BY STEVE SPENCE
You’ll recall Monet telling Manet that for a painting to be successful it must have a “long life.” That means owners must be able to stomach looking at the purchased object day in and day out for a very long time.
The look of this tiny car, the Smart Fortwo Passion, is just one of the tests it faces as it seeks to gain a foothold in a country not noted for nurturing cute little urban cars made in Europe. It’s 106.1 inches long, and the width and the height round to 61 inches in both directions, so the Fortwo is more than four and a half feet shorter than one of the few little cars that were successful in this country, the Volkswagen Beetle, half a century ago. The Smart seats two, weighs 1815 pounds, and has maybe the storage space (eight cubic feet) of a supermarket grocery cart.
It is the smallest car curious Americans will likely ever get into, and the seeming vulnerability of its golf-cart dimensions, riding on little 15-inch donuts, may frighten off a lot of buyers. But it’s very easy to get into and out of; it’s not at all cramped inside—in fact, it has about the same legroom, and close to the headroom, of a Cadillac Escalade. The seats are exceptionally comfortable, the materials inside are first-rate, and the view out the windshield is panoramic. And the Fortwo comes with an odd feeling when one notices that each of the doors runs almost the entire length of the car.
Its short wheelbase (73.5 inches) results in a nerve-jangling ride on neighborhood streets that are raggedy, a place where, oddly, it is supposed to shine as the perfect errand boy. And there’s no overcoming the minuscule cargo space, although if you cram stuff up to the headliner, the room swells to 12 cubic feet, and the passenger seatback folds down flat. Our test vehicle got a disappointing 32 mpg overall, not the 50 or 60 mpg it looks like it should deliver, and the tiny engine requires pricey 91-octane fuel.
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