The smart suffered from some aerodynamic penalties for being so tall and its short length.
But the smart could also handle crashes muuuuuuch better than the Geos and part of the reason we have had gas mileage losses since the early 90s were that crash structures and air bags have had to keep pace to protect against the oversized SUV threats we face on roads now.
We really should be setting road taxes based on vehicle weight with much higher penalties on heavy cars and trucks. That would incentivize smaller vehicles and we’d all get safer and more efficient at the same time.
The smart suffered from some aerodynamic penalties for being so tall and its short length.
But the smart could also handle crashes muuuuuuch better than the Geos and part of the reason we have had gas mileage losses since the early 90s were that crash structures and air bags have had to keep pace to protect against the oversized SUV threats we face on roads now.
We really should be setting road taxes based on vehicle weight with much higher penalties on heavy cars and trucks. That would incentivize smaller vehicles and we’d all get safer and more efficient at the same time.