2013 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive

Look at the title of this review! That is the name for the Smart, not Smart Car. I only bring this up because we don't call a Ford a Ford car? Just had to get that off my chest.
Now for the car, well it had a tuff start here in the US; folks really didn't like the way the automatic transmission shifted and the fear of getting into an accident slowed down sales. Mercedes Benz went back to the drawing board and according to Mercedes Benz they decided to bring it to market as it was intended an all-electric vehicle.
Did it work? I think so, I took a day trip to San Francisco and drove the Smart Electric Drive all around the hills and streets of downtown San Francisco and had a blast! This car fits anywhere, some journalist were parking it head first into the curb instead of parallel parking the Smart! What a hoot, it worked.
The car was fun to drive, you can choose from three models, the Pure Coupe, Passion Coupe and the Passion Cabriolet and I always say: "if you're not smiling while driving you need a different car", and the Smart will make you smile. I know it is small but a lot of cars on the road are small and one of the benefits of having a short wheel based car is in the event of a side impact there is a good chance the front or rear wheels will add to the strength of a side impact.
Even though it is small in stature it is pretty big inside, a couple of 6-footers will fit with no problem. This car is for fun and commuting can be designed for your taste by just ordering it on line or stop by your local dealership.
The big story with electric is how far can you go? The answer is how far do you need to go? How do you find that out? Well start taking notes, if your travel to work has a lot of steep hills or a distance longer than say 60 miles on a flat road with no hills then it may not work for you. It is really hard to say, for example I was in an electric car (not Smart) on a press event and my co-driver-navigator had me turn left instead of right and we went way out of our way before I decided to stop and check the navigation system, turns out we were 46 miles away from the hotel and the car said I had 26 miles left of range???? How embarrassing would it be if we rolled in on the back of a tow truck! Well being Mr. Hyper-Miler I did everything I could to get us back to the Hotel, road the brakes thinking it might do a little regenerating coasted as much as possible and low and behold we made it back with 8 miles still on the odometer? What this tells me it is very difficult to determine the range of an electric car until you travel the route the manufacturer does a great job considering the choke hold EPA has on them.
I could go into all the technical data concerning the Smart but if you really need to know the nuts and bolts of the Smart Fortwo Electric drive head over to their website, it is fun and very interactive www.smartusa.com it will give you colors, trim levels and tons of specifications. You can even sync it up with your smart phone and control the car from anywhere and talk about giving you information? How about turning on the A/C and heater from inside your house?
Here is what I think is the best news, you can lease a Smart Fortwo Electric for as little as $99 a month for 36 months! Want a better deal? Add Battery Assurance to your lease payment for an additional $80 dollars and your battery is covered on a month to month basis and it gives you coverage that will guarantee the battery will stay at an 80% capacity for the life of the lease. Stop by and see your dealer for other benefits.
Would I put a Smart Foretwo Electric Drive in my garage? Yes I would, I think if everyone had one in their garage you would see a change of attitude from the big gas/oil companies! Check this out; here is the EPA's fuel mileage chart for the Smart, City: 122 miles, Highway 93 miles and combined mileage of 107.
Want to hear more? Check me out on KCBQ AM 1170 every Sunday from 7 to 10 pm you can also listen live on www.kcbq.com and on KUSI TV Wednesday-Friday-Saturday and Sunday at 6 and 7 o'clock hour!