I Hate Buying Gas

with a passion. Remember the good old days when your parents would give you a $20 and it would almost fill up your car? Oh how times have changed. Now about half my paycheck goes to gas. Well, it's amazing that I even get a pay check from women's issue in the first place. They talk about how you should not drive so hard to conserve gas, but when your license won't let you go over 40 because a horse kicked you in the head, there isn't much room to "drive hard" anyways. So I was seriously considering a "Smart Car." But the problem is that I need 4 wheel/all wheel drive (as does everyone else) for this land called Provo that sometimes feels God forsaken. Ok- imagine this scenario:

I get in my SmartCar for a quick trip to the grocery store (I don't need a car for much else because I can't drive over 40). Like 1/2 the year here, it's snowing outside. Naturally. So I come to a red light and stop, and the person behind me is attempting to text while driving (its probably my sister) and they don't have enough time to stop and they slam into my rear end because of the slippery road. The impact on my brain sends my right back into a coma (this would just happen to me, not you, because of my brain's fragile state) and someone has to go out of their busy way to get me to the hospital. Who knows what happens from there on out. Maybe this time Eddie has to pay the quarter of a million dollars in medical bills. Worst case scenario: I die but he still has to pay that. Or if I'm in a SmartCar and its snowing, I could be the one not be able to stop and I could slam into someone else. Or drive off a cliff and fall to my death.

So the dilemma: Where/how do I find a safe, affordable, gas efficient car? Please, give me advice on this.