Journalism concepts and practices

Journalism

'Usually the first thing people say when they get in is 'Wow! Sh*& ! damn!' They can't believe how big it is on the inside."

Susan Smith, a thirty-two-year-old computer programmer living in Toronto, is bragging about her Smart car.

The Mercedes-made, Daimer-Chrystler-distributed fuel efficient mini car looks no bigger than a Harley-Davidson cruiser. In fact, the Smart car is only eight feet long, five feet high, and weighs considerably less than a ton.

It's also cute enough to make the Volkswagen Beetle look comparatively overweight and bloated. The Smart car's visual appeal is due to its being designed by Swatch, the Swiss company that makes funky plastic watches. Like the Swatch watches, the Smart cars come in a range of non-traditional and fun colors; they are inexpensive; and they are flexible.

Anyone who has recently visited Paris, London, and other major European capitals will already be familiar with the tiny two-seaters that are short enough to be parallel parked -- head first to the curb. But the Smart car is not a glorified Vespa. As Susan Smith notes, the Smart car has more space inside than its exterior would suggest.

Terry Jones, a thirty-five-year-old salesman states, "I first noticed the Smart car in Europe. I saw one parked perpendicular to the curb in a spot designed for parallel parking. As a resident of Toronto, where parking is a nightmare, I said to myself 'I have got to get me one of those!'"

The appeals of the Smart car are self-evident: it's compact enough for convenient urban parking; roomy enough to tote passengers and groceries; attractive enough to turn heads; and the Smart car is remarkably fuel-efficient at an eye-popping sixty miles per gallon.

Anyone who looks at the Smart car will wonder how safe it is, though. Because it does look so much like a Swatch watch on wheels, potential buyers are suspicious that the Smart car might not pass the crash tests.

It does, to an extent. In Europe, the Smart car tested three on a scale of one-to-five. However, in low-speed collisions, the ones most likely to occur in car that only reaches 75 mph, the car fares better than larger sedans. Like any small vehicle, the likelihood of surviving a major collision in a Smart car is less than in a more robust model.

When asked if they cared about the potential risks of getting behind the wheel of a Smart car, Susan Smith and Terry Jones both responded with an emphatic "No."

Terry replied, "I basically use it to run errands and go to and from work. Traffic is so bad that I rarely get the chance to drive more than forty miles per hour. I'm just as safe in a Smart car as I am in an SUV."

However, neither Susan nor Terry has kids. The Smart car is unlikely to attract the family market both because of space factors and because of potential safety issues. Rather, Smart cars are most likely to attract the urban SINK and DINK-markets: single- and double-income, no kids.

Responding to the American obsession with SUVs, Smart has recently begun a line of Smart SUVs. Called "fourmore," the Smart SUV will be smaller than most, but with all the features that make Smart's two- and four-seater buggies, called "fortwo" and "forfour" respectively, attractive. Like ee cummings poems, all of Smart's offerings shun capital letters. The official company logo is smart, but to avoid confusion with the everyday adjective, the cars are commonly referred to in print as Smart cars.

Along with the car's unique shape, the two-door Smart cars are uniquely customizable and modular. Like playing with Lego, the owner can change the Smart car's plastic body panels, side skirts, and spoilers for a fresh new look. Smart cars are available in a smart-looking Cabriolet convertible model. The interior of the Smart car is not only surprisingly spacious but also stunningly futuristic-looking, modular, and adaptable. Arm rests flip over into cup holders; the back seats of the forfour flip down into extra trunk space. The cars would appear to cramp the style of anyone bigger than Christina Ricci, but the Smart car's interior head- and legroom offers more space than many sedans on the market.