As winter draws to a close in Detroit, after its awful five month visit, I thought it best to skip town for a while and get a head start on summer. A week long search of flights to any warm city I could think of led me to a roundtrip ticket to Los Angeles for $185. The price was just too good to pass up. I rounded up my girlfriend Veronica and made plans with a couple friends in the LA area to crash on their couches. The thought of palm trees and Jamba Juice was enough to keep me in giddy anticipation for the upcoming trip.

All I needed now was an impressive ride to cruise around LA with but impressing the Hollywood crowd isn’t exactly an easy task. In almost any city you could count on your hands the amount of Porsche 911s you might see in one day. Not even Octomom and her babies have enough fingers to count the amount of 911s on the streets of LA. The task of finding an attention getting car for the trip was turning out to be a bigger task than I imagined. Maybe it was coincidence that it came in the small package of a smart fortwo.

smart USA was kind enough to provide a smart fortwo passion cabriolet and an instant sense of celebrity status for my five day endeavor around Southern California. Prior to driving the fortwo I wasn’t much of a smart fanboy although I thought they looked like a lot of fun to drive. I never thought that I’d be won over by a car that most people don’t think I should even be able to fit into. Standing 6’3’’, I wasn’t even sure myself that I could fit in the car, especially with the luggage and the camera equipment I brought along. Even the parking meters seem to dwarf the cars but it sure doesn’t feel like that on the inside.

 

Surprisingly enough, after a couple minutes trying to figure out how to get the back hatch open at LAX, the smart had enough room for a large suitcase, a large duffle bag, and two big backpacks stuffed to their limit. What room was left was stuffed with our pillows and off we went in search of an air mattress to rest on for the days ahead. My first impression of the car was one of surprise. The 12 cubic feet of storage space held much more than I was expecting and for only having 71hp, I had to keep my eye on the speedometer to keep from having any run-ins with the CHP. I was constantly surprised by the get-up and go that the smart possessed and I was very happy with my initial time in the fortwo. Here’s a peak at the little 1L smart motor that sits just above the rear wheels…

On the second day of our trip I got to test the mettle of the smart by taking a drive down to Long Beach for some site seeing. I was very happy with the control that I had over the automated manual transmission. The passion coupe and cabriolet come standard with steering wheel paddle shifters and I made the most of the clutchless operation. A quick downshift came with a flick of the finger and I could easily overtake cars on the freeway when needed. The manual mode also made for a smoother entrance onto the freeways than the automatic DRIVE mode, which had a pretty short first gear. The upside to the DRIVE mode was the creep mode which acted like an automatic transmission allowing the car to creep forward in the constant LA traffic. Plus creep mode just sounds interesting. Take a look inside the cabin, the fit and finish does not disappoint…



Here is another shot to give this wonderful interior its due. Make note of the fun tach and clock on the dash that came as an option on our fortwo.

 

The third leg of our trip was a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway with the top down. Anyone who enjoys driving for the sake of driving should take a cruise from Santa Monica up the PCH until you feel like stopping. On one side you have the canyons and amazing houses built high up in the hills and cliffs while on the other side of the road you can look off into the Pacific as far as your eyes will take you. The cabriolet was ideal for taking in the view and breathing in the fresh ocean breeze. We made a stop for fried clams at Malibu’s famous Neptune’s Net, an awesome seafood restaurant that is known as a popular hangout for the Harley Davidson crowd. Even after a few days of constant thumbs ups from onlookers I didn’t officially feel “cool” until the fortwo got the approval of a couple scruffy old Harley riders at Neptune’s Net.  Even with the cabriolet sidebars still intact you can see just how much of the outdoors you can enjoy with the smart…



The smart seemingly carries a celebrity status and sense of curiosity with it in the states. The smart was first released in the US a little more than a year ago so for many it’s still a new site. Veronica and I were constantly answering questions about what exactly the car was and how much it would cost to purchase one. There was an overwhelming approval of the fortwo and driving a vehicle that garners so much attention was a refreshing feeling that I’m not quite used to when driving my ’98 B5 Passat.  The cabriolet even allowed us to answer questions on the fly at intersections and to wave to school buses filled with kids yelling “Nice car, it’s so tiny!” If the feeling of being a Hollywood star isn’t enough, the fortwo gets 33 mpg in the city and 41 mpg on the highway which is the highest EPA rated vehicle that isn’t a hybrid. This kind of mileage left extra money to spend on Pinkberry frozen yogurt which hasn’t made an appearance in the Midwest just yet.

At the end of our time in Los Angeles, it was pretty hard to part with the little guy. The car outperformed my expectations and the build quality definitely showed off its Daimler roots. I had more than enough room in the cabin and for a car of its size, you really feel like you are driving an average sized vehicle. The smart fortwo is visually appealing and the factory wheels are one of the nicer sets I’ve seen. Even Antonio who is one of the hardest critics agreed that the wheels looked good so that’s says a little something. And how could you be unhappy driving the smart with the front end that appears to be smiling every time you walk up to it? Doesn’t our smart just look so happy?



What do you guys think of the smart? Could you see yourself driving one? After this trip I know I’m a believer and I’ll be considering a smart when the time comes to get a new ride.



More info can be found on the smart USA website at smart USA

The model we tested had an MSRP of $18,205.00 with the optional: blue metallic paint, power steering, cockpit clock and tach, and the metallic silver tridion shell around the car.

A Special Thanks to Ken K. at smart USA for the great opportunity and thanks to Antonio for enlightening me on lighting and a number of hot spots in the LA food world. Last but not least, Ian, thanks for letting us crash on your air mattress!

-Patrick Daly