New Smart car basically same as old Smart car

To look at it, you wouldn't really know that the Smart car has been made smarter.

Same basic shape, still eight feet, eight inches long. Still the smallest car in America. Yet Mercedes-Benz, its parent, says it's all new.

So what's new?

Well, the car's track is about three inches wider, for one. The ride, which was harsh given the car's small wheels, has also been softened. That's largely new to new axles, suspension and springs.

There's a new three-cylinder, 89 horsepower engine with new, more advanced turbocharger. That should be plenty enough pep to get around town.

Thankfully, there are also new safety system.

There is now a Crosswind Assist system, fairly essential given the car's high profile, and an optional forward collision warning system.

But, at a glance, it doesn't look all that new. Essentially, it's the same Smart that all know and few love.

Sales of the Smart car are miserable. Mercedes sold 583 of them last month, about 1,500 total for the first three months of the year. Since the changes are evolutionary, not revolutionary, it's hard to imagine they'll give much lift to these novel two-seaters.

Yet Smart soldiers on. Mercedes' needs Smart to provide a high-gas-mileage counterweight to its big, heavy luxury cars.