Thoughts on buying a Smart car?

So, I’m thinking about buying a Smart car. I like the cars because they get good gas mileage (40+ mpg), they’ve been on sale in Europe for over a decade (so many of the bugs have been worked out), and they’re tiny. I mean, really tiny. A Smart car (106 in) is over 3 ft shorter than a Mini Cooper (145 in).

Thus, they can be parked almost anywhere. Which is a really big feature for someone like me. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I hate looking for parking.

Plus, they’re really cute:

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The main disadvantage for me is their lack of cargo capacity. However, I think I’ve found a solution for that:

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Also, with a stock engine, they also don’t have a whole lot of pick up and go. The stock engine only has 60 HP, after all. However, if you swap in a 180hp Suzuki GSX-R1000 engine, the car can go 0-60 in 4.2 sec. and 12.4 in the quarter mile.

They’re due to begin sales in the U.S. in the first quarter of next year.

Anyone drive one of these? What are your thoughts?

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