Given that one can get a 2004 Prius (the 2004 model was the first of the current Prius generation) for a similar price (about $16,000 according to Edmunds.com), what exactly is the point of getting one of these so-called "smart" cars, other than perhaps to fit into really tight parking spaces? As the article linked above notes, the mileage is actually worse than a Prius and the front-end collision safety is almost surely worse, and to top it off you get squeezed into a tiny car with room for just two people and pretty much nothing else. Why on Earth is anyone plunking down $99 to resrve one of these??? It makes no sense to me.