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Smart and Sassy: The Smart 42

At last: a car that makes the Prius look big and bulky

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

November 6, 2007

I spotted one in rush-hour traffic headed west from Washington, D.C., on Interstate 66 the other day. "Where's the rest of it?" I wondered.

In rush-hour traffic on a jammed urban freeway, the Smart looked like the passenger compartment of an old-fashioned carriage speeding along.

But odd as it may look, the Smart just may be a runaway hit in this time of congestion, scarce parking and rising gasoline prices. The small end of the Mercedes-Benz line goes on sale in January in the U.S. with race car owner and automotive salesman Roger Penske in charge of domestic marketing and distribution.

Penske is betting on oil prices setting new records with gasoline prices not far behind.

The Smart car will show up for sale with a price of $11,590.

Gas mileage is not the best. Under the new federal testing and reporting standards for 2008 the Smart gets 33 mpg in the city and 40 mpg on the highway. The Prius gets 60/51 but it costs twice as much. And it's so big and bulky.

But the little car is an anti-Hummer when it comes to parking. Its 106-inch length of the Smart exceeds the width of a Hummer H1 by only 5.1 inches.

Did we mention it only seats two? The name makes it sort of self-evident: Smart 42 (for two, get it?).

A Smart was a star in the “Da Vinci Code” which is now droning along on cable television producing even more gratis advertising for Penske and his little car.

In the film, the Smart comes across as a pocket rocket but in fact, it's hardly a speed machine. (It may be the Mini you're thinking of.) A Smart 42 dawdles along for 12.8 seconds on its way to 60 mph from a dead stop.

But the 3-cylinder, 70-horsepower engine is plenty strong enough for most driving around town and the car has a top speed of 90 mph, which insures the Smart can keep up on most highways as well.

The Smart comes with a semi-automatic five-speed manual with an electronic clutch. The engineers at Mercedes-Benz thought that commuters would tire of working a clutch pedal in traffic and a fully-automatic transmission would add cost and weight to the car and its price tag.

With a semi-automatic transmission, the driver never puts a foot on the electronic clutch but the car shifts as if he or she had depressed the clutch peddle. There is a gap in acceleration and the shift occurs automatically.

The driver can also shift the transmission using the automatic shifter in manual mode or the shifter paddles on the steering wheel but there is still that pause in acceleration.

The transmission can take a day or two to get used to but it's not overly difficult for the average driver to pick up.

The Smart comes with a standard black interior for the "Pure" trim level or the bright and ostentatious orange of the "Passion" trim which includes more standard equipment for an additional $2,000.

The base price on the Pure does not include air conditioning, radio or power steering, so buyers tend to custom-build the cars in the ordering process.

There's 12 cubic feet of storage capacity in the back of the Smart if packages are stuffed all the way up to the roof.

A surprising amount of leg and head room awaits the driver and passenger as well. Both ride high in the cabin and the seating position provides excellent visibility all around. The passenger seat is recessed slightly behind the driver's to enlarge shoulder space.

Despite the appearance of vulnerability, Mercedes engineers insist occupants are actually riding around in the automotive equivalent of a walnut. The shell is called a Tridium frame by Mercedes engineers. They insist the frame is similar to the roll cage used in race cars. Believe me, these work. Don't ask how I know.

The Smart comes with a tiny warranty by today's standards, just two years or 24,000 miles. Consumers have the option of buy up to three years or 36,000 miles when the little car is available in January.

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