Forget Al Gore and that inconvenient truth. You can be stylish, practical, and environmentally correct all at the same time.
-By Paul Stone
SMART CAR FOR TWO PASSION COUPE
The first time I saw a Smart car, I thought, Wow! That’s different! The pros pectof driving it amid SUVs on a highway does not exactly fill me with confidence, but it is a non hybrid—and thus non premium priced—way to improve fuel efficiency (33 miles per gallon city/41 highway). The Smart car is a back-to-basics look at automobile engineering—the Dyson vacuum of the car world, if you will. The Passion Coupe is the next iterati on of the popular Fortwo. The difference? Two new colors—“a sporty and intense ‘rally red’ and a cool and elegant ‘gray metal lic’ ”—the door nets have been replaced by solid storage areas, and a “loose gas cap” indicator light. Small changes, yes, but it’s hard to improve on an out-of-the-gate winner. (SmartUSA.com; starts at $14,000)
