It's all the rage in Europe. In fact, it's been for sale in 36 different countries for about a decade. Now it's sparking major interest here in Austin.

It's the SMART car, a two-seater built by Mercedes Benz. It claims to be a small vehicle offering a big solution for urban driving.

The interior is typical, but the exterior is not.

The SMART car is half the length of an average car, gets 40 miles per gallon of gas and -- for a limited time -- it's available for a test drive in Austin.

After Carol Wirth took it for a spin around the block she said, "Love it! Love it! Love it!"

Wirth says even though it's small, the SMART car passes the comfort test.

"I had back surgery, so it's very difficult to sit in a lot of cars, but this one is perfect. There's no pain getting in or out," Wirth said.

When it comes to safety, how does the smaller SMART car stand up to a pickup truck or an SUV?

"It shows that you can make a really small car really safe. That's like sitting inside a walnut or the crash cage in a race car," said Jeff Lomax, test driver.

"It's very safe. It's surrounded by a triple reinforced steel safety cage," said SMART car spokesman Lisa Ray.

Besides claims of comfort, safety and fuel efficiency the SMART car can reach speeds of 90 miles per hour making it legal for city or freeway driving. Already 770,000 pre-orders have been received, even though it won't be available in the U.S. until after the first of the year.

Austin is the last stop on a 50-city promotional tour.

"We had people fly in to drive the vehicle. We had people drive over from three states away. We've had people wait in line for 4 hours," said Ray.

The SMART car's starting base sticker price of $12,000 makes it affordable and appealing to a variety of motorists.

"What we've seen with SMART is that it's not about age or income. It's more about lifestyles and attitude, so all walks of life. We call it generation E. Generation everyone."

The SMART cars are available to test drive Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. outside BookPeople at N. Lamar and W. 6th Street.