Cars have traveled a long way since the first Model T rolled off the assembly line 100 years ago tomorrow.

Wednesday marks the 100th anniversary of Henry Ford’s Model T. Even today, Americans recognize the old “Tin Lizzy” as the original classic car.

However, today’s cars are smaller, faster and get much better gas mileage.

The micro-compact Smart ForTwo, which has been sold in Europe for the past decade, is one such car, gradually rolling onto Utah’s roads.

This tiny, unfamiliar car intrigues North-American consumers, and many are wondering if the Smart car would be a smart choice for them.

“The Smart ForTwo was designed to be an urban commuting car, zipping around town,” said Blair Preble, BYU alumnus and manager of the new Smart Dealership in Lindon.

The Smart ForTwo is a two-seat coupe propelled by a 1-liter, 71-horsepower, 3-cylinder gasoline engine with a 5-speed automated manual transmission.

Preble said the Smart car’s main demographic is the 40- to 60-year-old group, because they have extra money to spend, and they consider it more of a toy than a practical vehicle.

Preble said many environmentally sensitive consumers buy the Smart car because it is one of the greenest cars on the planet.

“It has the best carbon footprint of any car on the road,” Preble said.

She said Smart cars are 95 percent recyclable and are manufactured in an environmentally friendly factory in Europe.

Despite its EPA fuel consumption rating of 33 city and 41 highway miles per gallon, Preble says Smart car driv-ers will achieve better fuel economy if they drive conservatively.

“I’ve had dozens of owners tell me that they get low 40s in the city and low 50s on the highway,” Preble said.

She said many consumers consider the Smart car’s minute size a safety hazard.

The 2008 Smart ForTwo received top safety ratings in the side impact and frontal impact crash tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. All test results are available on the IIHS Web site.

Knowing safety would be a concern, Smart has a display car at the Lindon dealership that is stripped down to reveal the car’s structure and the measures that have been taken to make the Smart car safe.

The Smart ForTwo dealership located in Lindon is the only Smart dealership in Utah and several surrounding states, with the next closest dealership located in Las Vegas.

“There’s only one dealership here in Utah, and warranty work has to be done here,” Preble said.

Those who desire to purchase a Smart ForTwo must pay a fully refundable $99 deposit and reserve one, then wait for it, Preble said.

“There’s about a two-year wait on them. They’re all pre-sold,” Preble said. “You have to reserve one.”

Preble said the only other way to get a new Smart car is to pay a $1,000 nonrefundable deposit and get on the orphan list. Smart cars that are not purchased upon delivery by those who reserved them are referred to as “or-phaned” cars. They are offered to those waiting on the orphaned car list. Preble said there are about 70 people on her dealership’s orphan list, currently. She said her dealership receives one shipment of about 33 cars per month, and two or three of those cars will be orphaned.

James Redmond, 42, of Las Vegas, installs video surveillance equipment for a living. He purchased an orphaned, fully loaded Smart ForTwo from the dealership in Lindon.

“I love it, absolutely love it,” Redmond said. “It puts a smile on my face every time I see it.”

He waited eight months on the orphan list before he was able to purchase his black Smart.

“We got it because we knew that gas prices were going to hit $4 per gallon,” Redmond said. “I was calling Blair saying, ‘where’s my car?’

“I commute about 36-38 miles per day. … In the city I’m getting about 36 mpg. Las Vegas is a lot of stop and go.”

He said he got 49 mpg driving his new Smart home to Vegas from Salt Lake City.

“The Smart car is not for everybody,” Redmond said. “It’s a practical toy.”

Redmond said his two main complaints against the Smart car are the lack of a spare tire and a slight lack of power climbing steep hills.

“Eighty mph is about the sweet spot on the freeway,” Redmond said.

The Smart car is electronically limited to 90 mph.

“I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone as their only car,” Redmond said. “You have to think about whether you’re going to be able to fit everything into the car.”

Even though the Smart ForTwo is in a class of its own, due to its size, compact cars are its main automotive competition. One example is the Kia Rio sedan.

“The three main reasons that people buy a car are price, warrantee and safety,” said Trent Wride, manager of Clifford Motors Kia, a dealership located on University Avenue in Provo.

“I think that the Smart car is a neat little rig,” Wride said. “It’s just not the most practical choice.”

Clifford Motors currently has several new base model Kia Rio sedans selling on their lot.

“If someone considering the purchase of a Smart car actually came in here and experienced the Rio, I could sell it to them,” said Wride, citing the Rio’s lower price, 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty, seating for five, 11.9 cubic feet of trunk space and EPA ratings of 27 city and 32 highway mpg.

The Insurance Institute for Highway safety gave the 2008 Kia Rio an average safety rating for the frontal crash test, and a poor safety rating for the side-impact crash test.

Copyright Brigham Young University 30 Sep 2008