One year with a SMART car.........

Well last week marked exactly one year with "Azulzinho" as our daily driver. We took delivery of it as new car in 2009.

Final mileage was a total of 13,700 KMS (8,400 miles) over 12 months........90% of that in the city with the AC on almost constantly during the summer and fall, and mostly using the paddle shifters, while driving "aggressively".......if that can be done in a SMART car. It will hit the electronic speed limiter on the highway at 145 KMH easily and off the lights is pretty amazing, considering it has 72 HP.

Average gas mileage was 49 MPG (computed in US gallons).......total fuel cost was $680 CAD........the annual service we did was $135 CAD. Insurance for the both of us to drive it too and from work, as well as pleasure use, is $1,050 CAD per year with a $2K deductible and full coverage except for glass. Up here we get f_ _ _ _ d over big time by the insurance companies, and really need more competition in the marketplace.

Went to the dealer one time for warranty work to get the transmission computer reprogammed (a service campaign).....both headlight bulbs changed (common).....and the TPMS system checked (common) as it kept coming on when the weather dropped under 0 degrees celcius.

Every 2 weeks it easily carried home $300 worth of groceries from Superstore in the back......one time a huge box with a new laser printer in the back.......it's kinda surprising what the thing can hold.

With snow tires it is great in the winter as it is a rear engined vehicle. The angle of the glass and sloping front nose is like a T34 tank, everything bounces off it and the front end is virtually unscathed from a winter's worth of driving. I haven't had to use touch up paint for anything yet.

IMHO a trouble free automotive experience. And lots of fun to drive.......while being really easy to park. I'd get another one once our lease is up in 2012.
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Great write-up, I've been wanting to test drive a SMART just for fun, but I've never done it. But to be honest, the price isn't too great. I'd rather pay a little more for something a bit better, and a bit bigger.

 

82 diesel Chevette does everything in the story, but mpg is around 54 and costs today around $600. (downside is not enough power to run an ac compressor and go up a hill at the same time)

I'm glad you liked the experience, but I'll maybe take the Smart and Prius like cars seriously when :
1. They design them to actually resemble a traditional car so they dont look like they are trying too hard to be cute. (The upcomming Volt may be a step in this direction)
2. They are not acting as business cards for some evnironmental agenda.

In the mean time, I hate those.

Thank you,
SMS

aka: Organic food raising, alternative renewable heating using, recycling, tree farming, LEED building, domestic energy producing, suv and muscle car driving rejector of progressive agenda forced mandates.

 

Nice to see some love for the Smart.

I've got a 2002 SmartCar ForTwo - my fiancée (soon to be wife later this month) uses it as her daily driver and apart from inadvertently setting it on fire one time, it's been a pretty good ownership experience.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Great writeup KDS and good commentary SMS... I have only sat in a Smart - they are
indeed much bigger inside than the outside view would imply - and the gas mileage
does make it tempting for all the road warrior driving I do.

I'm curious - how is the road noise on highways? And do people "see you" - or is like
a motorcycle where they change lanes "into you" all the time? It's the size that
concerns me as a road warrior car... it's just SO SMALL.

Just thinking about an alternative to my 2008 E350 being ragged out on the road so
much - I wear cars out fast.

Jedi

 

Just reread my rant, I better make the clarification that I'm not making a personal statement about Kds. Unless of course he is giving up Ferraris and 440 'Cudas for one of those things....


Then this is gonna get REAL personal!!!

 

Agup48.....

They are now giving them away up here.......35% off MSRP as sales are off 30-40%......so for $16K you get a loaded Passion coupe. I was working for MB when I bought mine as an employee and paid $16K back in 03/09.

SMS......

Never took it that way at all.

I am one of the most un-environmentally friendly people on the planet. I think GW is a scam as are most of the green causes........but I can understand why you hate them and have no problem with that. Here we don't have a lot of decaled up cars with stupid advertising. I actually bought it for four purely "financial" reasons only.....and ended up loving it. The monthly lease costs the same as 2 bus passes, the $200 a month in gas savings I got from selling my Mercedes daily driver paid the lease......it had a 4 year warranty, and we'd spent $1-2K a year on cabs on top of that. Plus, I do think it is cute, but that was not the main reason.....heh.

Jedi......

Quiet on the highway....very aerodynamic in regards to road and wind noise.

Yeah it is small....about 50% the size of a regular car, so that means a 50 % less chance of someone seeing you, but also a 50% less chance of someone hitting you. Drive it aggressively and you've got no problem.....sit in someone's blind spot and you could be driving a Grand Marquis.........it wouldn't matter. Never felt unsafe yet. GOOGLE SMART car crash test on Youtube.......

Neuro.....

Good to hear.

 

When my dad bought the Honda Accord LX in 2005, he paid around the same price. ~16K, I don't get amazing gas mileage, probably around 25-30+. I definitely don't need a sedan or a massive truck, so I understand the appeal for the car, and not bad for a loaded Passion.

 

I have wanted one since I saw my first in Amsterdam '98. Only negatives for me is I would not want to be in a serious accident in one and might have trouble installing light bars aswell as keeping up with a suspect.

 

To the OP... 'grats on the SMART experiment! Your write-up is thought-provoking...

Is this a real person you're describing or just a mental construct of yours?

