Is the “Smart Car” Really That Smart?

If you haven’t noticed by now, Smart Cars have become quite common on the road today. The Toyota Prius may have them beat in shear volume, but when it comes down to the future of automobiles, Smart Cars may have them beat… Or do they?

We decided to do our own review of the Smart Car and here’s what we came up with:

1) Plenty of room for two passengers and two bags of groceries inside, but not much more.
2) Getting in and out is easy, the doors are very large and there’s nothing to step over to climb inside.
3) Manual mirror adjustments via little knobs, one on each side of the car; fortunately even a short person can reach across and adjust the passenger mirror.
4) The tailgate includes a small built-in and fairly hidden space for storing jumper cables or large books or perhaps a stack of newspapers.
5) The car is zippy and has good pickup, though the automatic shifting is very abrupt under load.
6) Road noise is acceptable; it certainly isn’t a luxury car, but it isn’t much worse than a Camry or something similar.
7) The stereo is OK, though Smart Cars do not come stock with air-moving bass units.
8) On the highway it is easy enough to keep up with traffic, but you definitely know you’re in a small car with a short wheelbase; it feels a little skittish but never out of control.
9) People around you are very amused by it.

So in the end, we found that Smart Cars aren’t necessarily as annoying as some people make them out to be. Yes, you probably won’t survive a four car pile-up on the highway, but at least you’re saving a couple thousand dollars a year on gas!

There’s really no way to tell if Smart Cars are actually that smart, but one thing is for sure. If you’re able to drive it the right way and customize the vehicle to your liking, you’re smart in our book.