Thought your article was an intelligent comment on the Smart car. I don't think I will change my Honda jazz just yet for the Smart until they have updated their milage per gallon and brakes. I am going to be moving from the country here in France to Brussels in Belgium. One certainly needs to have balloon protection on the side of a car there, and traffic is also horrendous there. I hope you will continue to keep us informed about the Smart.

Up here in Canada, the Smarts were introduced in late 2004, early 2005, and I was among the first to buy one. (They were introduced in Europe in the mid-1990s.) I'm amazed it took so long for them to be introduced in the States — well, maybe not, because Mercedes Benz figured Americans wouldn't want to give up their big-ass cars and judging by some of the posts here, I think they may have been right.

It also seems to me that Smart has made a lot of modifications for the American market that haven't exactly improved the car. Like the original European versions, mine runs on diesel, not premium gas, which is more fuel efficient, tho sometimes a hassle to find in the city. It gets better mileage than anything except a hybrid. Also mine's not an automatic, it's got a clutchless shift that allows for better control. Yeah, it still sucks going up steep hills, esp. on the highway, and it doesn't exactly take off like a rocket, but you just have to drive a bit, er, smarter to accommodate.

Anyway, I love my car. It's a blast to drive. It's not powerful, but it's nimble. The parking is great, of course, and it can weave in and out of situations that no other vehicle can. Plus you can carry a lot more in it than you might think — I've hauled furniture, oversized luggage, crates of booze and water and loads of other stuff. And despite its size, it's a safe car not only because of its egg-shaped crash cage design, but because it forces you to pay attention to the road unlike those big, smooth, quiet automatics that insulate you from the traffic around you.

It might not be the right car for the way most North Americans drive. But then I think most North Americans are startng to realize that the way they drive isn't exactly sustainable, so . . .

I liked this article. I don't think I would ever buy this car as I live in Honolulu and the parking here isn't so bad, but when I did live in San Francisco, parking was a nightmare and I can completely relate to why this car would be attractive to a couple that already had another car for those "Ikea shopping sprees."

On another note, I think it's pretty funny how some posters personally attack you, Farhad, and that you actually respond. Wow, I mean, if they were to write to a TV show or even to the Times with some gripe the anchor or journalist would never respond.

Well, I liked that you didn't shave. You probably didn't have time after answering all those queries about the car. And I'm kind of tired of the notion that people who deliver news are supposed to look a certain way in order to be credible.

And for God's sake, Farad, shave if you are going to do a video blog.

Yeah, Farad, God cries when you don't shave. He mentioned it at lunch the other day.

I live in Germany and have been passed by Smart Cars on the Autobahn when I was driving 70 miles an hour. But the article is right on the money. If only the car were a bit less expensive.

This isn't really a "tech" column. It is an "average joe tells you his experiences with tech" column. Farhah doesn't really understand tech beyond the usual fanboy "I like mac" and "tech is cool!" If you read it as such it becomes much more tolerable. Seeing how a fairly average person deals with the technology that enters his life can be interesting and useful. For more technologically savvy and detailed information or to find the opinions of someone that really understands technology, you'll need to go elsewhere.

..."motorcycle."

That's true freedom in a major city. I had one when I lived in SF, and I have one in DC. Amazing mileage, the ability to out-perform any car on the road, and you can park it ANYWHERE. Not just in little "scrap" spaces, but pretty much anywhere. Between cars! Legally!

Of course, the American public contends that motorcycles are less safe than a sleepover at OJ Simpson's place, and darn the evidence to the contrary!

I saw a novelty vehicle that went from 0-60 in about 2 seconds and got something in the neighborhood of 50-60 MPG. (The owner/developer hadn't fully tested mileage because it was a toy, and not street-legal.)

It was basically 2 bicycle frames welded together, with 40-cc chainsaw motors on both the rear wheels. The owner could lift it up to put it in the back of his pickup.

Yep, pain in the ass--you had to mix your own fuel because it was two-stroke, it left big plumes of smoke, etc etc.

Nevertheless--the thing that struck me about it was the low mass of the thing. It DOES make sense to make vehicles as lightweight as possible. And our current material technology and safety improvements really do make it possible to build "safe" cars that only weigh 800 lbs.

I'd love to see something like a "microcar" lane or road-system for people driving tiny commuter vehicles. It would help protect them from being run over by semi-trailers, and it would encourage the people who drive the most miles (alone) to buy those tiny vehicles.

66mpg. By the end of the series in the early '70's it had a 36hp engine. Mentioned elsewhere as a 'keicar'. These were eventually replaced with the R-2 then the Rex then the new R-2/R-1 which you can get today.

There's maybe 2 dozen marquees of keicar class cars in the world today mostly in Japan, China and India

BY the way, the Smart Fortwo is ALSO a keicar similar class vehicle. It's one of only two that doesn't exploit the full length allowed by the keicar class restrictions. It happens to be a modified Mercedes Benz A-Class City Car (which were pulled from the market after it was discovered they were dangerously unsafe in swerve tests). This is the root of the car's poor handling.

Moreover the key reason that the Smart has poor mileage is because it has an engine that is almost 30% larger than most engines in the keicar class. the Benz/Brabus powerplant was replaced with a Mitsubishi engine this year.