A Fool for Smart

By John Schwartz

When I tell people I’m buying a Smart Car, I generally get one of three reactions. Most
people still don’t know what it is — they haven’t seen the half-pint two seater from
Daimler. Many of those who do know about them laugh. The Smart is a tiny thing, comical in
its styling and proportions: just 8.8 feet long. (It’s about 40 inches shorter than a
Mini Cooper, that road hog.) And then there are the very few who get a sort of funny smile
on their faces. Not quite envy, but the look you got in high school from people who had
realized that you really were going to jump from that 40-foot tower into the lake, and
were waiting with pleasure to see if you’d make it.

But what can I say? I saw them on a trip to Germany with my kids in 2002 and was smitten.
Having read up on the safety question — the car’s steel cage makes it more sound than a
lot of bigger cars I’ve driven — I decided that when the opportunity arose, I’d buy one
if I could afford it.

This is no small thing for me. I’ve never bought a new car. But this one speaks to me. In
a squeaky voice, sure, but it does. I’m tired of driving around town alone in a car that
has room for three passengers, or — in my minivan days — six. It feels like I’m burning
gas to move a lot of metal around that I’ve got no use for, and most of the time it’s
just me in the car, or just two of us. The fuel savings sound pretty good to me, too: the
company’s website says it’s been designed to get 40 city/45 highway miles per gallon
according to 2007 E.P.A. standards and 33 city/41 highway m.p.g. according to 2008 E.P.A.
standards. I also yearn for the day when I get to park it…

So when the reservation program opened up last March, I plunked down a hundred bucks for
the privilege of buying one of the first Smarts in the country. The confirmation e-mail I
got said the cars would make their debut in early 2008.

And I’m waiting. And hoping. Wish me luck!