I thought this was really funny. Me and a silver convertible Smart Car pulled up to a Subway the same time this afternoon (food place, not real one ). As we ordered and even sat down to eat, people kept coming up to me and telling me they love my car, loved the "Italian Job", and just want to know about it in general. No questions asked for the Smart Car.

It may be smart but not very popular!

Kevin

 

SmartCars are practical, like the Prius. Minis are fun.

 

sales are not doing that well. Seems with the return of relatively cheap gas, the appeal of driving in a very small box has worn off.

Matt

 

Especially one that doesn't have much power and a horibble shifting transmission?

The MINI makes so much more sense, more fun to drive, more usable space, almost the same fuel mileage and only a little more expensive. Who would want to drive cross country in a Smart (yes, I know that's not what it's built for) but at least in a MINI, you could - easily - if you needed (or just wanted) to.....

To me, they're not even very Smart - at least for this market. I can definitely see the appeal if you lived, worked and spent all your time in a tightly congested European city - but I still would want something that's more fun!

 

I actually looked into the smart car a little bit. I read somewhere that it rated pretty low on crash test results. Never bothered to follow up and validate that because I personally think they are butt ugly. So much so that I think my wife would divorce me if I even considered buying one. Of course that is in the eye of the beholder, but I don't necessarily think that just because the design is different or unique necessarily makes it stylish. It will be interesting to see where car designs go in lieu of the trend towards smaller cars. I think MINI has done a good job of maintaining style in the smaller package. Although some concept car shots I've seen of the city car give me pause

 

Maybe people have seen the TG episode where the rated the Smart as one of the worst handling cars, ever

 

"Shopping cart full of logs," I think was how they put it.

 

Despite it's performance issues, I'd rather look at a Smart than MINI these days inasmuch as I only think of the Smart as a pretty solid hint of things to come for micro/city cars. There is a long line of similarly-sized vehicles on the horizon that more closely resemble the original Rover concept of the MINI....the Toyota iQ, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, the Th!nk City...and then there's the lovely Pininfarina Nido (which we will never see on the road). Granted, these cars aren't as vertatile as a MINI for city and highway use, but (as much as I like all-things-retro) the look does grow on ya. In fact, I fully expect BMW/MINIs new range of city cars to expand on this basic appearance. In the end, the MINI coupe will not be the smallest car on the road and the highly-valued Mini DNA (in the most diverse sense) will be diffused onto many other cars out there. MINIs will be less unique. I am glad BMW/MINI is planning to keep their heads in the microcar game, but I think they were a bit asleep at the switch on this one.

 

Smart Cars are just utilitarian and boring, they seem to lack personality. I can see them being quite useful if you live in a dense urban environment and parking is an issue. I was quite surprised to have one right on my tail when I was highway cruising at about 120km/h ages ago on a sport bike. I guess they are able to keep up at highway speeds just fine. Can anyone speak to stability/ride in a Smart at high speeds?

I just took my MINI onto the highway for the first time last week, and was pleased at how smooth and quiet the ride was. It felt very firmly planted. Seemed to lack the punch of a motorbike, but a good trade off overall.

 

Cars the size of the Smart and iQ, etc will never catch on in a big way in North America. North America just loves the 3 ton truck/SUV way too much. Until gas double's what its presently at nobody will give damn whether is a jumbo vehicle or a mini.

 

Depends on gas prices, if we see European type gas prices at $6 -$10/gal, the roads will be covered with all sorts of tiny little cars, and Americans will be sucking them up in droves.

I like a lot of the little cars that are on the horizon, but the problems with the Smart for me are less about style and more about performance, - it does handle like a shopping cart full of logs as someone else put it, it does have a horrible shifting auto trans, and the engine is not only weak on hp and torque, it's not a pleasant motor to run. 3 major strikes IMHO.

Others can and have done it better, and if they are going to be a real player in that market, Smart is going to have to up their game considerably.

Heck, Honda just introduced a dual clutch automatic for their motorcycles! It can be done.......

 

Hendrix definitly looks smarter!!

 

I really wonder about this, too, and am glad to see some of the microcars coming out with much wider wheelbases.

Yes, it seems as if the city car idea in the U.S. seems a better fit if you have more than one vehicle, and from a cost perspective I'm not sure this is a good fit for most folks. I'm a city dweller who rides mass transit, so it will work super for me. My momma always said she wished I had an iQ....looks like she might get her wish!!

I would have agreed a year ago, but I after two MINIs (2003 and 2007) I suddenly an got over the looks. I think it was an odd combination of catching glimpses of Smarts on the road (nevermind the underwhelming performance), seeing more and more concepts for new city cars, and revisiting the old Rover designs for the MINI. In the end, I bailed on MINIs altogether (which I still think are great cars...big fan of the classic), perferring to expand my interest to a more general fascination with microcars and city cars as a genre, unrestrained by one particular set of appearance criteria. My MINI-friends think I'm weird, and I have never felt inclined to argue the point.

