Like your sport compacts compact? Well there's a range of small vehicles on their way that will redefine you notion of what compact is. The cars are made by a company called smart, which was founded by Swiss watchmaker Swatch and then sold to Mercedes-Benz after they ran out of cash to finish the cars. Mercedes, who had originally been contracted just to build the engines, completed the development and put the cars on sale in 1998 and, after a slow start, have since proved very popular with chic European urbanites. Now, though, with the prospect of increased fuel costs and the trend amongst younger buyers for smaller, zippier cars, the time is right for smarts to come toAmerica.
The first to arrive will be what the Europeans call the smart fortwo. Initially, it won't be imported by Mercedes but by a small Californian company called Zap, which specialises in selling low-emission and electric vehicles. Zap has a partner in Europe who buys up unsold models from dealers and ships them over to the U.S. , where they're modified to meet U.S. safety and emission standards. The cars aren't on sale yet, though, because Zap is still setting up a dealer network. Once everything's up and running, Zap expects to sell about 15,000 of the two-seater city cars a year at prices ranging from $10,000 to $20,000, depending on which options you choose.
Most amusing
The fortwo is of the most unique and amusing cars on the road anywhere in the world today. Because it's only a little over eight feet long it allows you to squirt into tiny gaps in traffic, transforming the morning commute into your own personal slalom course. Then, once you get to your destination you can squeeze into the tightest of parking spaces - or do what we did with our smart and park it nose-in to the curb. I doubt very much that it's legal, but you'll never fail to draw a crowd.
It's hard to imagine something so small being safe, but if you Google "crash-test smart" you'll find DaimlerChrysler's promotional video where they smash their sub-sub-sub-compact into a full-size Mercedes E-Classes to demonstrate how safe it is. Fancy technology like its "sandwich floor," safety cage and rear-mounted engine provides passengers with a surprising amount of survival space in a wreck and it's also fitted with twin airbags (with optional side airbags), ABS, Emergency Brake Assist and Electronic Stability Control which helps keep the car controllable during sudden maneuvers.
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