[leviathant]

I bought an Elantra in 2001 for less than what a Smart car costs now, and I'll bet that I've spent less on maintenance over the 160,000 miles I've put on that car than I'd end up spending on a Smart.

My wife and I were curious about the Smart until we drove one - it seems to pause for about a second while the transmission changes gears. It was such an absurd lurch that I felt a little bit worried about being on the road, even within my own neighborhood. Given that, and the unimpressive mileage, the prime advantage to driving a Smart car is that you have many more parking options, which can be really nice when you're in a city.

Having said all that, I get what this guy's saying in a way. We recently bought a Dodge Magnum (For a roadtrip across the US next year). All my life I've driven compact cars. The Elantra always seemed like plenty of car to me. I could sit four comfortably (five less so), I can fit a drum kit, a guitar amp and cab, and still have someone in the passenger seat, and it was still larger on the inside than a Civic or a Jetta.

After driving the Magnum for a month or two, I had to switch it up and drive the Elantra, and I was struck by how claustrophobic the car felt. It never seemed like a compact car to me, but after driving around in a car whose title is Latin for "big", the Elantra definitely felt compact now. My idea of what 'normal' was very definitely shifted. (It's still a great car, ten years on.)