Why is the smart listed as a coupe and not small car for the gov ratings?

[tivoboy]

On the government website, fueleconomy.gov, the smart is listed in a category of coupe and not small car? The other small cars, are the honda civic, civic prius, honda fit, etc. I GUESS the car DOES have 2 doors and not four, but the smart would be the #2 best mileage car, lowest carbon footprint in that category, and not #1 in the coupe category. OF COURSE it is going to be the #1 in the coupe category.

The other thing is, that the smart has the lowest carbon footprint of any combustion only vehicles. I think that is something special. At least 10% lower than the next place car, and just 10% worse then a hybrid.

Go figure

[Old smart]

It probably isn't the number of doors, but the number of seats.

[tivoboy]

Might be, but the number of seats in the smart is of course 2, and many of the top 10 "coupes" have what they call 4, even though it really is just 2+2 or 2 adults and 2 midgets or kids

[Old smart]

Yet another case wherein minds are contorted to fit definitions instead of the other way around. You would think that a category of "coupe/roadster" would make sense to them.

[dbwill]

Possibly the reason has to do with the cubic feet of interior space

[msjohnson1974]

There's probably some inane rule written by a bureaucrat decades ago that dictates what's a coupe and what's a small car... gotta blindly follow the rules that's what gov't agencies do, follow the rules.