Holy Smegging Hell!

Also they mentioned in the Making Of that they took out the seats to make it easier for them to fit in.

I’m 6’4″, about 18st (not really fat, pretty big built, wide frame etc) and I used to drive a Smartcar and I found it roomier than most other cars I’ve driven.

Of course, there’s only one of me and four of them, but my point is those who imagine them to be tiny would be surprised. I bloody loved the car too… it was semi-automatic with gear paddles on the steering wheel, and nippy as fuck. Okay, you couldn’t get it much above 90mph but you could get it there rather quickly.

Not so nice to drive on the motorway though. Took it from Bridgend, South Wales to Milton Keynes and back one time… thought I was gonna die. That, or blow away in the wind.

To my deep dismay, just thought of that infamous shot of Craig feeding Frankenstien. Wait for it….

EVERYTHING LOOKS BIGGER ON TV.

They’re bloody handy when you need to park too.

But that’s cos they’re a 2 seater. No imagine pulling the front seats forward to cram in two other blokes…

It’s actually quite a nice looking car though innit? When I told my mate about Carbug he seemed to think Smart cars were pretty awful things. Not sure why. It’s certainly not a small car thing as he has one of those ‘new style’ minis.

It has also been well documented (and proven practically and dramatically on 5th Gear) that in a crash, although the inner framework survives very well and keeps the passengers outwardly unharmed, the massive deceleration forces cause much more internal damage to the occupants.
5th Gear’s crash test also concluded that in an average motorway smash all the occupants would be killed where passengers in larger vehicles with big crumple zones would survive.

Anyway, I can’t really comment on vehicle safety, I drive this:

But I hear the Smartcar frames are really strong so if you have a head-on collision (at normal, non-motorway speeds), you have a good chance of being okay… but as for side on, deary me. There are no frames, all you’ve got are the plastic panels and the doors. Would NOT like to be involved in a side-on impact in a Smart. You’d be deader than flares.

> Not sure I?d buy one though, they?re hardly practical.

Depends on your circumstances. If you need a big car to carry luggage etc, if you’ve got a family or tend to often have more than 2 people in your car, or if you do a lot of motorway travel then they’re not. But if you only use your car to zip about town, then they’re brilliant and very cheap on fuel, and very rarely break down (although tyres are expensive as fuck). So easy to nip into a parking space you wouldn’t even attempt in a normal sized car.

If I had the money to run two cars, I would certainly consider a Smartcar as a “backup” to my main car. Perfect little runarounds.