For years, it has been a little pleasure of mine to reserve a Mercedes “Smart” car when in my “second-home” of Como. (Here’s a picture of mine outside the Cruise Hotel during my recent stay.)

It’s a tiny thing, almost like two seats with a little plastic or something around them. *Note- there are two versions of Smart car- the “fortwo” and the “forfour”.  The “forfour” is larger, and in my opinion misses the point. So don’t get that one.

Try to get the fortwo Cabrio- the soft roof retracts, so it’s the perfect little vehicle for cruising around the lake on balmy summer evenings... One thing though- it’s so tiny you can’t have much luggage with you.  There’s only enough room to squoosh in a couple of carry-ons behind the seats.  It’s so little that if parking is hard to find, you can park nose-in, perpendicular to the other cars...

Well, as you may have noticed, the Smart car has finally arrived for sale in the States, and although it has been modified a little, it looks pretty much the same as its European predecessors.

If you want to know more, check out the website: www.smartusa.com