The Smart Car: A curious sight

April 05, 2008 07:04 pm

— VALDOSTA — You’ve probably seen it tooling around town — that little tiny car that looks like someone chopped a Mini Cooper in half.
Well there’s only one here, and it’s literally drawing throngs to the Pipkin’s Volkswagen-Subaru dealership on North Valdosta Road.
It’s The Smart Car, a Mercedes-Benz division that’s manufactured in France by Daimler-Chrysler.
In Pipkin’s case, it is the Passion model of the Smart Car. The Smart Car, you see, also comes in at least two other models. But all are tiny.
The cars are two-seaters, have 8-gallon gasoline tanks that fuel 3-cylinder engines with premium gas (only) for a 40 to 45 miles-per-gallon ratio, at a fairly high price tag of $19,995 or so, retail.
It has 100 mph on the speedometer and gets the 40-to-45 mpg at 70-75 mph. But as a test drive revealed, the little car that can does go faster than, well, let’s just say faster than 70 mph.
The Smart Cars have been sold in Europe since 2003 but only this year have been approved, with changes, for use in the U.S. (See www.smartcarofamerica.com).
David Pipkin bought the Smart Passion at an auction about three weeks ago “for giggles,” explained Ron E. Butler, a manager at Pipkin’s.
“Since we’ve had it, it seems like most of Valdosta has come out to drive it,” Butler said with a laugh. “We’ve had it three weeks and we have probably had 50 to 60 people drive it. It sure has gotten us a lot of attention.”
Most are shocked when they see the sticker price, Butler said.
“They think they should be able to buy a car that’s half the size of most cars for half the price,” he joked.
The Smart may be small, but it’s not light. A lot of design went into a solid steel frame that protects the inhabitants in case it gets smacked on the road. The Smart Passion weighs 2,300 pounds. The design enables the owner to switch out panels if another color is preferred. But the panels aren’t part of the protective steel frame. They’re plastic.
Air conditioning, AM/FM stereo CD player, panoramic sun roof and more are a few of the features in this midget car. Mercedes is working on a line of Smart Cars that use only batteries for power, but it may be a few years before those are on the market. A test fleet of the electric “Smarts” might be ready in two to three years, one Mercedes VP said in a recent interview.
Meanwhile, there are no U.S. dealerships for the gas-powered Smarts, but they can be ordered from the Web site. The waiting list is eight months to 14 months long, Butler said.
“You will probably start seeing a lot more of these types of smaller vehicles on the market, probably not in the next two to three years, but certainly in the next five to seven years,” Butler said. “Then the prices will start coming down too.”
But he was right. Some folks just want a car that is a conversation piece. Sure, a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord are both great cars… but everyone has one. They don’t draw attention.
A Smart Car, however, as Butler predicted, drew funny looks and requests for information at several stops on a test drive. One fellow used his cell phone camera to snap a photo. Another fellow signaled to roll down the driver’s window at a stop light:
“WHAT is that?” (A Smart Car). “What does it get?” (40 miles per gallon at 70-to-75 mph). “Who makes it?” Etc. Etc.
But... can one impress a woman with a Smart Car?
That’s a mystery that’s worth leaving for the next generation to resolve.

Photos

Pat Gallagher/The Valdosta Daily Times