The Smart has embarked on a nationwide tour of the U.S.
You can take the Smart Fortwo for a spin a year before it is set to go on sale. We caught the kick-off in California.
Read the full story on the Smart Road Show on Inside Line...
Are you looking forward to the Smart car?
Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor
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I was looking forward to the Smart...until I looked at one on display in LA this past weekend.
The concept of a small, efficient, and personal car for two people really appeals to me. The attention this will garner is a huge selling point. Plus if everyone had these on the road; imagine all the extra space that would free up our freeways from traffic jams? I was totally enthused to buy one.
However, I had the chance to sit in one and try it out on Sunday. My 6'5'' frame is very comfortable, in fact I was able to stretch out as though I was sitting on my living room couch, amazing! However, cheap touches abound; the sunvisors are a hard piece of plastic with no mirrors and don't fold to cover the side windows, the cupholder seemed like a very flimsy afterthought in the console that was begging to come loose, and there were very few storage areas. This would be fine in a car that was $10k, but the basic Passion model that was on display was $14k! That's Yaris/Fit and even Elantra/Focus territory. Those cars all have larger engines, nearly match the fuel economy ratings of the SMART, have back seats, and offer the backing of established manufacturers nationwide.
I still love the SMART, and if I had $14k to throw around, it would be a hoot! But as my primary car, for my hard-earned money, there are better alternatives.
I think it's a good little car I have one on order, 40mpg beats the 16mpg my truck gets. back and forth to work. we need more little cars
They sell for $14? Wow. No thanks.
They can't price them like Fits. They have to price them like Aveos.
I might pick a Smart over an Aveo, but no way would I pick one over a Fit.