From your fellow Prius-driving F-car brother, eating a bloody steak and typing on a Chinese-made computer in a room heated by fossil fuels...

...oh and don't worry, I recycle my imported beer and wine bottles, and compost organic waste to feed my home-grown veggies!

 

Did the transmission service fix the issue where you had to let off the gas while the car was shifting? I drove the car about a year or so ago and that was the only issue I had with it.

 

My boss in LA actually owned a Smart Crossblade like in the photo. He bought it off a guy on Ebay of all things for about $25K. This just before Smarts were available in the US. It was a Brabus and badged with the Mercedes logo on the back.

He kept it for a couple of months but it was impossible to register in the US (it had some kind of DOT "tag" in the computer system telling every DMV in the nation not to register it).

I told him to keep it and sell it to a Smart dealership. But, he sold it back to the guy he bought it from and I think that's what the guy did. They only made about 500 of these but my boss loved the car.

The only thing I didn't like was the neoprene seats -- really sticky in the sun!
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I've seen one of those - I take my Smart to an independent Smart specialist rather than the Mercedes dealer these days and they've got one. I found out that my Mercedes dealer was charging me for services and not actually completing the work due to the very low mileage on the car. Cretins.

Anyway - you have to be pretty committed to drive one of those in the UK, particularly in Glasgow. Warm dry days are hard to come by.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

I've owned one for about a year and a half, bought it for one of our offices - been trouble free and a great around town driver. On the highway it sometimes "wanders" in high winds.

 

Yes and no, at full throttle and at the redline, it has a momentary one second lag while it shifts if used in D, unless I lift my foot for a second. It is not programmed like the Ferrari F-1 after all, but it is much, much better than it was when I first got it. If I am driving manually using the paddles, this symptom, while it probably occurs, is not noticeable at all. That never bothered me though......

What happened twice and caused my warranty complaint, was that starting out fast from a dead stop, such as trying to turn left in the face of oncoming traffic, the gearbox would get confused on occasion when I mashed the gas in D mode. Damn tranny would revert to limp mode and start out in second, after about a 2 second wait. The reprogramming fixed that perfectly.

The 2008+ model didn't totally cure that, but improved it with wider wheels and tires all around. I notice it on occasion with really strong winds......but I think most cars would have issues with the wind speeds I am talking about.

My local dealer does the work as stated, problem is, it is all purely revenue generating irrelevant crap. "Check this, check that" etc......all you need to keep the warranty effective is a $135 oil service and a computer scan........the other $350 you'd spend on the rest of the annual service is wasted money, as you can "check this and check that" yourself in about an hour at home.

 

Nor does the diesel chevette have a warranty or the crashworthiness and reliability of a Smart. Or the build quality.

If it was designed like a traditional car, it'd have to be MUCH larger to get anything remotely like traditional proportions, so why even bother trying? The point is to make it this small. To take the idea of two people in a comfortable seating postion, and design the smallest safe enclosed, weathertight car around those two people, an engine, and suspension/wheels/tires. Once youre three, the requirements kind of make it look like that. It's not supposed to be a highway cruiser for a family, but a space-saving runabout to ease congestion in cities. You have to look at it in the context in which it was designed to operate, instead of looking at it the same way you'd look at a Ferrari 308 as a tow vehicle for a 27 foot horse trailer.

Seriously.

I'm one of those people that think more people should own cars like this and take mass transit... so that there's more gas and space for me to drive MY cars.

 

Got me there. But the diesel Chevette did have a self rust-proofing feature. EVERYTHING got coated with a nice oily film.


(it truely was the worst car ever if the truth be known)

 

And yet it was quicker off the line than my old Porsche 912 (which pissed me off no end at the time...).

 

That's pretty amazing considering that the car is rated at 33 City and 41 Hwy.

Are you sure you did the conversion correctly?

Kai

 

Not unless I lost a gas receipt somewhere.......

I seem to think I converted it in CAD gallons.......not US as I stated, as we have a larger gallon than you guys by some 15-20%.

 

FWIW Transport Canada economy ratings are 48MPG city and 59MPG highway.

 

Here's where I begin to lose interest in the SMART: I have a standard (non-S) MINI Cooper that regularly gets 35+ in the city and 42+ on the highway (miles per US Gallon).

It holds a fair amount of cargo, Luca and my dog easily fit in the back, and Mrs. JRR in the front. Where is the compelling reason to get a SMART? Seriously... I have wanted to try one out, but just can't find the rationale.

 

+1 -- SMART seems like paying more for less. I'm leaning towards a Honda FIT to replace my '89 Civic 3-dr. Now, if a SMART was 2/3 the price of the FIT, I'd consider it.

 

Daniel......

A dog or cargo fits in the back easily......but the problem is the damn car is way too expensive at the stated MSRP.

Discounted 30% like it is up here right now it is a $16K car for a loaded "Passion" coupe that used to list for $21K......which at the new price is $3K less than a Fit or anything else, except a Hyundai Excel.......or Kia.

They overpriced the car to start with.

 

I have both a MINI and a Smart. Here in Europe, the Smart is often a great option when going to park in the city centre as you can literally park it in places where no other car could fit... it's brilliant!

In the US, parking is not at such a premium - even in the cities - so you don't really get the full benefit of the Smart's greatest selling point. Therefore, the premium may not actually be worth it if you don't have parking problems.

All the best,
Andrew.