Reported by: Brendan Keefe Photographed by: Sean Dunster Web produced by: Laura Hornsby It's about the size of a breadbox, and these days, it costs less than a loaf of bread! Of course that's an exaggeration, but so is the Smart Car- an impossibly small German import that's turning heads on Tri-State streets.
From the inside, it looks like just about any car from its parent company, Mercedes. From the outside, it looks like a souped-up golf cart!
It's called the Smart Car, which we found is short for "brilliant."
Bob Gerding first spotted the shrunken car in Europe back in 1993 and just had to get one. "It takes up about half a parking spot," he explains. 15 years later, it's here in the states. "The waiting list right now is a year and a half."
Like any odd-looking foreigner, the smart car draws a lot of curious stares, and Bob spends half of his commute answering questions.
"How much did you pay for it?" One woman asked. "About $16,000," Bob replied. "I can pick it up and you can take it home with you, want me to grab it?" He adds.
Is it electric? Nope, old fashioned gasoline, but this European sips its petrol. Even at today's prices, you can fill the tank for about $25, and that will take you well over 300 miles.
But it's got nothing under the hood, and we mean nothing! That's because the three-cylinder engine is in the back, right over the rear-wheels. And, it doesn't have back seats, which is why it's called the "smart for two."
Car and Driver Magazine noted it has the leg room and headroom of a Cadillac Escalade, but it's four-and-a-half feet shorter than the original Volkswagen Beetle.
Bob notes that even as a tall man at six feet tall, he still has another six or eight inches between his head and the ceiling of the Smart Car. And, the entire roof is made of glass.
"[It's] like a big picture window up there, rather than just a small sunroof," Bob explains.
It will do more than 90 miles-per-hour, but the Smart Car's small size begs the question: how well would it survive a high-speed crash?
A British TV show slammed one into a wall at 70 miles-per-hour and the passenger cabin survived intact.
The Smart Car is so short, it can fit into a downtown parallel parking spot nose-in and it disappears behind even the smallest model Hummer.
The Smart Car starts at a little more than $12,000, but you'll have to burn some gas driving to Louisville or Columbus to find the nearest dealership.
And, don't expect to haul around a set of golf clubs in this putt-putt unless you plan on a game of miniature golf!
