My Brother’s Smart Car

My brother, Tom Parker, with his newly purchased Smart Car

Is this not the cutest little car on the road?  My brother, Tom, just purchased a “Smart Car,” arguably the hottest fuel-efficient vehicle on the market.

Admittedly, my first thought when he drove up to my house with his new ride was that it must feel like a toy on the road, but Tom set me straight:  “I like the feel of it.  You can really maneuver nicely.  It has a much smoother ride than one might expect from an itty-bitty car.”  He told me he actually thought it felt better on the road than his Ford Focus!  “Obviously, it isn’t as smooth as you’d get from most full-size cars, but I love it.”

Tom, the web master for the Moss Point School District, was inspired to buy the Smart Car when he learned about its amazing gas mileage.  His trek to work is an 80-mile round trip from Gulfport.  Depending on the fuel quality, the Smart can get approximately 41 to 45 MPG.  “The first time I saw one was on the streets of Paris 10 years ago,” Tom said.  He and his wife, Isabelle (originally from LeRaincy, France) were visiting family where the car is enormously popular.  “I loved them immediately.”

Not everyone is enamored by the fiesty little car.  “There seems to be some serious hatred for this car online,” Tom tells me.  “Mostly by people who don’t own one or would never buy a mini-car in the first place.”  His theory on this unwarranted animosity?  “I suspect they are secretly American Auto Workers Union people,” he said cheekily, “but that’s just me.”

Much of the criticism for the Smart Car involves safety concerns, but it performed well in the 2008 Insurance Institute Highway Safety crash tests.  More recently conducted non-standard tests were not as favorable, but Tom is pragmatic about the arguments pro and con.  “It’s just like anything else… you have to drive defensively,” he says.  “This is not a hot rod; it’s a commuter car.  It doesn’t have lots of passing power or heavy acceleration; so as long as you don’t expect to be drag-racing, and understand what the car’s limitations are, you should be good to go with a Smart.”

One thing’s for sure.  The trendy Smart attracts a lot of attention on the road.  Tom finds that he is getting “a lot of stares” and some of his friends are expressing concern for his safety.  “I think the biggest hazard is people crashing their cars because they’re staring at me instead of keeping their eyes on the road,” he counters.

Not all of the attention is negative, as demonstrated by my brother’s first experience at the gas pump.  “Every single person pumping gas–four people–all walked up to me at once asking questions:  ‘Is that a hybid?’  ‘What kind of car is that?’  ‘What kind of gas mileage do you get?’  ‘Where’d you get that?’  …I feel like a rock star.”

Tags: Smart Car