SmartCar Rally SF 2008 from Dave Morin on Vimeo.
Smart is built by Mercedes-Benz, under the supervision of the Swiss watchmaker Swatch. Über-quality is guaranteed at both ends but at a price lower than anything built domestically. My smart car gets close to fifty miles to the gallon and is 3.5 feet shorter than a Mini Cooper! Hey, it can be parked nose-to-curb in a parallel-parking space. I assure you that it drives beautifully, even on the freeway. Yes it has a tiny three-cylinder, one-litre engine, but that engine isn't taxed with propeiling much more mass than that of a largish motorcycle. My smart car has more cabin room--if only for two people--than my wife's Honda Civic.
The core design philosophy of the Smart is the "tridion safety cell." In the same way that a nut is protected by its resilient shell, my passengers (some nuts, some not) are protected by a steel chamber that distributes impact energy through the entire mass of the car. No, it's not about the amount of steel, it's how effectively that steel will resist impact. And resist it will!
Take a look at the ads, "Godzilla," "Big Man," "Roomy." and the banned "No Back Seat." Here's an actual high-speed crash test:
I even have a factory-installed bike rack on the back. Here you see my favorite mode of transportation, my Specialized Roubaix. Very good mileage juxtaposed with perfect mileage.
What's not to like?