Smart Cars – Tiny, Cheap, and related to Swatch
You’ve seen them – those little toasters on wheels that look capable of seating 0.75 normal-sized human beings. They’re called Smart cars. Most of them get gas mileage somewhere around 40 miles-per-gallon and can hold two people, but rarely have I seen a passenger in one. Prices range from $12,000 to $16,000, but some dealer websites have souped up versions with retail prices upwards of $22,000! Keep in mind that things like air conditioning, power steering, and a radio are optional on the lower priced models.
The Smart automobile company was originally started when Swatch (maker of those crazy watches Punky Brewster used to where three at a time) CEO Nicolas Hayek teamed with Daimler-Benz in 1994 to create a micro-sized automobile. Cost overruns sent Swatch ticking into the sunset and Mercedes-Benz took control of the struggling outfit in 2006. Profitability is still a struggle as these little cars are popping up in more and more countries each year.
With dealerships in the U.S. now, they are more common on the road, but think twice before assuming a Smart car is a step towards being more green. Unless you are always traveling by yourself anyway, the idea of four large male adults driving four individual Smart cars to a baseball game is a lot less efficient than traveling together in a single 4-door sedan that gets 25 mpg.
We always encourage thinking at Dinner Topics, so just because some German car company markets a drive-able breadbox as a way into a better life doesn’t mean you should start writing a check. Do you homework and decide if it’s right for you. For the record, many of the reviews on Smart cars are fairly positive and they usually test high in safety ratings, although all the 5-star ratings in the world still can’t convince me to get on the expressway with one of those things with a semi barreling down on me.
Read on:
U.S. News & World Report – reviews and rankings for the 2009 smart ForTwo
Wikipedia.org – Smart (automobile)
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I see a lot of these around here (Wash DC metro area). Not good for highway driving, no, but good for city driving and city **parking**. They also remind me of the teeny-weeny European cars (some on 3 wheels!) I used to see in London!