Originally Posted by vegasX5

smart cars are stupid. I have never understood their role in the US. Economically, they hardly make sense.

Think about it this way - a smart car gets about 34 miles per gallon mixed driving (I've actually heard its FAR less because of the high load on the engine keeping up with traffic) and costs about $18,000 or so. About a year ago, they were selling around here for roughly $25k FYI.

The basic Toyota Camry invoices MSRP is ~$18,500 with an invoice in the mid $17k range and gets about 27 miles per gallon (many report higher as well). It's bigger, nicer, safer, holds more people, holds more stuff, better looking, more reliable, better warranty, has better resale value, more practical, etc etc. If you can pick up a Camry for roughly the same, if not even less $ than a smart, what advantage does the smart have besides the possibility to occassionally get a couple more miles per gallon (under the right conditions of course!)?

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