The UnHummer & the H3

The UnHummer Cometh: The Smart Car is migrating to US shores, after selling strongly in Europe for awhile. Littler than the Mini Cooper, and just a tad bigger than those Big Wheels that we used to tool around in during our pre-bicycle days. Whew, does that bring back memories! Anyhow, me & my sweetie saw these Smart Cars zipping around everywhere in our Italia trip last fall, and they were pretty sharp little rides, I must admit. Nice feature: these can be parked perpendicular to the curb. But a starting price of $15,000 is just too much for such a tiny thing, ain’t it? 55 miles per gallon, however, is not bad at all, especially for the green thumbers.

And is the puny beast safe, that’s the question!!! Get this: “Built by DaimlerChrysler in France (boo!!!), the Smart car — with what the company calls its "Tridion" safety cell structure — survived brutal crash tests, one of which pitted the little car against a Mercedes-Benz S-class sedan. According to Heidemann, "The passengers in the Smart car came out better than the ones in the S-class." “

Hummer H3: Okay patriots, let’s switch over to a made-in-America car now. The next generation HUMMER comes this spring to dealers, and to my driveway by Christmas 2005 (yeah right!). Really, Sonia wants one!!! (keep dreaming, Benj). Pricing starts around the mid-$30’s. The Hummer behemoths keep getting smaller and smaller, so maybe in about oh 10 years or so, Hummer will have a muscular looking competitor for the Smart Car?