The Smart Car
 

We have seen many on the roads of France. Tonight on 60 minutes, Andy Roonie drove one around. They are not available here. Do any on our French posters have one? They sell, roonry said, for 15,000 dollars. Does anyone remember the Messerschmit(?)they had only three wheels and were the fad here in Boston til after awhile, the closing of the clubs at curfew brought out the pranksters who lifted the car up and would move them on the sidewalks or some ridiculous place. The same thing happened with the simple scooters but they were mostly stolen.

We saw one of those three-wheeled cars last year in England. Had never seen one before. Someone also told me the Smart Cars are available in California. Don't know if that's true or not. :)

Smart Cars are not available in California, but three wheel Sparrow cars are made here and are legal to drive on freeways:
http://www.sparrowelectriccars.com/about.html

Doesn't the Smart Car have 4 wheels? I saw one in the Netherlands in 2001 and thought they were a perfect car for two. Didn't ride in it tho, just took pictures and gawked at it. Peace.

Robyn

yes, the smart car has four.

we saw it too. Mimi! I loved when he perpendicular parked!! I've seen them all over the UK and France and for city driving, I think they'd be great.This country better find a way to conserve natural resources. Every time I see a Hummer I want to chastise the driver for gluttony!

I do remember the Messerschmitt..we must be in the same age group!!!!!

:)

judy, there's an old saying, "just because the lights are out, doesn't mean the current is turned off."

An agency I onced worked with had a Smart Car for its company car. It was a good city runabout car, but it's pretty noisy and there's no storage room to speak of. The Ford Ka is not much bigger yet is more comfortable and practical, IMHO.

When walking down rue Jacob which is not the widest street in Paris, we would count all the little Smarts parked along the sidewalks. I thought they were adorable and looked almost like you could bring it into the house when you got home :)
I cannot imagine driving one anywhere but in a European city, here on the mega highways of the US, I would be terrified of being squashed by an SUV.
When James Lipton ( Actors Studio) did an anniversary show in Paris, which was also a show where he received an award from the French, he drove a Smart ( or as I call them, a Smartie:)

btike, the ones I have seenn werenot noisy? I wouldnt like them if they were.

They were noisy on the inside, especially once you got up to a decent speed.
Wasn't it Trent Lott who waved a picture around of the Smart Car during a Senate speech, calling them the "purple people eater"?

My friend and I rented a Smart Car this last May and had lots of fun driving it all over the Sorrento area. It is not as noisy as a VW bug and drives really well once you figure it out.

I loved it and would rent one again, but not for the autostrada!

SeaUrchin: Am envious. These cars have been the hit of our family vacations--and all we do is count them! Love Scarlett's comment about bringing it into the house. It does look as though it should be a family pet.

For those that are interested in what these cars look like - I found the below listed link online. Seems there are plans to market these in the U.S.

We were in Rome last month and saw these very cool (and practical - at least for Rome) all over the place.

http://www.zapworld.com/cars/smartCar.asp

Ken

We had a teeny weeny Honda in the mid 70's. They came in orange (ours), yellow, blue, etc. They had a very large back window. There were several in town. After about 3 years they all had duct tape holding in the back window (ours, too). Had a serpintine belt that did everything under the hood. When it broke the little dear shut down. Dreadful chore to replace. We sold it. New owner burned up the engine on I-75.

My 15-year old daughter loves Smart cars! She wanted to bring one home in her suitcase from her Italian trip. When my parents went to Italy last year, they brought her back a Matchbox-sized model of one. She still wants a "real" size Smart car, though.

I saw one in Florida while we were on vacation, and my husband saw one this weekend in our neighborhood, without doors.

It cracked me up to see those Smart cars in Rome squeezed into the teeniest of parking spaces, parking not lengthwise along the curb like regular cars, but at right angles to it!

I heard that Smart cars are going to be available in the US - is that true?
( or maybe it was Swatch cars? )

They're so cute, but I don't think they'd fare too well in a collision with an SUV.

There were plans to sell the Smart car in the U.S. but those plans fell through.

I read that Smart Cars can't be sold in the US because they don't meet fuel and safety regulations here. The good news was that Daimler Chrysler (sp?) was working on it.

Because I don't think the car would hold a week's worth of groceries for my four boys, I'm afraid I can't buy one until I 'retire'.

A company here in Santa Rosa, CA has the US marketing rights. They are in the process of developing a dealer group.

Sonoma County is a good place to get a sense of market demand, as Northern Californians would probably be receptive to the car.

I liked them as well as the three wheel trucks made by Vespa.

We fit a medium sized Italian man and a case of wine in our Smart "trunk".

Some bags groceries should fit...

The Smart cars that you see here in the US were brought over from Europe. I can only imagine what it costs to ship them here! Problably more than the price of the car, do you think?

Hi

I first saw the Smart car when my wife and I visited Amsterdam and Paris in 1999. In Paris we even saw a couple that had gotten married and they drove of together in a Smart car :-) The Smart cars are not very common here in Norway and I guess the concept is that this is a big city car. In a big city in Europe you don't really need a car that goes fast but you need a car that is small enough to park everywhere. And it only has two seats and I guess it makes sense because most people do drive around alone in the cars. I had the pleasure of trying one of the SMart cars here in Norway and it was a fun car. The only problem is the gear system in my opinion...it was one of those semi automatic system where the car indicates when the gear shift should happen and yet there is no clutch. I have a picture of it in my Milan trip report if I'm not mistaken on www.gardkarlsen.com :-)

Regards
Gard
Stavanger, Norway

As far as I know, Smart cars are now being sold in Canada. My parents saw one in Victoria last week and the newspaper was saying that they're selling like little itty-bitty hotcakes :)

Everything I have heard says that Mercedes will be taking the brand to the US but it will not sell the small city car that you have seen here. Here is the USA Today article about it:

Smart car coming to USA
By David Kiley, USA TODAY

Mercedes-Benz confirmed Wednesday that it will introduce its Smart line of small cars, now just in European and Asian markets, to the USA in 2006.

