[Z-man]

RickM: yes, that is the type of smart car I drove. It's called the 'smart fortwo' for obvious reasons. It's the same car that VASteve drove.

At this point, Mercedes-Benz, USA has decided to NOT import the smart fortwo - they will first import the smart formore (a mini SUV) and when the second generation fortwo comes out, then they plan on importing them to the USA.

Beware of the ZAP versions - first off - I am uncertain how they are able to pass USA crash tests - (I believe that's the main reason MBUSA isn't bringing in the smart to the US.) Second - they have absolutely no infastructure to suppor the smart car - who do they think will service them? Mercedes dealers don't have any smart parts in stock, and their mechanics aren't trained to service these cars.

As much as people want to be 'first on the block' to own unique cars, IMHO, it may be better to wait a couple of years until the car is officially available here, and there's an infastructure inplace to support them.

On a side note - a few years back, I remember hearing something at the NYC autoshow - Mercedes was displaying their G-Class "Glendelwagon" just prior to their official US introdcution. Years prior to the official US availability, the G-class was available through private vendors via the 'grey market.' Their average cost was nearly $150,000. There was a guy at the autoshow who looked absolutely miserable. When asked why? He stated that he had just purchased one of these $150K grey market G-Classes, only to discover that the official G-class would be offered at Mercedes dealers for about $85,000.

I suspect a similar issue will occur with the ZAP smarts.

Just my unofficial $0.42,
-Z-man.