 

One big issue: Smart cars aren't cheap. You can get a much nicer, more practical, better built car for less, with not too much of a drop off in gas mileage. Honda Fit comes to mind...

I agree that cars as small as the Smart car have a future, especially in big cities. I also firmly believe that the Smart car is going to be 'smartly' eclipsed by similarly sized vehiciles in the not so distant future.

 

 

The smart car is smart for someone that wants one.

The Yugo was probably a little smarter. (It had a little more room)

The Mini Cooper is a Genuis compared to those death traps.

 

I don't think there is much risk of the MINI losing it's supremacy as an all-around performance-oriented premium small car, and I think BMW/MINI are very keen on dialing-in handling on their MINI products to exceed those of any future competition.

That said, there are other aspects to classic-Mini DNA that BMW/MINI may leave to other makers. Dimensional smallness may be one thing. Others cars may also be more maneuverable (smaller turning radiuses), be more affordable/people's car, simpler gadgets, even better fuel efficiency. Fine....some people will love those things, others will not. And those people will be justified in keying into things that are very Mini, even if MINI isn't the leader in that particular area. However, MINI will still remain very relevant, and probably remain best overall.

The biggest oddity will be that MINIs may not be considered the ultimate in "mini" any more....not in the present coupe form anyway. Owners will just have to lean on the overall preformance package to retain their enthusiasm. One thing is for sure, it will be interesting to watch.

 

LOL

The last thing I would say is that a Smart car is practical

Two seats vs 4

poor gas milage for size

anemic performance.

Large car cost.

If you could get a Smarty for 8K that might be something to think about but for the same cake as a smart you could get a Yaris, corolla or the like lose a bit on the MPG but gain a back seat and a boot!. I can think of no less practical car even a two seater sports car has better usages and space.

 

Perhaps if one has a very, very small garage.

 

If a car is going to be that impractical, with a pricetag difficult to justify, it better DAMN well evoke a strong dosage of character and emotion to make up for it. (The Miata comes to mind....a much "smarter" car than the "Smart".)

 

We rented a SMART car in Greece a few years ago. It was fun to zip around an island in. But it would not be my choice to drive in the US. The gas mileage is not all that great anyway. I did find the attached crash test interesting though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6t-yyoU8s

 

I really would not go 70MPH in a smart car. Maybe 45/50 but 70. NO WAY!!!! I have a Suzuki Samuari that I will never ever take on the interstate and in the 12+ years I have owned it I don't ever remember going over 50MPH with it. Some cars are just meant to be driven around town and not the open road.

Now my JCW is a different story. At 148MPH it feels like 70MPH. I would not do that on the street but at the speedway it was great. I have been on long trips and planing on going to Denver. The Mini is a very stable travel car and has the comfort for the long haul.

The difference is, The Mini is a real go anyplace car as the Smart Car & my old Samuari are just good for around town. The Samuari is great for running to Walmart or taking my dogs to the dog park ETC. At least it does have room that a smart car just does not have. I really see no point in a smart car when all you get is a car that carrys one passenger and a couple bags of groceries.

 

I had a smart for 2 years before I got my R53 about 7 weeks ago.
I LOVED my smart, and i was never hesitant to go 70 on the highway! I live in Maryland, and I took her on trips to Altantic City, the Delaware Beaches, and other long trips and I never once felt unsafe.

In the 2 years I had her, I never had ONE tiny inking of a problem; smarts need to be serviced only once a year, so the cost of ownership is really rather low.
I did not like the transmission. I did not like the absence of torque.
I DID NOT LIKE ALL THE STRANGERS WHO WANTED TO TALK TO ME!! I am somewhat reserved, and I ended up avoiding eye contact at gas stations and shopping center parking lots so that people wouldnt talk to me.
It was fun at first, but quickly grew tiresome. I had people YELL at me across parking lots: "MA'AM!! EXCUSE ME!!!! MA'AM!!!! WHAT KIND OF CAR IS THAT!!!" So rude.
When I want to learn about something that I see in public, I make a mental note of it and then Google it later; I would NEVER shout at a total stranger.

Anyway, when I said goodbye to my lil smartie, it was the only time I have ever gotten choked up about trading in a car. I wish I could have kept her and also bought an MCS, but it wasnt possible for me.

Before I got my smart, I did a TON of research on it. As far as I am concerned, based on its forward-thinking and unique engineering, a smart is WAY safer than a similar Yaris or Accent. WAY SAFER. If you study the way the Tridion cell is engineered and how the car is constructed (like no other car has ever been constructed before) you will understand why it is extremely safe for its size.

And keep in mind that what is considered "practical" for one person and his or her lifestyle is not "practical" for another. In my case, I have no children, have a short commute to work, and my husband has an SUV so my smart suited me very very well!!! That's why there are different cars-- everyone has different needs.


I miss my smart and I think of her often. I even have a MicroMachine smart mounted on the dash of my MCS. :O)

 

Yup I think you're right. Good memory

 

That's Heresy !!

Just kidding. It is good to hear from someone who actually owned one. It seems like you really enjoyed it and miss it. Why did you change to the MINI?

Kevin