Day two in the Smart Car: Through the eyes of a Chihuahua.

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By Peter Mooney, Special to the Los Angeles Times

I first laid eyes on the Smart Car in the Los Angeles Times parking structure. Believing I was to drive it home to Fullerton on many a fearsome freeway where this car would be seen, if at all, as a small snack for any semi, SUV, normal passenger car, perhaps even a large motorcycle, I was quite apprehensive. But something strange and magical, if not totally hallucinogenic, happened to me when I opened the magic door and slid inside. The interior is one of the most spacious and comfortable I’ve been in for a while. I’m 6’1’’ and I would expect a much larger man or woman to be equally as comfortable. I could have studied all the interior dimensions before hand during my painstaking research period of at least five to ten minutes. But dimensions mean nothing to me. I can only understand how things feel. It felt large.

Now, thanks to driving the Smart Car, I know how a Chihuahua sees the world, what gives them the crazy idea they can bark at dogs 100 times their size and even begin to think their ferocity is anything other than laughable. It’s because, like me driving my little Smart Car, they can’t see themselves. But they feel huge!

The spacious, misleading interior of the Smart Car put me in the fur of those extremely delusional canines. I felt I was in a big vehicle and therefore temporarily imagined I was. I felt quite confident as I drove my little 9’1’’ vehicle directly into the blind spots of large cars and trucks alike. I had no more fear than your average Escalade driver, a driver who has as little concern for their own safety and the safety of others than they do good taste. It wasn’t until I got home, got out of the Smart Car and looked at it again that I realized I had fallen victim to the ‘Chihuahua Effect.’

I give this car’s interior two paws way up. This is the highest compliment a dog can give.

Photo by AP Photo/The Gallup Independent, Brian Leddy