03:12 PM PDT on Monday, April 10, 2006

Evening Magazine

KING

At 8-feet long, Smart cars are about half the size of the average car.

The next big trend in cars might actually be... small.

Small, and "Smart".

At 8-feet long, they are about half the size of the average car.

In fact, Mercedes Smart cars are all over Europe, and arrived in Canada not long ago. They'll be in the U.S. in as little as two years.

The basic smart car has no backseat and no trunk. It gets 65 miles per gallon in city and 75 on the highway running on diesel. And they'll hum along at 75 m.p.h.

And the little car is big on other features: Like plastic body panels that snap off so you can change the color of your car, to lime green or red or white or black whatever you want.

Makes you wonder, if everyone had one, would traffic jams be half as long, and should owners get to park for half the price?

But how safe is it? Smart car touts a frame design using steel beams around the passenger compartment, like a roll cage in a head-on crash.

Prices run about $12,000 for the basic two-seater to more than $20,000 for the convertible with all the extras.

The first U.S. Smart car, a small SUV, comes to the U.S. in late 2006.