALITY: CLASS CLOWN -
WITH A
HEART
MSRP: $11,590
If you haven't been to
Europe or
Canada lately, there's a chance
you haven't seen a Smart Fortwo yet. Be prepared for the onslaught.
The "cuter than a
Volkswagen Bug" two-seaters will go on sale in
the
United States in 2008 and are sure to inspire enough media and
chatter to make Suri Cruise jealous of all the attention.
Within minutes of driving the Smart Fortwo, I felt like I had
adopted a dog and become its spokesperson, and, quite frankly, I
didn't mind. It's nice to tool around in a vehicle that makes
people smile. While I would normally be put off by strangers
knocking on my car, asking to take pictures of me and my car (or,
in this case, of my car and me) or asking questions about my car
(number one question asked by guys: How much horsepower does it
have?), it was hard to be annoyed in the Fortwo. (I mean, really,
from the front, the headlights and grille look like a smiling
face.)
I even got to experience a moment of true tiny-car euphoria. One
morning, when I went to move the Fortwo before the street cleaning,
a
Mini Cooper owner in my neighborhood was standing Smartside,
looking completely jealous. "I thought I had the smallest car in
the neighborhood," he muttered.
Of course, euphoria crashed when I got cocky and parked in a
nobody-else-can-fit space that my friendly local meter maid deemed
too close to the end of the block. Small car, big ticket. Feh.
THE VERDICT: Smart Fortwo is a blast, but
unless you have a second car, pack light for road trips, or really
want it just for popping around town, it's not the most useful
vehicle on the planet. I'd still consider buying it, though - it's
so cute, and I'm a sucker for good packaging.
THE VEHICLE: TOYOTA
YARIS
THE LENGTH: LESS THAN 13
FEET
THE PERSONALITY: NOT FLASHY
BUT
DEFINITELY A HARD WORKER
MSRP: $11,300
Alas, poor Yaris, I didn't get to know youquite as well.
Winter weather was not kind to the Yaristest. A day or so after I
got the keys, a stormdropped ice aplenty - even SUV ownershad
trouble getting around. But after thesounds of spinning tires died
down a bit andsome shovel-wielding guys in my neighborhoodhelped me
unearth the car's tires andpushed me out of the spot, Yaris gave me
afine day outing and a couple of good erranddays. First, I headed
out to Brooklyn for awinter tour of the Coney Island
boardwalk.Yaris handled the bumps and serious potholesof the
winter-worn highway very well.And, the head-roomiest car of the
lot, it felta lot airier (in a good way) than any of its
testcompetitors. But Yaris really shined when Iwent on the big-box
shopping circuit in myborough. This car holds a ton of stuff.
THE VERDICT: While Yaris doesn't get abunch
of style points - it lacks the pizzazz ofthe Fit and the cute
factor of the Smart Fortwo- it is the most comfortable, and
somehowit inspired me to feel that I would get awhole lot done if I
owned it. It doesn't say"go out and have fun," but it does say
"yourlife will be easier." Not such a bad thing.
THE VEHICLE: SEGWAY PERSONALTRANSPORTER
THE LENGTH:
19 INCHES
THE PERSONALITY: A STAND-UP GUY WHOLOVES
SUNSHINE
MSRP: $5,145
I named my Segway "Zeb." Yes, of all thewheeled things I
tested, this was the onlyone that inspired me to give it a name.
Ihave yet to figure out why I chose a namebetter suited to a
Mennonite farmer than toa piece of technology, but so be it.
And I'm pleased to report that Zebproved my initial fears wrong - I
did notin any way feel foolish standing tall and zippingthrough the
neighborhood in search ofthe best price on tofu. Instead, I ended
uptalking to more people in the course of thethree days I had the
thing than I had in thetwo years I lived in there pre-Segway. Both
young and old -and just about everybody I passed - had a comment
about good old Zeb: "I love that thing!" "I want one!" I felt the
same way. To be fair, there was one naysayer - a cranky lady who
chided me for riding it on the incredibly wide sidewalks down the
main street of my neighborhood. (I took to the streets when traffic
wouldn't threaten my life.) But the Segway stopped and turned so
fluidly that I didn't get in anybody's way. Take that, cranky lady!
The only problem: the cold. In winter, traveling at 12.5 mph can be
a chilly ride. The
VERDICT: I want one, but — and this is a big but — not in New York. If I lived in
California or some other warm-weather state, I’d find a way to Segway up. It rivals the Smart Fortwo on the fun scale, and though you can’t exactly carry home a huge load of groceries on it, it’s perfect for wandering around. It’s not a car replacement, but it is a wondrous thing in itself.