Have you ever seen the movie Fast Times At Ridgemont High? Remember that part when Judge Reinhold is delivering food and a beautiful woman pulls up next to him and smiles? Then she laughs and takes off? It's only then that he notices he's wearing that stupid pirate hat?
Well, the same basic thing happened to me when I drove home from the office last night. Cute girl, giving me a look, then giggling and leaving.
It was then I realized I'm driving a bright orange Smart. It's a giant pirate hat on wheels. She wasn't looking at me, but my car. Then laughing at the both of us.
That hurt the ego just a bit.
On a side note, driving into the office this morning I passed by a Mercedes dealership and saw the first Smart under $20k in a long time. It was fifteen and change, making a hell of a lot more sense that ridiculous $25k+ I'd seen earlier. If the price was a little lower still, the Smart would make a lot more sense to me.
Scott Jacobs, Senior Photographer
redliner says:
12:57 PM, 01/ 9/09
Smart is laughing all the way to the bank.
tenfifteen says:
01:11 PM, 01/ 9/09
I wonder if Smart will be laughing when the rollover lawsuits start, uh... rolling in.
tmanz says:
01:14 PM, 01/ 9/09
When they rollover don't you just get 2 people to help you roll them back upright? Or open the window and reach out and push :)
m_thrizzle says:
01:31 PM, 01/ 9/09
When you guys park the Smart in parking lots, do you pull deep into the spot or try to line up the back of the car with those of others?
One of my pet peeves is when small car drivers (mostly Miata's and Mini's) pull in deep into parking spaces -- sometimes even crossing the front line! -- and of course there is usually an SUV next to them so you think there's an empty spot and you almost drive into them. >:|
desmolicious says:
02:43 PM, 01/ 9/09
The Citroen C1 that is mentioned in the News section, is much much better than the Smart and sells for $11K in Europe.
bankerdanny says:
03:03 PM, 01/ 9/09
"If the price was a little lower still, the Smart would make a lot more sense to me."
And if it ran on regular instead of Premium. If I have to pay extra for fuel I might as well get a diesel and get 2x the torque and substantially better mileage too.
bloodyr says:
03:07 PM, 01/ 9/09
That's a great picture, but you should have put Phoebe Cates in the passenger seat.
ahightower says:
05:46 PM, 01/ 9/09
That girl was laughing at you, but the guy in the VW at the next light was totally checking you out.
epbronw says:
05:49 PM, 01/ 9/09
M-thrizzle - I leave the Smart at the front of the space, with the empty half behind me. I always worry that some inattentive person will hit it before they notice it way back there if I pull all the way in. And yes, I'm always stuck between two SUVs.
Counter-peeve - in parking garages that have compact spots, I can never get in because someone's decided his BMW 5-series or similar is actually quite small. The Fortwo is actually the first car I'd put in one without worrying, and I never get to.
epbronw says:
08:10 PM, 01/ 9/09
Oh, and hat or not, Judge Reinhold still looked like Judge Reinhold. That scene could easily have been autobiographical. ;)
elbee says:
01:11 PM, 01/10/09
That woman laughing at him in the movie was actually one of the Heart sisters.
m_thrizzle says:
04:16 PM, 01/10/09
epbronw, it seems like newer parking lots are putting in tighter spaces, despite cars growing wider every year. And yeah, SUV's love to park in those Compact spots, and usually crooked.
MS3lvr92 says:
09:19 PM, 01/10/09
I hate when people take compact spaces in big cars. When I was crusing through the local downtown area in a parking garage lately, I couldn't park in a compact spot because some joker decided to squeeze his Nissan Xterra in between a Focus and a Neon.
BeefSupreme says:
12:28 AM, 01/12/09
That is best metaphor I have ever heard for the Smart. Love it. I see about 4 on my way to work from San Francisco to Marin. Good idea for the city. Not so much on the freeway. In the fast lane. In front of me.
Also, I thought when your Smart tips over, you just use the same technique as you would when you need to lift a tipped over Honda Goldwing.
zoomzoomn says:
11:13 AM, 01/13/09
Well, at least you can honestly say that you weren't trying to compensate for anything!!!