Brought myself to buy? Curious syntax!

Hmmm, let me see, a Prius or a convertible with heated seats that gets better FE. I think that is called a "no brainer".

It's doubtful that the Smart fortwo gets better mileage than the Prius. I mean you may be getting better mileage than the Prius' EPA rating but if you applied the same techniques to the smart as you did to the Prius, you may very well be getting MPG in the 80s and 90s, I know I did when I rented a Prius. Only thing I didn't like about the Prius was that it was an automatic and that I only got 60mpg on the freeway despite going 55mph.

I can think of several reasons to buy a Smart...

1. They're just plain cool! (That's my opinion, of course, and we all know about opinions...)
2. There is a convertible Smart available, but no Prius convertible.
3. They only seat 2 people. Easy excuse not to give ride to that annoying friend...
4. They take up little space
5. They are a great example of using only what you need.

Huh? Does your friend have some sort of weird multiple personality disorder where they think they're multiple people and multiple people need multiple seats, so therefore a two seater wouldn't work?

I mean I can agree on the premise of buying a vehicle that uses only what you need but when it's less efficient than a Prius, I just don't see the point in it. To me, that would be like me buying a scooter or motorcycle that gets 50mpg when my passenger car already gets 50mpg..

Some people just prefer one car over another, even if the math isn't quite as good.

there is also the sticker price delta. a prius runs $22,800 with epa of 51/48 where as the smart runs $11,990 for the base but a better comparison is the passion which starts at $13,990 with epa of 33/41.

I can buy a lot of gas for $9k

and they are really fun cars (test drive one and you'll know why)

I guess that's the only thing that I can logically deduce from choosing one over the other.. However if I'm buying a vehicle based upon Price difference, I mind as well just get a used vehicle which would save even more money. The value of a new vehicle to me is quite low which is one of the reasons why I may not ever own a Prius, the used ones hold their value very well (out of my price range) and I simply don't buy new vehicles..

you do also realize that logic has very little to do with preference. many of us prefer certain vehicles over others just because of our likes and dislikes.

we all have made FE sacrifices. if we had not, we would all be driving around on 50-150cc scooters. it is just enough to do the job.

on a side note: if you ever do get the opportunity to test drive a smart, give it a try. it is a truly enjoyable experience. pickup sucks but it turns like a go-kart.

Consider your doubt comprehensively erased.

Toyota Prius: 44.9 US MPG (1066 cars in sample)
https://www.spritmonitor.de/en/overvi...ml?powerunit=2

smart 450 diesel: 56.5 US MPG (845 cars in sample)
https://www.spritmonitor.de/en/overvi...06&powerunit=2

Looks to be priced WAY lower, a mac-dady Toyota Pretentious is almost 30k!
Betters the mileage by a lot, and doesn't look like a retarded jelly bean. :thumbup: