smart fortwo, I reckon that just about sums it up, Eh!

You know, it constantly amazes me the way auto manufacturers build up their vehicles in people's minds, and give them grandiose nameplates which perhaps reflect the hopes and dreams of the company, rather than the actual vehicles to which they're fitted.

The different car for the not so different people.

The smart Company is slightly different, and tends to stick to the obvious. I've just completed a week in a smart fortwo which, of course, is a rather intelligent form of transportation for two people.

Ok, fair enough, at first it does appear a tad small from the outside, but as I have been told many times "good things come in little packages". This certainly does seem to be the case with the smart car.

From the outside, it's quite stylish and if you look closely, you can see where Mercedes-Benz drew inspiration for some of their larger models of late. I also quite like the plastic outer panels, as they're not only difficult to dent, if you ever get bored, you can change them for another color and let your neighbors think that you have purchased a brand new car!

However, the biggest surprise which I came across was upon opening the doors. If you've never sat inside a smart car, I urge you to try one out. I stand over 6 ft 1 inch in my bare feet, so by the time that you add an inch or two of heel, you could say that I'm fairly tall for my species.

So how could I possibly get comfortable in a little smart car? Well, this might surprise you as much as it did me, because after adjusting the seat to my liking, I actually had four inches of rearward travel still available!

The smart car appears to have all the features that one truly needs, like power windows, locks, A/C, and a decent stereo system. That last one I thought would prove invaluable, as I knew the smart car was powered by a diesel engine.

The cabin is surprisingly voluminous.

Time to set off, and with a quick turn of the key, which curiously was in the same position between the seats as the Swedish Saab, the motor purred into life. Purred being the operative word here, as the exhaust note was barely noticeable at all.

This little engine is located under the trunk floor.

My tester came with a semi-standard (no clutch)/auto transmission, and to be honest, at first, I found it rather jumpy when changing gears. It took me a little while to become accustomed to this, but I soon found that if I kept my foot firmly planted on the accelerator and manually changed gear, not only were the shifts smoother, but the little car became quite lively.

Now of course, in-town traffic is what this car is all about, and so few would venture out onto the highway in one, would they?

Well I did, and it was then that I came upon my next shock. Being powered by an 800cc 3-cylinder diesel engine, I had visions of sitting in the slow lane waiting for a strong gust of wind to come from behind. In fact, I was slightly worried that I should have brought a friend to run in front of me with the red flag.

The truth couldn't have been further from this, and in no time at all, I was zipping past vehicles on the outside lane enjoying the look of confusion on my fellow road-users' faces. Now, I'm not going to say exactly what speed I obtained. Let's just say that the typical, not posted, rate of speed on a 400 highway is ....... Purely in the interests of evaluation purposes, I was doing between that and the speed of the driver who passed me, having obviously not seen the car with the pretty red lights who was sitting on his tail!

Now obviously, an 800cc diesel engine will not win many drag races, and on the highway you have to drive accordingly. I found that when passing a larger vehicle, it was wise to wait until the car in front had completely passed, because it has to be said that the diesel powered smart car lacks the acceleration characteristics of most gasoline powered vehicles.

This really didn't bother me, and was something which I quickly became accustomed to. In fact, the smart cars minor shortfalls were completely forgotten, when after several days of driving, I filled it from nearly empty to full with just 12 dollars worth of diesel!

The fortwo is one of the most frugal car available in Canada.

That is simply the beauty of this car. Yes, it still draws attention wherever it goes; some people even enjoy having a little giggle at it. However, I tell you now, when I can fill a car up with fuel in less time than the SUV driver can check his wallet to see if he can afford to do so, that's a "smart form of transportation"!

Of course, North Americans are always wary of small vehicles, and the common feeling is that big is not only better, but safer. Now you only have to look at the safety test results which smart have achieved with this vehicle to see that is not always a hard and fast rule.

The cargo area capacity is of 260 liters.

I would actually like to see other manufacturers, and in particular N.A. companies, set out to produce similar vehicles, because as I see it, smart doesn't truly have any competition here yet. I believe that if more companies offered products like this, they would become more acceptable to the public, and would go a long way to reducing our dependency on fuel.

Now I'm not crazy enough to say that the smart car is for everyone or even for every occasion, but it does seem to fit the bill for many of us, most of the time. It offers reasonable comfort for two, behaves more or less like a normal car, and with the fuel savings that can be achieved, it might just be the smart way to go for everyday commuting!