Smart car only fits an itsy-bitsy niche

— -- German automaker Daimler promised in 2004 to get its minuscule Smart car into U.S. showrooms in 2005, and has been hemming and hawing ever since about whether it would offer the half-a-parking-space-size Smart in America.

Smart dealers are signed up in 50 cities and will open in time for the early January introduction of the tiny Smart two-seater.

More than 75,000 people have attended Smart driving events in 50 cities. Smart USA President Dave Schembri says 92% of 40,000 surveyed afterward said they could see themselves driving a Smart.

Safety concerns are a big issue, Schembri acknowledges. Mercedes-Benz, also owned by Daimler, engineered a safety cage to protect occupants in a crash.

Still, fatality statistics show that you are about twice as likely to get killed in a small car as in a bigger car. And about half of small-car fatalities involve only small cars, government data show.

Among small cars there is a considerable range of safety. Smart says its design, safety equipment — such as stability control and multiple air bags — as well as on-road experience in other countries, puts the car on the good end of the scale. It expects a four-star government crash-test rating. Five stars is best.

In its favor, the Smart car has a funky charm not unlike the original Volkswagen Beetle.

Smart's basics: Small size, light weight allow use of a three-cylinder engine meant to sip gasoline. Only Toyota Prius and Honda Civic hybrids have higher mileage ratings. Toyota Camry and Nissan Altima hybrids come close.

Odd styling and features are intended to make Smart seem hip, not spartan. For instance, dealers will sell different color body panels so your Smart can sport a red door and black fender, should you wish. Or a green door on one side, a white door on the other.

The warranty is two years or 24,000 miles, instead of typical three years/36,000. Helps keep the sticker price lower, Schembri says. Owners can buy extended warranties.

All U.S. Smarts are two-seaters. Four-seaters aren't planned.

The car's about two-thirds the size of, and 1,000 pounds lighter than, a Mini Cooper. Even so, the engine barely propels the 1,800-pounder briskly enough for most people once they leave gridlock. Smart claims 12.8 seconds for the dash from 0 to 60 mph. Most cars can do that in 10 seconds or less. "Zero-to-60 is a little bit overrated, particularly in a city car," Schembri says. "It's very quick 0-to-30."

However appealing you might find the car, you are likely to be turned off by its clumsy gearbox. Smart comes only with a manual transmission that has no clutch pedal, but does have a clutch. The gearbox shifts automatically, disengaging and re-engaging the clutch on your behalf. You get the pause, or jerk, at gear-change and start-off that you'd feel if an inexperienced stick-shift driver were at the wheel.

A manual-shift mode lets you switch gears yourself. To do that gracefully, you shift when a light-up arrow says so. Otherwise the transmission might not obey.

When you really need to haul, you can floor the throttle and the transmission will downshift, as in a purely automatic gearbox, and then work back up through the gears in an almost-acceptable fashion.

Schembri says the transmission is a benefit, not a drawback. "When it was explained to people at the road shows, it was one of the features people wanted." And eventually you learn to shift smoothly, he says, based on his year driving a Smart.

A conventional manual with driver-activated clutch wouldn't have fit, he says, and a fully automatic gearbox would have cost 3 or 4 miles per gallon.

The obvious appeal of the Smart ForTwo is its small size. It'll mainly appeal to urbanites with small parking areas, narrow streets, tightly packed traffic. But its transmission makes it shaky and unpleasant in stop-and-go.

Inside, the car mainly is laudable. Seats are quite comfy and slide well back for expansive legroom. Colors are attractive, instruments easily readable. You have to buy an option package to get a tachometer and clock.

Inviting as the surfaces appear, they are stiff in a soft-touch world. Controls, such as the turn signal, headlight and wiper stalks, clack in a cheap-plastic way.

Ignoring the transmission, Smart's OK to drive. The ride is firm, but not as choppy as you'd expect in a car with such a short wheelbase.

Steering is firm and not fussy. But until you're used to it, you have to turn the wheel more than expected. And that's with optional power steering, which the preproduction, $15,000 Passion Coupe test car had.

Seating position is high enough to give reasonably good visibility and make you feel less vulnerable.

The engine sounds coarse and grumbly enough to mistake it for a diesel. It also shook quite a bit, especially just after the ignition key was switched off.

If you need something as tiny as the Smart, then nothing else short of a Vespa Scooter will suit, Smart's flaws notwithstanding.

But if what you want is a smallish car with good mileage at a low price, there are lots of other choices these days of heavy discounts and like-new used cars.

2008 Smart ForTwo

•What is it? Two-passenger micro-car meant for places with small parking spots, narrow streets, jammed traffic, and for people who want to stand out while using less fuel. Rear-engine, rear-wheel drive. Manufactured at Hambach, France.

An outgrowth of a 1994 joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and watch-maker Swatch.

•How soon? On sale early January.

•How much? Three versions. Pure starts at $12,235 including $645 destination charge. Passion Coupe starts at $14,235. Passion Cabriolet (convertible) starts at $17,235.

•How many? Like many automakers today, Smart won't say. Sales began overseas in 1998, and Smart's now sold a total of 770,000 vehicles in 36 countries. In other words, a slow seller by U.S. standards.

Smart says it has more than 30,000 deposits from U.S. buyers, who each have put down $99, and has confirmed orders from 9,000 of them, enough to account for "several months production," says Smart USA President Dave Schembri.

•What's the drivetrain? 1-liter, three-cylinder, gasoline engine rated 70 horsepower at 5,800 rpm, 68 pounds-feet of torque at 4,500 rpm, mounted in back driving the rear wheels through a five-speed automated manual transmission; traction control.

•What's the safety gear? Mercedes-designed safety cage to boost protection; front and side-impact air bags; stability control; anti-lock brakes.

•What's the rest? Base model, Pure, is notable for lack of amenities, no air conditioning or stereo, for example. Passion models have much more standard equipment: air conditioning; transparent roof with sunshade (Coupe) or retractable roof (Cabriolet); AM/FM/CD stereo with jack for MP3 device; power windows, mirrors, locks; remote-control locks; outside mirror defrosters; alloy wheels.

•How big? The size of a big toy. Smart is 106.1 inches long, 61.4 inches wide, 60.7 inches tall on a 73.5-inch wheelbase.

Cargo space is listed as 7.8 cubic feet behind the seats if cargo's stacked to the tops of the seats, or 12 cubic feet if you're willing to stack to the ceiling. Passenger's seat folds flat for more cargo space.

•How thirsty? Not yet rated by the U.S. government. Smart forecasts a rating of 33 mpg in town, 40 on the highway, 36 in combined driving. Test car recorded 40 miles per gallon in suburban driving. Premium gasoline is specified. Smart says regular is OK, but engine won't get advertised power or rated mileage.

•Overall: Good mileage, handy parking don't compensate for rough operation.