Last June, when gas prices were still in the midst of their long climb upwards, I placed a reservation for a Smart Fortwo. I'm currently driving a Jeep Wrangler that gets about 17 MPG; when the price of gas was $4.00 per gallon or higher, I was spending a lot of money each week on my 70 mile-per-day commute.
The Smart seems like a robust little commuter vehicle, and that's what I'm intending it for. 99% of all the driving I do is to and from work with only me in the car; the Smart should save a bundle of money, even considering the fact that I'll have a new (very small) car payment.
The reservation system is interesting; I paid $99 for the privilege (fully refundable), and they originally told me that my delivery date was Oct-Dec, 2009. Since then, however, it's been steadily retreating, and now it stands at Jan-Mar, 2009. I have no definitive answers, of course, as to why the date has been changing. Perhaps SmartUSA has added additional manufacturing capacity. Perhaps the general economic climate has made it unfeasible for many people to purchase a new car, even one as inexpensive as that.
In any case, I'll (hopefully) soon be in possession of one. Red. I've always wanted a red car.
My limited reading about the Smart left me thinking it was too expensive vs. cars like the Honda Fit, and it didn't get the kind of fantastic gas mileage you would expect with this form factor. Are those criticisms accurate, and if so why did you choose the car? I'd love to hear if I'm wrong.
$11,000 is pretty inexpensive. And 45MPG is not bad; if you look at the cost, there's very little difference (in terms of $$) between 45 and 55MPG (there's a much larger difference between 20 and 30MPG, for example). Finally, all I have is a reservation, and no commitment to purchase. If I decide that I don't want it, I get my $99 reservation fee back. The other determining factor for me is the room: the interior of the Smart is HUGE. I'm a big guy, and I actually have trouble fitting through the door on the Honda Fit, whereas the Smart is very roomy.