In your garage today, collector's item tomorrow

Official EPA fuel economy estimates aren't available yet but, let's face it, most buyers aren't going to snap up the ForTwo for its high mpg rating. (Its highway fuel economy will likely approach that of the hybrid Toyota Prius.) They're going to buy it because it looks weird. At least it does to Americans.

The tiny ForTwo is, in many ways, an ideal car for unattached city dwellers. It can fit into the half the parking space needed by other cars. With prices starting at less than $12,000, it's also attractively cheap.

It's just odd-looking and impractical enough - it has only enough seating and luggage space for two people on a short trip - that it probably won't swarm American roads. Collectors may someday warm to early Smart models the way they now fawn over early compact cars from the 1960s.