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Chicagoist has spent many hours circling city blocks looking for that one parking space that has been overlooked. That is why a Smart car interests us. No, the car isn't "smart" it doesn't park or drive itself. Smart is the brand name of the diminutive, overtly-Euro cars that are manufactured by Daimler-Chrysler.
They have become fairly prolific in European cities with their have unbelievably tiny dimensions and better than average gas mileage. In fact the Smart is all of 8.8 feet long, which means that you could squeeze TWO in a single Chicago parking spot. The tiny little two-seater gets an estimated 40mpg under normal driving conditions, though the official numbers will be released once US production is ready.
U.S. production means that the car will be here in the first quarter of 2008. In order to be the first on your block to have a one of these beasts, Smart USA will begin taking $99 Reservations on April 2nd. The ForTwo will go on sale for a whopping $12,000, and the more powerful (relatively) ForTwo Passion will be $14,000. But, if you really want to show off, throw down the big bucks ($16,000) to get the ForTwo Passion Cabriolet.
The size and gas usage has made them popular in Europe, but there doesn't seem to be any trend toward smaller vehicles in America (other than the popular Mini Cooper). Seeing that driving a full sized Hummer is somehow still legal downtown, the David and Goliath analogy may be apt (though this video proves it can hold together in a collision)
However, for those non-city drivers, the Smart should arrive just in time for the downfall of Chicago public transportation.
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we'be already seen three in chicago. One bright yellow and two with all different colors. The yellow has illinois plates. Unbelievably tiny...
We've rented them from budgetnorthshore.com in Skokie before. It's an interesting ride and definitely gets more than enough attention on the street.
FYI
The smarts you are seeing are grey market versions of the last generation that were never produced to be sold in America. They've been expensively converted to be sold here. The next generation ForTwo (blogged about here) is built to meet US regulations. GM is planning a minicar concept it seems to built in Korea but if the Smart actually sells you could see a Chevy minicar for even less $.
And for relatively the same price as a smart you'll be able to get a larger yet less fuel efficient Toyota Yaris, Scion xA, Suzuki SX4 etc. The Smart price doesn't include A/C at $12K, that'll be another $1K most likely. Still interesting though and Chicago should be one of its best markets if not THE best market for Smart in the US. That means expect lots of marketing/ads.
your friendly neighborhood autoblogger dave.
I will make the not os bold prediction that these will not sell.
They look like death traps, I can not image surviving a crash at any speed above 30mph.
Survival > ease of parking
I've been looking forward to these cars for a long, long time but think the big problem to getting them out of the showroom will be the model names that I've heard will be attached to them - Pure, Pulse & Passion. Personally, these strike me as "touchy feely" names that may work with the US female population but could be an obstacle in marketing to America's macho male population. Just my 2 cents...
They. Look. Retarded.
Just crossbreed them with a Hummer in your mind. It's pretty funny.
Really? $12,000 for his turd car? Just buy a golf cart or 6 with the money.
They've been around in Canada since 2004... extremely popular here. Considering that the main objective of it is to reduce emissions and increase fuel efficiency for city driving, it does a pretty good job. To drive across part of Canada on a 4382 km trip, it would cost about $157CAD for 162.1 litres of fuel, rather than about $430CAD for 429.4 litres of fuel in a normal car. It'll probably take a bit of getting used to over there, but they'll catch on. Safety wise --- there's a reason they're allowed on the road.
RS: Mopeds are allowed on the road, too.
You didn't mention how long it would take to drive those 4382km in the above car. It actually takes close to 2 months.