That's pretty much my take. I drive small cars (MINI, CRX, Miata) but having a tall, light, short wheelbase vehicle like that, I can just imagine getting blown off the road driving by Benecia. Or just getting squished.
I might try a test drive over 17 if they'd let me, though.

 

Enjoy it. I just want to see if you are going to keep the same level of enthusiasm for it 1-2 years down the road.

 

After I test drove the Smart a month or so ago, lots of people wanted to know what I thought. After hemming and hawing for a good answer the first few times, I reduced my sentiment to one sentence (unless they asked for more details):

They are interesting, but they're not exciting.

I'm simply not the 'hater' kind, so I'll have to skip this club. But I don't see a Smart in our future.

 

that's it exactly...interesting, but not exciting. I test drove one about 2 weeks ago...we'll keep thinking about it.....plus, the waiting list is a year.

please, have drives..not wars.

 

Don't know about the no-hp SMART, but the MINI used to be described as a "city car" as well. I find MCS very stable on interstates as if it was designed for the highway.

 

I test drove a Smart several months ago. It is definitely an interesting car, especially with the exchangable panels and the moveable top. Seemed to be well built and fairly safe. City driving was kind of fun, but I don't think it would be a highway car. OK for going to your local market for a sack of groceries and maybe a short commute. I would not trade my MINI for one, but I would not join the "hate 'em club".

 

Not only is the acceleration awful, the cornering is spectacularly bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtg2gGdmmzI

 

I drove a client's Smart a few weeks ago and I thought it was neat. It is a fun car just because of it's size but after a while the neat factor would wear off and I would get bored quick. If it had a manual shift and double the power, the convertible Smart MIGHT stay interesting. But it would still be no match for our MINIs.

 

Btw, not current US model in that (or most) vids.

Remember that it's a Microcar, the first new safe legal one available in the states, it is not aspiring to be a sports car. In that sense it is more like a Classic Mini or any of the other Microcars (we had an old Italian 2 cylinder for awhile , now that was scary!). I'm sure it could be made more 'sporty' though.

I find the handling around the city very good, and it actually is more pleasant in that it absorbs all the bad road conditions better then our MCSs have (even with the KDWs vs runflats) and thus it also leans more. I don't think I'll mess with that, but better tires will replace the not so hot stock ones at some point.

Just found out that the polycarbonate roof blocks all the UV, yay

 

Wouldn't Daimler be guilty of libel and slander for implying that all other cars are not smart?

I love my "dumb" car!

 

The Smart did have a nice, quite ride so commutes would be pretty comfortable. I wasn't saying it's a bad car but I need a bit more trill in a car than it offers. I certainly won't join a Smart hating club though.

I think the war Mini waged on the bubble cars of the 50s and early 60s was more of a matter of the tax laws in England at the time. It was cheaper to buy and license the light weight, 3 wheel cars at the time. They fell in a different tax bracket. The Mini was built to offer a proper 4 wheel family car at a price point that would compete with the bubble cars. The Mini sales ate up a huge chunk of the micro car market and caused their death.

 

I know you jest, the name comes from the origins with Swatch and Mercedes - something like Swatch Mercedes Art car.

Hey, can't be all bad, Stirling Moss likes it:

"although the Smart can be driven pretty enthusiastically in manual mode (as demonstrated by Sir Stirling Moss in his own black and white Smart on a death-wish drive through Mayfair. BTW, he calls it 'Shamu')"

 

All that would never fit on it. No wonder they went with Smart.

 

I'd rather officially loathe the P.T. Loser!

 

I 2nd this.

 

what about the Pontiac spAZTEC...

 

Ah....classic hate!!! I saw an Aztek driving out of a MINI dealership once and was struck by the extreme aesthetic dissonance, wondering how the two could co-exist in the same person. Maybe it was a couple....ouch!!!

I could hate Smarts if they weren't so darn clever. We got to poke around one a few weeks back...impressive!!

 

I 3rd this.

Hating on the Smart seems as unnecessary as a left jab to Steve Erkle's mug. May as well leave the little guy be. Maybe allow yourself a little giggle at his expense every now and then. It's just so cute and frail and nerdy and defenseless...

 

The first time I saw one my first reaction was "you've got to be kidding." One of my neighbors used to have one and we would ask him if he won it in a raffle because we couldn't believe he would actually buy something so ugly. I was driving a Grand Prix at the time and would chat with the salesmen when I took it in for service. They seemed a bit embarrassed by the Aztec. It still reminds me of some of the really ugly cars I saw when I was in Japan.

