Get Smart? Or Maybe Not

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The next level up, the Passion coupe, starts at $13,590, while the Passion convertible begins at $16,590. The Fortwo has the best fuel economy of any gasoline-powered car that's not a hybrid, but its EPA ratings of 33 miles per gallon in the city and 41 mpg on the highway are far worse than I would expect for such a small package. Gee whiz. The 2009 VW Jetta TDI I am waiting to drive gets 30/41, and I'd get a backseat and a much more substantial interior. The other car I'm looking at for my own driveway is Honda's (HMC) Fit, which gets 28/34.

Call me a dreamer, but for a car as small and expensive as the Fortwo, I'm looking for 45 mpg/city and 52 mpg/highway, at least. On top of that, the car requires premium petrol. Give me a break.

Also, the Fortwo's interior is a bit plasticky. Materials feel cheap, even the carpet. The cup holders are too small for many common-sized cups. A shelf behind two bucket seats provides space for a few grocery bags or a couple of small soft-side duffels.

Smart offers one drivetrain combination in the U.S: a 70-horsepower, 1-liter, three-cylinder engine with an automated manual transmission. An automated transmission is similar to a manual transmission, but it has no clutch pedal and operates like an automatic. Electronic controls shift gears. I drove it in both automatic and manual modes, but settled into automatic. The manual shifting does not provide the same sort of control or performance as a real manual.

Irrational Purchase

As I shop for a new car, the rational side of my brain does not let me seriously consider the Fortwo. If I lived in New York, San Francisco, or Washington, though, I admit I would consider it just for the parking advantage. But not all car purchases are rational. And I believe this is what is driving the runaway success of Smart's first year on sale in the U.S. The first year's allocation from Mercedes-Benz is already spoken for. The company continues to take $99 deposits, though money down today doesn't get you a car until the middle of next year at the earliest.

There is a part of me that wants to compare the early Smart phenomenon to either the early days of the Volks­wagen Beetle or Mini. But the comparison doesn't hold up very well. The early buyers of the Beetle were World War II veterans who had seen firsthand in the war how tough and durable the German army's Volkswagen military vehicles were. After the war, when actual Beetles were being made, word spread fast how reliable and durable the bubble-shaped cars were. In the case of Mini's comeback in 2001 under the direction and engineering of BMW (BMWG), the car, despite its small size, was fast, stylish, and extremely well engineered. And, the Mini Cooper's fuel economy is nearly as good as the Fortwo's, though a well-equipped model costs thousands more than the Smart.

The fact that Smart is manufactured by Mercedes-Benz also pushes up my expectations. For years, Mercedes lost money on Smart. Currently, the company says it is making profit after a significant cost-cutting program that eliminated other Smart vehicles. But it feels a bit like the costs of manufacturing the cars in France and selling them in the U.S. when the dollar is so weak against the euro has driven the German automaker to cut too many costs, to the point where, but for the wacky design that appeals to some, it's simply not worth the money.

Kiley is a senior correspondent in BusinessWeek's Detroit bureau.