Smart Car Road Trip

A Smart Car is…a car. That’s what I assume is the most positive thing most CTzens have to say about it. It’s tiny, under-powered, and just so…blah. I mean, who cares about being efficient at driving to and from work when you can go out and actually drive? Well, that’s what I just did.

Over the last couple of days I took a road trip in my 2008 Smart Fortwo right up the central US. From my starting point in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma I drove 800 miles (1200 kilometers) north to Minneapolis, Minnesota. For reference, that’s a longer drive than from Calais to Marseilles, France. I of course chose the perfect vehicle for the trip: a micro car designed for city driving.

The first test was seeing how much I can actually fit into the thing. Surely there’s no room for luggage, right?

But there must not be any room for a passenger, right?

With my Pop-Tarts buckled in I hit the open road. My route was a straight shot up Interstate I-35, the main North-South highway in the central US. Now, I’m sure you’re wondering how well a slow city car can do on the highway. Well…

The car is electronically limited to 90 MPH (135 KPH), and I feel that it could reach 100 without the limiter. Not all that fast compared to other cars, but not bad for a 70 HP 3-cylinder engine. Not that it is particularity stable at high speed. Above 80 MPH the entire car starts to shake, and even a slight breeze makes it wobble back and forth. The worst thing is driving behind a semi-truck and getting caught in its wake.

So on I go, hour after hour, mile after mile. Unfortunately, the road wasn’t exactly exciting from a driving point of view. Being a highway there were no interesting curves, and being in the central US there was nothing interesting to look at. The only thing I could really do was test the car’s mileage. I calculated 45 MPG. You can tell it wasn’t made by VW because that actually exceeds official mileage estimates.

After an overnight stop in Iowa I finally reached Minnesota.

It is here my trip ends. 800 miles, 14 hours driving, and a lingering question: is the Smart any good for long drives? Well, extreme instability notwithstanding, it did remarkably well despite being completely out of its element. Just goes to show you: you never know what your car can do until you try.