You know, it constantly amazes me the way auto manufacturers build up their vehicles in people's minds, and give them grandiose nameplates which perhaps reflect the hopes and dreams of the company, rather than the actual vehicles to which they're fitted.

The Smart Company is slightly different, and tends to stick to the obvious. I've just completed a week in a Smart Four Two which, of course, is a rather intelligent form of transportation For Two people.

Ok, fair enough, at first it does appear a tad small from the outside, but as I have been told many times "good things come in little packages". This certainly does seem to be the case with the Smart car.

From the outside, it's quite stylish and if you look closely, you can see where Mercedes Benz drew inspiration for some of their larger models of late. I also quite like the plastic outer panels, as they're not only difficult to dent, if you ever get bored, you can change them for another color and let your neighbors think that you have purchased a brand new car!

However, the biggest surprise which I came across was upon opening the doors. If you've never sat inside a Smart car, I urge you to try one out. I stand over 6 ft 1 inch in my bare feet, so by the time that you add an inch or two of heel, you could say that I'm fairly tall for my species.

So how could I possibly get comfortable in a little Smart car? Well, this might surprise you as much as it did me, because after adjusting the seat to my liking, I actually had four inches of rearward travel still available!

The Smart car appears to have all the features that one truly needs, like E Windows, locks, A/C, and a decent stereo system. That last one I thought would prove invaluable, as I knew the Smart car was powered by a diesel engine.

Time to set off, and with a quick turn of the key, which curiously was in the same position between the seats as the Swedish Saab, the motor purred into life. Purred being the operative word here, as the exhaust note was barely noticeable at all.

My tester came with a semi-standard (no clutch)/auto transmission, and to be honest, at first, I found it rather jumpy when changing gears. It took me a little while to become accustomed to this, but I soon found that if I kept my foot firmly planted on the accelerator and manually changed gear, not only were the shifts smoother, but the little car became quite lively.