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Smart Car fun for local driver
Finding parking on Main Street in Berryville: a cinch. Figuring out how not to spend your life savings on your commute to work: now there's a problem.
You may have seen one smart lady rolling through town who's smoothed over that bump.
Jo Bundy, of Berryville, gave in and downsized to a Smart Car, the new two-seater crossover car from France.
"I call it my tennis shoe because it looks like it has a big swoosh," Bundy said as she waved her hand making the Nike check mark. "It's cute."
Besides being cute, the car gets 33 miles per gallon in town and 41 on the highway, according to the company.
"Everyone knows it's a gas crunch," said Bundy, who has driven gas-guzzlers her entire driving career.
While the car may not have the capability to pull a horse trailer, it still manages to get smaller jobs done. It gets you from point A to point B. No fuss.
There's enough room for Bundy and her groceries, her most frequent riders. How often are drivers carrying passengers, anyway? The manufacturers of Smart Car are betting the number is low.
The Smart Car was designed for mobility. It's adept for zipping around in a crowd – great for an urban car, but the gas savings are for everybody, even in Clarke County.
"We're going green," said her husband, Tom. "We have to do our part, you know."
The Smart Car has reduced emissions for better air quality. It also has a high power/weight ratio which lends itself to less fuel consumption.
Standing next her Smart Car, which resembles an enclosed go-kart, Bundy said she's prone to claustrophobia.
"I really liked big cars," she insisted. Her GNC Yukon that she once used to tote her six children around town is now parked under an overhang attached to the car shed.
The Smart Car doesn't have her feeling cramped. She insists that it’s not tight -- there's enough room for your limbs. Even her six-foot-something sons can avoid getting a charley horse while driving.
"When you're in the car, you don't think about the size because the part of the car that's missing is behind you," Bundy said.
But the question remains: How smart is it to be in a half-car when just around the corner, vehicles twice its size threaten to cream it?
Smart Car aficionados claim the car has redefined automotive safety.
Earlier this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gave the Smart Car four out of five stars for front driver safety, and five out of five stars on side impact safety. Overall, passenger safety received three out of five stars.
The Smart Car has a tridion safety cell, comparable to a Jeep Wrangler's roll bar, that consists of reinforced steel components.
Other safety features include a raised seat position that places the passengers above a direct danger zone, four airbags and wheel carriages that act as shock absorbers.
Were the Smart Car manufacturers successful at looking around the bend and into the future of automobile safety technology?
To the skeptics who say they would never, consider this: It's safer than a motorcycle.
It's not for the demure -- heads will be turned. But Bundy said most people aren't practical anyway. "They buy for looks," she said.
She mentioned themes like consumerism and the use of automobiles to define status. And large trucks that are impossible to see around or shake the ground are pretty attention-getting themselves.
While she does receive attention from other drivers, pedestrians and, on this day, a man painting a shed, it's not intentional.
Bundy's license plate adds an additional quirk. She considered personalizing her license plate but decided against it. A few weeks later, however, it arrived in the mail with the first three letters reading "XXL" -- a free vanity plate.
Her family is used to unusual cars. Her husband was one of the first to sport a Mini Cooper. He also maintains a 1930s Model-A Ford.
"My goodness, every car we have people turn their heads at," she said. "But you know what? They smile at this one."
Tom Bundy said the Smart Car and the Mini Cooper were both “leading-edge automobiles.”
“Everybody thinks it's dramatic, and it is,” he said. “But it won't be six to nine months from now."
The current wait for a Smart Car is 16 months; 391 were reserved for 2008 at the Smart Car Tyson's Corner dealership. Distribution began in January. 2008 Smart Cars cost $11,590 to $16,590.
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