San Jose Mercury News columnist Bruce Newman cruises on Highway 101 in San Mateo recently in his new convertible Smart car. (Maria J. Avila / Mercury News)
San Jose Mercury News columnist Bruce Newman cruises on Highway 101 in San Mateo recently in his new convertible Smart car. (Maria J. Avila / Mercury News)
I really don’t get the Smart Car, but if people like it, they should feel free to buy it.
I guess it’s a pretty cheap car, but not as cheap as it looks like it should be.
My Prius acts like a normal car, average in acceleration and handling, and gets much better gas mileage than the Smart Car. But my Prius did cost more than a Smart car.
Fixed it.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I saw one on the road the other day.
It looked ridiculous.
...and I drive a Honda Element.
I’d be scared to death to take on of those roller skates out on an interstate.
...and I drive a Honda Element.
If it truly was a ‘smart’ car it would come from the factory with handles for the pall bearers to grab.
I wonder how it would look with NRA bumper stickers?
Saw one at the Post Office the other day. There are 2 in our little community!
I’m waiting until they import the roadster that I saw all over Germany. That is one sexy SMART. Otherwise, ho-hum.
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I’m another one that doesn’t get the Smart car. It’s not particularly cheap or fuel efficient or sporty. You could buy a Yaris for less money and get nearly the same fuel efficiency, plus you’d have room for passengers or groceries.
Yes it is better to cruise onto a highway and expect other drivers to slow down so you can merge in at 25MPH.
I bet all the women love a man driving one of these. What a great pickup car. lol
It's not just a question of being crushed by a passing Peterbilt, as the writer archly puts it. You could be flattened by a Honda Civic in that thing. Also, the low profile puts your head right in the plane of impact.
I used to investigate MV accidents, and I have no desire to wind up on somebody else's clipboard at the morgue on account of trying to save a few bucks on gas.
Not to mention that the price of the thing is so inflated that it would take the entire depreciable life of the car to get your money back. You'd be better off saving the money up front and buying a Toyota Corolla or better yet an old Volvo four-banger with good crashworthiness AND mileage figures.
“but did it really have to take 13 seconds to get up to freeway speed?”
That Tonka Toy shoulden’t be allowed on the freeway!!!
If you want a tiny car, you might as well be cool about it.
I actually saw someone driving one of these on the highway. Rush’s song ‘in a Yugo’ comes to mind.
Should anyone want more zip my cousin says he can drop a 400 HP V12 engine in one of these. A little bit will stick out of some but it’ll solve you acceleration problems.
There are a couple of these things running up and down I-270 in Maryland each day. They look exactly like clown cars.