Most Americans aren’t like me, but I love my Smart car. I got into it late, I thought the cars were really goofy and stupid when they hit the scene. It’s now my favorite car of all that I’ve owned, including my previous Porsche Boxter S. The Smart car was $6k used, it costs a little over $20 to fill up with gas, the 6 gallon tank takes just under a minute. It’s still a manual which I love and it’s so easy to drive. There is no extended hood so you never worry about scraping things when turning. The turning radius is insane by the way; the wheels turn to almost 90 degrees. I only need 1.5 lanes to make a U-turn and the power steering and clutch is very light. It also goes plenty fast which I was concerned about, I don’t feel scared driving on the highway in it at all. It really doesn’t feel small when you’re in it until you look behind and remember that the car just ends as far as your arm can reach. Smarts are made by Mercedes so they’re good quality. It’s a shame they were discontinued in the US, but I’m not surprised at all.
This all sounds amazing… Except having no rear. I was rear ended by a drunk driver and was able to walk away (relatively) unharmed because my trunk was a massive crumple zone able to soak up all the energy.
They surprisingly have high safety ratings. There is a trunk, it even opens like a standard truck, it’s just not very big. The frame doesn’t get crushed, but the car is very light and I’m sure the force of an impact can still cause a lot of damage, or of course the car is more easily pushed into places it shouldn’t go in a crash because it’s so light.
Most Americans aren’t like me, but I love my Smart car. I got into it late, I thought the cars were really goofy and stupid when they hit the scene. It’s now my favorite car of all that I’ve owned, including my previous Porsche Boxter S. The Smart car was $6k used, it costs a little over $20 to fill up with gas, the 6 gallon tank takes just under a minute. It’s still a manual which I love and it’s so easy to drive. There is no extended hood so you never worry about scraping things when turning. The turning radius is insane by the way; the wheels turn to almost 90 degrees. I only need 1.5 lanes to make a U-turn and the power steering and clutch is very light. It also goes plenty fast which I was concerned about, I don’t feel scared driving on the highway in it at all. It really doesn’t feel small when you’re in it until you look behind and remember that the car just ends as far as your arm can reach. Smarts are made by Mercedes so they’re good quality. It’s a shame they were discontinued in the US, but I’m not surprised at all.
This all sounds amazing… Except having no rear. I was rear ended by a drunk driver and was able to walk away (relatively) unharmed because my trunk was a massive crumple zone able to soak up all the energy.
They surprisingly have high safety ratings. There is a trunk, it even opens like a standard truck, it’s just not very big. The frame doesn’t get crushed, but the car is very light and I’m sure the force of an impact can still cause a lot of damage, or of course the car is more easily pushed into places it shouldn’t go in a crash because it’s so light.