All Cars, All the Time

smart fortwo In the Headlines



The ZAP! continues to maximize the attention grabbing powers of the diminutive fortwo. I have to hand it to Zap CEO Steve Schneider, his company certainly know how to keep the press release hopper full! A trickle of federalized vehicles has started to reach dealers. One such company is the Green Car Company. You can check out their website here. ZAP! has been big on hyperbole but its boasting hasn’t always been backed up with delivered goods. Zap’s stock fluctuates around and was almost delisted, but now that they’ve started to deliver a few cars they have been somewhat redeemed.

I would seriously caution folks against signing up for one of these cars unless they have plenty of money to burn (if you do have the extra cash, please go right ahead). Here are my “reasons why not”: the cars are selling at a tremendous premium, the fortwo is EPA rated at only 40 mpg (not exactly head and shoulders above the Fit and Toyota Yaris) and warranty work and future parts availability could be rather dubious. It is true that you can’t put a prize on individuality or being the first one on the block, but why not wait until DaimlerChrysler makes its official yes/no decision on bringing the next generation fortwo to the USA? The next gen model should be better suited for US drivers right out of the box anyway and if DC doesn’t bring the fortwo here at least importers will have a far easier time bringing that model up to code.

If you’re in California or one of the states that following California’s regs you’re going to have to wait anyway as Zap hasn’t gotten CARB approval. The only way that a California resident could get a Zap federalized fortwo would be to find one that happens to have over 7,500 miles on it (wink, wink). That amount of mileage allows you to bring in all sorts of fun things, like diesel Mercedes E-Class sedans.

All told, I still hold the fortwo in high regard. I just hope that it will be available through factory authorized dealers.

Click here for the USA Today story.