If you’ve ever seen a Smart car drive past, you’ve probably been left with a lot of questions, or maybe even some not-so-polite comments, and those usually relate to the car’s overall size. Smart cars aren’t the only miniature cars ever created, and in fact, the history of tiny cars goes back through history, but they are the most modern. Could you imagine daily driving a Smart car to work? There actually might be some benefits to doing so, but are there enough pros to make this car a reasonable daily driver?

Benefits of driving a Smart car

Buying a Smart car for a daily driver means you have a very cut and dry routine that isn’t going to require a spontaneous trip to Lowes, or you don’t live far enough from work to mind stopping at home to pick up your Ford F-250. Ideally, that means that even if you daily drive a Smart car it isn’t the only car in your garage. 

Because of the small size of the Smart car, you can park almost anywhere, and that includes tight spaces where a standard-sized sedan couldn’t comfortably fit. It can easily navigate in and out of big city traffic or the 5 o‘clock rush on the highways, and the seats are comfortable enough to get stuck in the routine traffic jam. 

There are, of course, some drawbacks

As you could imagine, there is a lot of things that you can’t do with your Smart car. While you could probably take it to the grocery store if you needed to, the ride home might be cramped and unpleasant. The Smart car also has almost no towing capacity whatsoever, so it’s not a good option if you take your boat out every weekend or want to trailer your dirt bikes to the off-road park. 

We aren’t discussing once-in-a-while scenarios though, so let’s focus on daily needs. If you don’t carpool, or you carpool with just one person, the Smart car has enough space to keep you comfortable, and even though it’s a tight fit its nowhere near as bad as trying to daily drive something like a Lotus Elise.

There is enough space that you can fit a gym bag, briefcase, or an arm full of grocery bags, and chances are you don’t really need much more space than that on a daily basis. There isn’t enough space to volunteer your car as the ride to lunch with your coworkers or even really take your kids to school or daycare on your way to work. It’s an ideal commuter option for one or two adults, and really nothing more, but for many commuters that happens to fit the bill. 

Overall a Smart car isn’t a bad daily driver for the right person, and when it comes to picking any niche car there is some sacrifice — the Smart car option just happens to have a little bit more sacrifice than others.