Daimler's Minicar: More Charming Than Smart

Buried within the 39 pages of information that accompanied my latest test driver was this nugget: "The USA will be the 37th country to sell the Smart Fortwo." Ignore the questionable grammar and dwell on that fact for a moment, because it reveals the most-important thing you need to know about the French-built microcar's arrival aux États-Unis, almost a full decade after its European launch.

John Stoll takes a Smart Fortwo for a ride around the Detroit area to see the reactions of other drivers in a video.

It doesn't take an MBA to figure out that the powers that be at corporate parent Daimler (yes, the maker of Mercedes-Benz) haven't regarded the U.S. as a prime market for its most-diminutive vehicle -- and for good reason. Despite a redesign in advance of its U.S. debut, the Smart Fortwo sits further outside the automotive mainstream than any other vehicle sold here. The Fortwo's $12,235 starting price puts it in the same range as other econoboxes like the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris, but most people shopping for low-bucks transportation are unlikely to regard the Smart as a viable alternative. As a second car or an urban runabout the Smart works, but any notion that this rudimentary vehicle can replace your Camry is half-baked. This isn't to say that the Smart is a bad car. Quite to the contrary, the two-seater Fortwo (get the name now?) derives its considerable charm from its uniqueness.

It starts with the size. If a 222.4-inch-long Chevrolet Suburban is an XXL, that puts the 106.1-inch Smart somewhere in the children's department. While I didn't actually test-fit it, I'm pretty sure you could carry one around in the back of a heavy-duty pickup. (At just 1,808 pounds, the Smart wouldn't begin to tax the hauling capabilities of such trucks.) Stealing metered parking spaces from bad parallel parkers is more than a possibility, and the more scrupulous among us will find that just fitting the car where others can't is as thrilling as city driving gets.

Alex DiSuvero for WSJ.com

A car or a toy?

From behind the wheel, the Smart feels like any other subcompact, thanks to a low cowl and a fairly upright seating position. This ameliorates the sense of impending doom that accompanies sharing the road with the likes of the aforementioned Suburban, at least until you glance over your shoulder and realize there is another vehicle where you normally would find the back seat. But even then, driving a Smart in heavy highway traffic is less frightening than in a small roadster like the Mazda Miata.

Actually, that statement should come with a caveat: Plan to stick to the right lane. At 70 horsepower, the rear-mounted, three-cylinder engine that powers the Fortwo's back wheels is certainly the smallest to appear in a U.S.-market car in some time, overmatched as it is by many motorcycles. While acceleration is adequate, the car is most comfortable cruising at no more than 65 miles per hour. Here in Michigan, where the de facto speed limit is about 20 mph higher, the Fortwo struggles to keep up, and not having cruise control doesn't help. Off the high-speed roadways, suburban denizens will find it necessary to apply the throttle liberally in typical traffic flow, while in the more-congested, low-speed city centers, the Smart is truly at home.

Tall but Narrow: The high roof and large doors lend a spacious feel, but shoulder room is tight for two people.

The Good and Bad: The Smart can slip into tiny parking spaces. But its ride can be punishing.

No Speed Racer: The rear-mounted, 70-horsepower engine -- some motorcycles have more oomph -- makes highway driving challenging.

Easy on Fuel -- Sort Of: Fuel economy is good but not outsized, given the Smart's miniscule size and weight. We got 32.4 mpg.

Regardless of locale, you will quickly realize that to avoid frustration you should shift the Fortwo's five-speed automatic-manual transmission yourself -- that is, unless you wish to endure slow, seemingly random shifts that turn this already-underpowered car into a snail. Fortunately, shifting the auto-manual is as simple as flipping the optional steering-wheel-mounted paddles or pushing and pulling on the floor-mounted shifter, while lifting off the throttle just as you would with a standard manual tranny, but sans clutch pedal.

The paddle-shifters even lend a much-needed element of sportiness to the little engine that could. Using them doesn't, however, help much in the fuel-economy department. I got an average of 32.4 miles per gallon over 480 miles of driving, while the EPA rating is 36 combined. This is the first time since the EPA revised its fuel-economy ratings for 2008 that a test vehicle has so underperformed, a result I'll attribute to my driving style and eschewing the automatic mode of the transmission. While I'm sure you could get much better fuel economy in the Fortwo, prepare to get passed while doing it.

You'll need to prepare for other considerations as well. Bring along a friend, and you'll find that the feeling of spaciousness afforded by the Smart's high roof and easy entry through its large doors doesn't translate to shoulder room. At least your passenger can help push if you get stuck in the snow. The inability to deactivate the Fortwo's standard stability control combined with the auto-manual transmission stymied my efforts to extricate the car from the white stuff twice during my test drive. Speaking of which, now that the winter thaw is upon us, be careful or you might lose the car in a pothole.

At best, the car's short wheelbase means the suspension transmits far more of an imperfect road surface's jolts through to the cabin. Freeway expansion joints are particularly abusive to your backside. While this makes the driving experience a throwback to the first subcompacts (further proof: power steering is optional), it does make getting behind the wheel of a Smart fun in a primal way.

But that's where I begin to question my enjoyment of the Fortwo. It was a lot of fun to pop around town in it, and though I adore the car and all its goofiness, it's not everyone who will be able to overlook its shortcomings. The rest of the U.S. driving population isn't as likely to approach the Smart with the same diminished expectations. Most people like back seats, smooth-shifting automatic transmissions and a comfortable ride, and you're not going get any of those in a Smart.

Write to Jeff Sabatini at jeff.sabatini@wsj.com