MicroCarUSA

After last week's sad story about a death in a smart comes a happy one about one that possibly saved a life. Smart Car of America forum memberr Jim.Davis writes:

Sitting in traffic at a red light, in the center lane on Tuesday afternoon. I looked in my rear view and saw a guy coming up on me. Nose in his cell phone, and not slowing down.

I hit the gas, and me & Bob shot between the cars ahead of me. I had enough room to squeeze between the lanes. Everyone gave me a dirty look until WHAM!!!! This guy piled into the SUV that I had been behind. He was doing well above 40mph, and never hit the brakes.

After the impact, 2 guys behind moved by and gave me the "thumbs up".

It was my lucky day.

There has been a fatal crash near Picayune, Louisiana on I10. The driver hit a guardrail, flipped over another one into on-coming traffic, rolled, and was hit by an SUV. Authorities suspect that alcohol was a factor. Whether or not it was, any fatal road accident in any car is a tragedy, and a reminder that we should all take care for the sake of ourselves and other motorists.

Just like in the picture below, smart is merging into Mercedes. Penske has called it quits for smartUSA, and Daimler AG will be taking over US inventory to sell exclusively from Mercedes dealerships. Read more after the jump . . . 

Scion's near-production iQ EV prototype is coming to the Geneva auto show this March. They say it will get 65 miles on a full charge, and will be being tested in Europe on a lease basis by 2012.  These are pretty similar numbers to the those of the smart ED, but it will seat more. In my opinion, it looks like it is a good candidate for Daft Punk's mode of transport.

A possible all-wheel drive prototype has been spotted being flogged in the snow, and was posted by Car and Driver. Their take is that it is yet another awesome variant of a small or micro car that won't make it to US shores (Mini D, smart mhd, or Golf GTD anyone?)

[Jalopnik via CarandDriver]

The EPA has rated the first Fiat 500's that will arrive on US shores, which are manual transmission. The number: 30 city, 38 freeway, meaning 33 combined. Things just keep looking great for the 500.

[via autoevolution]

Smart Car of America Forum member tgobie50 says that he was in an accident in his smart fortwo while going 50mph. He (and his newly purhcased eggs) were unharmed. 

Jalopnik's Justin Hyde was flown to San Diego to drive the US-spec Fiat 500.  Their verdict after the jump.

Here's a fun video taken of some smarts on the Nurburgring.  Sure, they are being passed left and right by cars that are 10 times their price, but they are also having a hell of a lot of fun, and that's the point. Mirrors real-life driving in a smart.

Smart delivered its first Electric Drive fortwo in the US today, to Mindy Kimball of Virginia. No one in the neighborhood noticed because it was camouflaged in the snowy driveway. It is interesting to note the wheels look like the standard US "Passion" wheels painted green, and the side skirts/front valences are of the body color, as in the new 2011 smarts.