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Read other letters about this article
The Smart Car is not revolutionary by world standards, but by U.S. standards maybe it qualifies. I don't remember seeing this short a car before sold in this country. And I think it makes sense to have a car this size. Too bad the deficiencies in the Smart Car don't make it a good start at it. I would have bought a Smart Car were it not for the serious problems noted in the article. I really only need a 2-seater.
They do make a Smart Car with much better mileage - they just don't sell it in the U.S. It's the diesel, which our Canadian commenter reported on. But the gas one gets poor mileage for the size of the car, and to boot requires premium.
I think clean diesel is the way to go right now, although it may not be too many years until there's a better option. Hybrids have two engines, with concomitant loss of space, extra weight, and potential cost in needing to maintain both. Diesel mileage is comparable to that of gas-electric hybrids, and diesel engines last much longer and require less maintenance than gas engines.
Given that my 12 year old car would cost more to repair than it's worth, I put down a deposit on a new VW Jetta TDI, for which I'll have to wait a couple of months or more. Comparable cost to a Prius, but overall better car. Probably comparable mileage. The official EPA sticker mileage is not nearly as good, but the mileage test system is set for gas cars not diesel ones, and the Final Technical Report on the current system showed that the one diesel they tested got 18% better mileage in the real world than its test results. Based on actual experience of folks with past TDI models, it should get average mileage in the 40's in real driving.
