News Wednesday from the insurance industry indicates the vehicle small on size but big on gas mileage has earned top scores in safety tests.

Many people who own SUVs say they feel safe in the big gas guzzling machine. Now comes word you can feel safe and save gas too in a much smaller vehicle, eight feet eight inches and 1,800 pounds.

Daimler AG’s Mercedes Benz Smart Car is set up with a roll cage-type construction similar to that of a NASCAR racer.

“You can put the top up and down when you’re driving at any speed,” says Performance’s Andrea Falter. "You have a lot of features on this car in particular. You’ve got the chrome package, pinstriping, who wouldn’t want to drive it?"

The Smart Car runs from $12,000 to $20,000 and its not without luxury. At the top end there are heated leather seats, multi-CD disc changers and power steering.

“One liter, three-cylinder, get 71 horsepower so it’s got quite a bit of pickup for the size of the vehicle. The general conception is that because it’s a lot smaller it’s not very safe, but because of those ratings that came out it shows that it’s extremely safe so we hope it will change the perception of the vehicle.”