Smart's small, quirky designs overseas are well suited to the tiny parking spaces in crowded European and Japanese cities. In the USA, the line could broaden Mercedes' reach beyond prestige cars and answer BMW's Mini.

The iconic European Smart is a two-door, 8-foot-long two-seater called Fortwo. Two Fortwo Smarts can fit legally nose-to-curb into one standard European parking space, and the car gets 60 miles to the gallon. The first U.S. model, though, will be a small sport-utility vehicle, called Formore, a small four-wheel-drive SUV competing against Toyota RAV4, Ford Escape and Honda CRV.

Smart USA general manager Scott Keogh says the plan is to launch Smart into the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. market, and later add to U.S. showrooms the smaller models that Europeans and Asians like.

Marketing manager Nicole Oge says Smart will have no problem competing in the SUV market. "We are going to have so much equipment and standard features, we will blow them (Toyota and Ford) out of the water," Oge says. Prices will be comparable to those of competing SUVs, she says

BMW launched the British Mini brand in the USA in 2001. With sales topping 36,000 last year, it's viewed as a big success. BMW plans to add more Mini models later in the decade.

Mercedes-Benz sold 218,500 vehicles last year. Sales are off 5% so far this year.

Like Mini, Mercedes will tap about 60 dealers, in mostly urban markets, to sell Smart vehicles in separate showrooms at Mercedes dealerships.

Our plumber's firm is called Plumbsmart and his "van" is actually a Smart Car. It's surprising how much equipment it holds. He says that it's a wonderful advertisement. It's an incredibly cute little car. You feel like tickling it behind its wing-mirrors.

but you wouldn't want it rolling over to have its tummy tickled as well...

The Smart Car was featured in the auto show in Toronto this year and is supposed to be ready for delivery in October. I am looking forward to seeing it running around in the streets of Toronto. I saw them in Rome last year & thought they were sooooo cute. There was an article in the paper a little while back & they did a collision test and the little car didn't do too badly. The car has a Mercedes engine & the exterior is like a steel cage made by some steel company (I forgot which one) so that it doesn't disintegrate on impact.

Echo, they're on their way ... 79 of them arrived at the Autoport in Halifax last Thursday. I'm sure they'll be in Toronto soon.

The Smart car is being distributed through Mercedes-Benz dealers.

Anselm

I agree with Marcy although I think a Smart car will come in on short end in an accident with any car or anything else, let alone an SUV.

We looked into buying one but decided against it. They're not quite as practical as you think--finding a parking space isn't everything. They're also not really THAT cheap. Other cars are nearly as small, more practical and better value in the long run--i.e., the Ford Ka or the Citroen C2. Spinning around in one on vacation is a bit different from relying on it day in and day out. If you want one as a toy or novelty, fine, but in North America, it's not a car I would recommend.
There have been increasing complaints here about Smart Car owners pushing the envelope and sticking the cars anywhere they fit, whether or not it's a legal parking space. In retaliation, they are getting plastered with large, difficult to remove stickers, reminding owners/drivers not to be so selfish. We saw a Smart Car in Brugge on Saturday plastered with three such stickers. That driver must be a real PIA.

Hi

Some rental companies will not handle them because of safety / instability problems.
The range is expanding to include 4 seaters, convertibles, sport coupes, etc.
You can see their English language website here : http://www.thesmart.co.uk/

Peter
http://tlp.netfirms.com

It's a city car - no rational NA would drive in a Euro city, imho.
M

I saw a smart car on Alligator alley last we were in FLL. A nice black couple was driving, and one car behind him kept close so he could see it better. The smart car driver was getting a little upset. Finally the curious driver backed off. I gave the nervous smart car driver the thumbs up. Alligator alley is like the Autobahn....they were very brave to be there IMO.

Glad to hear that the couple was nice...interesting that you could tell from a distance...

Here are some specs on the Smart car. In 2002 engines were 600 CCs or 800 CCs. In 2002 the quoted prices were 8,800 to 12,000 euro with a steel roof and 11,500 to 14,400 euro with a cloth top. Some time after 2002 the Smart Spyder was released.(from an italian magazine and I can't understand much italian).

For the U.S., it makes sense as a low priced relation to mMrcedes. But it will have to have more than 800 CCs.

If you really want to find out the low-down on Smart Cars in North America, go to the source: http://www.smart.com

- They have been in Mexico since August 2003

- available in Canada soon

- American SUV model will be available in 2006; made in Brazil

Hi

And at the other end of the spectrum :

I saw a bright yellow Hummer driving around Nimes, France this afternoon.

Didn't think that they were imported here.

Peter
The Languedoc Page
http://tlp.netfirms.com

I just read in Frommer's Budget Travel that you can rent Smart cars in Europe for as little as $6 a day (??). But my question is, can you fit 2 carry-on bags in the back? I'd love to rent a tiny car like that if we go back to Italy, as the car we had this year, a Ford Focus SUV (even though we'd requested the smallest car possible) was way too big to negotiate the narrow streets in little towns easily. Sea Urchin--if you're reading this--can you tell me if 2 carryons is doable?
Thanks, pears43