ORIGINAL: RoswellGrey
I don't think it's the greenies as much as it is people just trying to save money on gas. The thing that gets me about the Smart cars, though, is that for what they are -- basically little telephone booths on wheels, the mileage isn't THAT great. If they got 70 or 80 mpg, I might see driving something that looks like that. But according to their own web site, they're rated 33/41. The old Geo Metros used to do that good and they were more normal-looking cars.
You've sumed up my thoughts as well on that matter. I don't see the point in those things as they are just a full-sized golf cart, and as TechmanBD pointed out are very expensive for what you are getting. The other cars I don't understand are the ones like the Toyota Echo, Chevrolet Aveo, etc. Those things generally get worse fuel mileage than a car with a slightly larger engine. Although GM lacks such a car to compare since the Cobalt has a 2.2L engine for the standard level, the Corolla gets better fuel economy despite having a larger engine. It seems very backwards to me.
Justice, I hear you loud and clear. The funny thing is a friend of mine who has a Mazda 3 is currently looking at getting either a Mach 1 or a GTO because he is sick of the bad ride quality of compacts. The mileage a person gets also depends on the way you drive it, that is why I've been able to get over 30mpg with my Intrepid that was originally rated at 26mpg and I'm more than comfortable in the process.