- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
This car is not so smart. First of all, it uses premium fuel, which erases its slight fuel economy advantage over other small cars like the Fit and Yaris. Second, that fuel ecoonomy advantage is almost unobservable. Consumer reports says that its been getting 38 MPG with the Smart and 34 MPG for the Fit and Yaris. Additionally, its made by Mercedes which has a horrible reliability record and expensive repair costs. Finally, good luck finding a Smart that is less than $15K, so there is no real price advantage to this thing.
If Mercedes had sent the USA the diesel model that gets ~50 MPG, then I think the penalty you pay in practicality might be made up for in fuel cost savings and decreased carbon footprint. But, they didn't do that.
The Smart is the Apple of cars. Its quirky and stylish, but it doesn't get the job done any better than anything else. Its just about image, not substance.
