Newswise — It took nearly seven years, but a University of Maryland time-use expert finally managed to get his answer to better fuel mileage into this country " the "Smart Car." "I'm probably one of the first in Maryland or the DC area to own one," says John Robinson, a sociologist and a national expert on time usage. "It's essentially a car cut in half, but it can get up to 50 miles per gallon, seats two very comfortably and is cleverly designed. It's a little bigger than a motorcycle, but a lot safer. I saw one in Paris in 1999 and have been trying to get one ever since."
Ironically, U.S. regulations made it difficult to import the German/French car. "I spent hundreds of hours and made thousands of phone calls satisfying all the red tape," he says. "It had to be retrofitted to meet various U.S. standards, including some environmental ones, even though it's one of the cleanest cars on the road."
Several earlier attempts to import the car failed. But Robinson says the bureaucratic kinks have been worked out, and it was shipped through a California company that retrofitted it and sent it on to a New Hampshire dealership. He drove it home to Maryland in a blinding rain storm just before Mother's Day.
Robinson liked the car so much he bought two. "It really is like half a car," he says. "The shipping container holds two of them. So it's no more expensive to ship both." He says the car is not cheap " about $30,000. "Over time it will pay for itself if gas prices remain so high," he adds.
"It's ideal for me," Robinson says. "Over 90 percent of all trips in this country only involve one or two people in the car, and a two-seater works fine for me. I'll also spend a lot less time looking for parking spaces."
People who saw the recent Pink Panther movie may be familiar with the car's unusual design. Inspector Clouseau drove one in the film. "It's one of the few things he did right," says Robinson.
Robinson adds that he has no financial stake in the company or any arrangement with dealers.
RSS