If you feel like you need to take out a second mortgage every time you fill up your big SUV, allow us to suggest you check out the new Smart Fortwo.
When you do, we think you’ll be surprised to discover how much practicality its designers have managed to squeeze into a package that’s a full six feet shorter than a Honda Civic coupe.
For starters, the interior offers as much head and leg room as your average full-size sedan and roughly twice the cargo room of most other two-seaters. The Fortwo is also likely to be safer than you might think, with standard features including a wrap-around steel safety cage, side-curtain airbags, electronic stability control, and antilock brakes.
Power comes from a rear-mounted 70-horsepower, 1.0-liter inline three-cylinder engine. While the Fortwo won’t win any races, it’ll keep up with freeway traffic while squeezing a lot more miles out of a gallon of pricey petrol than what you’re driving now.
Are there downsides here? Sure, most notably the annoying lag time between the computer-controlled auto-manual transmission’s gear changes. Ultimately though, we think the Fortwo has what it takes to make the pain you’re feeling at the pump a thing of the past.
Strengths:
Roomy interior
Conversation-starting styling
No such thing as a too-small parking space
Weaknesses:
Transmission takes way too long to shift gears in automatic mode
Passion trim-level same price as many four-seaters
Fuel economy/emissions not as great as you’d expect
