Smart Car test drive

Ok, I'm hooked.

This past August, I put $99 down to reserve a Smart Car once they arrived in the US. This past weekend, the wife and I drove out to one of only two Smart dealerships in Houston and I test-drove one of the Passion Cabriolet's (the convertible).

I came away very impressed. The website is here.

The car felt surprisingly "heavy" and solid. It takes corners with no swerve or sway. I got up to 65 MPH on the freeway in no time. Ok, not as quickly as my Mustang GT convertible, but quickly enough.

One particularly "smart" feature I like is the ability to raise or lower the roof AT ANY SPEED. Indeed, at 60 MPH I did both, and it was no problem at all. If I'm driving with the top down in the Mustang and it starts to rain, I have to pull over, put the car in park, and then raise the roof. All that could take 30 seconds. Meanwhile, you're getting soaked.

In the Smart car, just keep going and raise the roof and it's done in about 5 seconds. Pretty smart. After all, it's a Mercedes. It's actually a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and Swatch, a Swiss company. The Germans and Swiss do know a thing or two about engineering, n'est pas?

The car is very well appointed for a tiny car. Power windows, power doors, power mirrors, 6-CD changer, A/C, intermittent wipers, etc etc. About what you might expect from a luxury car, minus the rear-view camera and 45-way power seats. At highway speeds with the top up, the car was remarkably quiet. Again, it's a Mercedes.

I adapted to the "manual" transmission in no time. Instead of a clutch, you simply take your foot off the gas when you feel the car slowing down (telling you its time to change gears), then press the accelerator again, and the car changes gear. It took no time to get used to it. When slowing down, the car changes gears for you.

The mileage isn't as great as one might expect from a small car (40 mpg or so), and the engine is nothing too high-tech (gas-powered), but the emissions are very low, and the mileage will still be two to three times better than what I'm getting in the Mustang.

Looks like I'll be getting mine either late March or April. If you don't have a reservation in at this time, the wait could be up to a year to get one.

They have an option to buy extra panels, which means that you can change the color of the car when you want to. We're going to opt for that, and plan on entering the Art Car Parade, if not this year, then next. After all, it's a SmART Car.