Smart ForTwo smart for few

But in an absolute sense, the ForTwo's ride is pretty darned bad. City streets are supposed to be its preferred habitat but city streets -- especially New York's - are a potholed, patched and graded mess of hazards that test the suspension of the sturdiest luxury car.

The ForTwo is simply no match. Every pothole and tar patch supplied the sort of head-tossing drama that most cars would need at least a minor collision to achieve. The suspension would bottom out, and I'd be thrown from the seat only to drop back down in time to get smacked by the headrest as the car bucked forward.

Buyers can accept the discomfort as the price you pay for minimizing the environmental impact of your daily commute. The only time it was a major concern for me was on the highway, where I wondered what a nasty bit of road debris or a hole would do to the ForTwo at 70 miles per hour.

NEXT: Sloppy shifts