 

I've always been curious about this.

Could you park a Smart car head-in between two widely spaced parallel parked cars? Like this === || ===

In other words, is it as short front-to-back as a typical car is wide?

That would be kind of handy in the street parking hell that is called Chicago, provided you could open the doors and get out.

 

^^^^Yes, you could....theoretically. The Smart is much shorter than a MINI, but taller...odd looking with both sitting side by side. The problem would be the other folks parking around you...some may not appreciate the efficiency even though they should.

I like the way they put all the reservoirs and cooling bits up front on the Smart and the engine in the back...good use of crushable space fore and aft. The engine intake on the driver's side behind the door is cool, too, as is the back engine vents which make use of the cars natural aerodynamics to draw heat out. I didn't drive the car so I didn't get to play w/ the tranny, but is seems ideally suited to a small engine, city car which is what the Smart is designed to be. The wheels remind me of classic Mini wheel size, which means they don't intrude on cabin space. If Issigonis were alive today, aside from being a two seater, he's likely approve of the Smart, especially in basic trim....there's an impressive amount of engineering and attention to detail in the car.

I admit could drive one, especially since my commute equates to driving to a mass transit train station. However, the Smart's mpg abilities do not eclipse those of the R56 Cooper manual, which is what I drive. So, considering this, and the Cooper's exceptional handling, highway cruising abilities, rear seat functionality (seats up and down) the MINI remains a more versatile, equally capable choice for around here.

 

they do it all the time in Europe...I've seen Smarts parked like that in Milan when I'm there visiting my sister. They pretty much stuff Smarts into whatever space they can find...even on the sidewalks..

 

I think that in many places it is not strictly legal to code, however people have tried it without problems. Personally I don't think I'd resort to it between cars since you'd have to trust they wouldn't block the doors (you could go through the hatch in an emergency I suppose), but there are loads of those little curbs where it would be safer to park perpendicular. Plus there there are often funny areas in parking lots where you can slot it in a nonconforming way if there is no room

By the by, it is not as short front to back as side to side (it's about 106 inches by 61) it is about as long as many commercial trucks are wide and can manage the perpendicular parking, esp if hitched up on the curb just a tad, without being a problem. I was not aware just how small that was until I actually started driving around and fitting in spaces just fine that I really did not think was possible.

I did not buy it primarily for the mileage but people seem to be doing in the 40s which will be a nice relief. I also am quickly getting to benefit by the easy to remove panels, the dealer somehow managed to damage one and easy peasy we are getting a brand new panel - quick and no body shop, now that's a change I can live with :D

 

I wouldn't buy one myself, but there are a LOT of other cars out there I wouldn't buy, either. (The only one I'd really want to wage a war against was the Pontiac Aztec ... one of the butt-fuggliest things to ever come out of Detroit IMHO, which thankfully has run its course.) But I think we ought to be kind to the Smart and give it a chance. For one thing, the Smart is about the only thing on the road that makes our Minis look BIG. For another, downsizing is the just right thing to do.

I'm not a hard-core tree-hugger by any stretch, but I do consider myself to be at least a little environmentally responsible. And given the choice between putting my money in my gas tank (end eventually into some oil exec's bonus check) or putting it my pocket, I'd rather it stayed in my pocket. But I can't stand driving an unresponsive, underpowered sled, so my MCS is the perfect compromise. Nonetheless, the Smart just doesn't do it for me.

Here's my take ... oil isn't going to last forever, and it sure isn't getting any cheaper ... or cleaner. Battery/hybrid power may be the answer some day, but it ain't there yet. And you can't change physics -- moving more mass requires more energy, no matter how efficiently you can generate that energy. Move the least amount of mass possible with the cheapest, cleanest source of energy, the only thing more efficient is pedal power.

The Smart is only half way there, but in my opinion it's a move in the right direction. Take something that size and outfit it with a series hybrid system (like what Chevy has planned for the Volt), and you'll have one extremely efficient mode of transportation.

eVal, glad to hear you're enjoying yours. I'd like to see the Smart succeed and stick around for awhile, so the fact that there are folks who own them and are happy with them is a good thing.

 

im sorry but the Smart just isnt appealing...what they need to bring over is the Benz A130...that is a neat little car...i had a Smart try to race me...i guess he was showing off his car to his girl so i humored him for a bit before i gave the throttle the rest 90% more and turned it into a speck