Sure. I would drive a Smart Car.

Now which one of you is going to buy me one?

Over 90% of my trips are just a few miles. Mostly with one person in the vehicle and requiring a load capacity of a couple of grocery bags.

"The Smart is expected to get at least 40 miles per gallon."

Greater than or equal to 40 mpg isn't bad. I would expect more but not too many other vehicles can match it in normal conditions without exotic systems. In the long run simple to work on and repair can save you a lot of money and trouble.

"At just under 9 feet long, the Smart car is about 3 feet shorter than the Mini Cooper and 7 feet shorter than the Ford Explorer. At 1,800 pounds, it's about 4,500 pounds lighter than an empty Hummer H2."

Doesn't sound too small to me. It looks to be more vertically oriented than the Cooper so maybe the taller folks won't have too much trouble fitting. Then again y'all tall blokes we can just strap to the top.

A friend had an MGB that wasn't too much larger and it was much lower to the ground. At one time I drove a Chevette that had a listed GVW of 1650 pounds so it isn't exceptionally light. It is listed as having a 71 HP engine. The Chevette had about 60HP and it was good, as long as the AC was off, to about 75 mph so it should pretty much stand up and dance. Not quite sports car material but plenty of ability to get up and go.

I keep thinking of the old Willis Jeep. It was small and light to. With only about 50 HP. As I recall those were driven across several continents. Sometimes under fire. Small shouldn't automatically preclude long distance travel.

I didn't notice a listing for how many people it could hold. I assume at least two.

SHTF and you need BOV/s you could get one each for you and the lady. Fill the passenger side and cargo area with stuff and take off in tandem. If one breaks down one tows the other to where you can work on it. Simple design is good.

If it is not repairable you load the cargo from the disabled one onto a roof and/or back rack and you take off in the working vehicle. Taking care to drive gently so the overweight car doesn't die on you.

Generally the dynamics of small car design are such that they generally accept overloading gracefully. I once carried five people, a canoe and several hundred pounds of camping gear in/on that old Chevette. Every time I hit a bump the tires would rub but it was still good at 65 mph, with a running start, but it made the 300 miles each way without any trouble. Kind of miss that old car. I could leave it at the trail head and nobody ever messed with it. I didn't even lock the doors. Just a chain through the hood and around a tree a couple of times.