Smart Talk
As we drove our red Smart Car off the dealer's lot in Lindon, Utah last week the sales person shouted to us, "Be prepared for conversation!"
The fact that so far there was only one other Smart Car in SLC, a yellow one, portended that we would undoubtedly receive a lot of attention. In the parking lot at the hospital people noticed (it was hard not to) and when they found me said it was "cute."
Some went further, "You guys are so cool. You are on the edge of the curve. Now we've got to get a city full of Smart Cars."
The most common negative comments were about safety:
"Does it have airbags?"
"Aren't you worried about SUV's?"
I explained the external steel frame structure beneath the car's plastic external panels but some remained unconvinced.
"Maybe you should drive it on the sidewalk."
One afternoon I pulled into my favorite independent bookstore and had my egress block ed by a man in a noisy diesel suburban.
"Where do you get those?" he asked.
"They are sold by a dealer in Lindon, Utah. It's a Mercedes dealership."
(The Smart Car is made in France by Mercedes.)
"I drive this clunker for work but need something like that for around
town," he said.
"Well, there is an eighteen month waiting period but put your name in," I said.
"So what is the deal?" he asked. "You buy a Mercedes and they throw this in for kicks?"
I laughed. "Guess so."
Two weeks later my friend Tony got his Smart Car, a black high end
convertible for $17,000, and called me excited about his acquisition. I
drove down to his Italian deli to schmooze over a cup of coffee. We
parked the two cars side by side and ordered our lattes.
As we sat at a table near the window chatting about this and that, we realized we were a posse of two; two of the coolest sixty some things around. Conversation often went like this:
"Any time you want to go for a drive call me."
"Let's have a tailgate party at the farmer's market this summer - Chianti and antipasto."
We looked up and saw two gray haired women hovering around our cars and said simultaneously, "Those Smart cars are definite chick magnets!"
The general consensus is that the cars are "so cute" and everyone has either seen one in Europe or knows of them. The few who venture to take a test drive are surprised at how roomy and comfortable the car is inside and how sturdy it feels.
Feeling cocky about the car, especially the sense of trendiness I felt
driving it, I decided to test the public parking system. People had
suggested I simply park it on the sidewalk. It seemed that small. It was noon on Saturday and I parked at one of those "No parking between 6AM and 6PM" zones with a yellow warning sign. A green SUV had taken up the front part of the parking space but there was definitely room for me. I ran into Kinko's hoping to be there for less than ten minutes. If the Parking Enforcement car came I already had my excuse: It was at after 6 AM in France.
