Video Of A Crash Test For The Smart Car TwoFor Going At 30 Miles Per Hour

The Smart car is getting big attention lately because, well, it’s small. It is also gaining and earning pretty acceptable crash rating results after testing. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently tested the 2008 Smart Fortwo car, the smallest legal car thats for sale to the the North American market. It has earned a rating of “Good” for front end as well as side crash protection. The little car’s seat and head restraints upon impact test, impressively earned the second highest rating, which is “acceptable” for protection against driver and passenger whiplash in case of rear end impacts.

The Smart Car Fortwo is classified as a microcar, no kidding, which is even smaller than the “minicar” class. It comes in weighing at around 1,800 pounds. The Smart Car is a little over 3 feet shorter and almost 750 pounds lighter than the already tiny Mini Cooper. It weighs about a 1/3, a whole third as much as one of the most heaviest vehicles that the Institute has tested, which was the BMW X5, a mid-size class SUV.

As the price of gas continues to climb, and as yet tougher federal fuel economy requirements take effect, world auto makers/companies are expected to introduce these types of smaller vehicles to the market. The Smart Car TwoFor is the smallest car that the Institute ever has tested.

So if you’re in the market and looking to buy a new Smart Car ForTwo, the ultra-teeny-weeny car built by Daimler (Mercedes), give yourself a bit of extra time to get to your destination.

And the reason is because it is not the fact that the Smart car is slow as turtles scrambling in molasses. The biggest problem is that every time you take it out for a drive, hordes of interested people will suddenly appear asking a lot of questions. Like… is that really a car? Oh how cute.

When cruising down the highway, you will need additional time as well, just to change lanes. Other drivers in their smug SUV’s will drive up right next to you and gawk and smirk at your little car. If you slow down, then they will slow down, you speed up, then they will speed up. Their huge St. Bernard dog will mock your Chihuahua etc.

The novelty of this miniature car will eventually wear off. Everyone will have seen a Smart Car built ForTwo on the road several times, and eventually they will stop pointing at you with their mouths open.

The gas mileage for the Smart Car twofer gets 31 mpg in the city, and 40 miles per gallon on the highway. The gas powered Smart Car TwoFor starts at around US$12,000.

Crash Test Dummy