Set sprinklers to water the lawn or garden only - not the street or sidewalk.
Use the microwave to cook small meals. (It uses less power than an oven.)
Purchase "Green Power" for your home's electricity. (Contact your power supplier to see where and if it is available.)
Scrape, rather than rinse, dishes before loading into the dishwasher; wash only full loads.
Cut back on air conditioning and heating use if you can.
Turn off appliances and lights when you leave the room.
Like a roll of Mentos candy on wheels, Daimler AG's Smart car is the ultimate fresh-maker. Pedestrians stop and gawk. Drivers lower their windows to shout "What is that?" or "How's the gas mileage?" (40 miles per gallon, highway). And even the most hardened auto enthusiast seems strangely compelled to crack a smile in its presence.
Cue "Zippity-Doo-Dah."It's a big reaction to an 1,800-pound two-seater dubbed the Smart Fortwo – as in "for two people." Prior to the car's nationwide launch last month, we stopped by Park Place Motorcars (Smart's exclusive North Texas dealer) and called dibs on the first Fortwo test drive. In fact, our toy-sized loaner was driven right out through the showroom's doubled-door front entry.
With gusto, we put the car through real-world Dallas driving: Squeezing into a parking space at Victory. Navigating the obstacle course that is Highland Park Village during lunch hour. Even jockeying for position among the luxury SUVs lined up at The Mansion valet.
In a town where size matters, we proudly held our own. And then some.
Yes, it's small. Real small: 8-feet-8-inches long and 5-feet-1-inch wide, to be exact. Which means you can fit two Smarts nose-to-tail in a standard parking space. Or, an even better party trick: Treat a parallel space as if it were a head-in and pull straight up to the curb. We can't vouch for the legality, but it sure looks cool.
Considering the diminutive exterior, the interior feels downright cavernous. Or at least comfortable enough for a 6-foot-3 journalist. After 20 minutes, we forgot we were driving a micro-car with one exception: We wanted to shake our fist at drivers for tailgating us – until we looked back and remembered that the two-seater's sheer rear deck has no trunk. Hello, neighbor.
Fit and finish inside are high-quality and distinctly German-looking. One quirky feature: two optional circular gauges (rev counter and clock) are mounted atop the dashboard on stalks, reminiscent of eyeballs. Their adjustability provided a good five minutes of unintended entertainment.
A small hatch area behind the seats is covered in a hook-and-loop material. (We found the owner's manual adhered to the back of our seat.) Our tester also came with a panoramic clear polycarbonate sunroof to let in the rays.
Smart was the brainchild of Swatch inventor Nicolas G. Hayek, who first came up with the idea of a small urban car that would be as fresh and affordable as his famed Swiss-made watches back in the 1980s. (Dream realized: Today's Smart cars can be customized with interchangeable body panels in six colors that can be swapped out in hours.)
Hayek eventually teamed with Mercedes and by 1998, the first Smart cars were rolling out in Europe. Today, Swatch is no longer part of the picture, but Mercedes' parent company, Daimler AG, is busy rolling out the slightly larger U.S. version across the country.
The Park Place showroom, which unveils this month, is a sharp contrast to the wood- and leather-appointed Mercedes-Benz and Porsche showrooms flanking it. The all-white space feels more akin to a Design Within Reach. An on-site parts and accessories boutique sells T-shirts, caps, cup holders and other Smart-logoed paraphernalia.
Smart faces some misconceptions. The Fortwo is not a hybrid or an electric car, though it gets comparable results. The ultra-low-emission, one-liter, three-cylinder engine serves up 71 horsepower and sips gas on its way to a top speed of 90 miles per hour. Try that in your golf cart.
Smart also earns its eco-friendly stripes in other ways. More than 95 percent of the components are recyclable, including an instrument panel made partly from flax.
While other Park Place rides can cross into triple digits, the Smart line is significantly more affordable. The base model Fortwo Pure begins at $11,590, while a Fortwo Passion Coupe starts at $13,950 and adds goodies such as a leather-wrapped steering wheel, shift paddles and sunroof. Three-thousand more gets you a Fortwo Passion convertible with soft-top that can be adjusted in multiple positions while driving at any speed.
Here's another twist. Potential buyers must get in line online, reserving a car at smartusa.com with a $99 deposit. And it's first come, first served. Even Park Place founder and chairman Ken Schnitzer is waiting his turn.
So far, more than 30,000 people nationwide have put down deposits on the Fortwo, which means Smart may be ready for a whole new mantra:
We're here. We're small. Get used to it.
E-mail cwynn@dallasnews.com
