3 Dumb Things About the Smart Car

The Smart Car started in 1994 as a fashionable mini-car promoted by a joint venture between the Swatch Watch Company and Daimler-Benz called Smart GMBH. However, Smart GMBH was dissolved and brought into the Daimler family in 2006. Intended primarily for tight urban spaces, the Smart Car offers excellent fuel economy for a gasoline-powered car. The Smart Fortwo is powered by a 1-liter, inline 3-cylinder engine that creates 70 horsepower. According to the U.S. EPA at

1. Super Unleaded Fuel. The Smart Car uses Premium Unleaded Fuel. The Mercedes heritage shows through in a desire to drink the best Hi-Test, Premium, High Octane gasoline. Unfortunately, premium gas can be twenty cents more per gallon than regular unleaded. While Smart literature claims that the car gains enough in fuel economy to offset the higher price of gas, I think cheapskate drivers will be put off by the higher fuel cost.

2. Limited Carrying Capacity. According to the 2009 Smart brochure, the Smart Car weighs in at only 1808 pounds with a driver and can weigh up to 2315 pounds. That provides a total payload of only 507 pounds. In the U.S., approximately 2/3 of the population is overweight. This means that many American couples won't be able to ride in the Smart Car together. You'll also never see two rednecks with beer bellies going somewhere in a Smart Car. As a big guy, I can watch my wife and dog drive off in a Smart Fortwo, but I'll have to stay behind.

3. Crashworthiness. While Mercedes makes some of the safest passenger cars in the world and put lots of safety technology in the Smart Car, the Smart Fortwo is still a very small car. In crash tests, the 2009 Smart Car got 4 out of 5 stars for driver safety and 3 out of 5 stars for the passenger in a frontal crash test. In a side impact crash test, the 2009 Smart Car got 5 out of 5 stars, but the door latch failed and allowed the door to come open. This was noted as a safety concern because a door latch failure could increase the likelihood that an occupant could be ejected. Despite electronic stability control, the Smart Fortwo also tested as having a 21% rollover chance which places it among the most rollover-prone passenger cars. Other small cars such as the Kia Rio and Chevy Aveo do considerably better than the Smart Fortwo in crash and rollover testing. For reference, the 2009 Chevy Aveo 5-door hatchback gets 25 miles per gallon city and 34 miles per gallon highway and has 5-star front, 4-star side, and had a 13% rollover chance.

Overall, the Smart Fortwo brings some smart technology to the table and makes a well-appointed super small car available to people living in congested urban areas. The Smart Car has really cool technology like a semi-automatic transmission and paddle shifters in the Passion model. But,for most people, I think there may be some smarter automotive choices than the Smart Car.

Sources:

Smart (automobile), wikipedia.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Car

2009 Vehicles By Smart, http://www.fueleconomy.gov

2009 Smart Fortwo with SAB (Side Airbags), www.safercar.gov

The 2009 Smart fortwo brochure. Smart USA Distributor, LLC. 2009