I passed one of those Smart car things yesterday, and the guy driving it looked over at me, beeped his horn, AND waved. I was in the MCS.

I thought that was cool. I guess he likes MINIs.

 

You saw one in the states? Was it from Canada because I thought that they were not US approved. I could be wrong.

 

I believe SmartCars will be available in the States within the next year. It's taken them 5 years to finally meet US standards.

 

It could've been from Canada since NH shares a border with them. I didnt look at the plate. The thing was actually bigger than I imagined. It towered over my MINI.

 

I drove with some other MINI Cooper drivers, Smart cars for a promotion for a department store chain in Los Angeles.

The smart car is fun, but it is NOT a MINI Cooper... It is little more than a golf cart in terms of handling. the MINI on the other hand.... well you all know about that !

 

Sure the smart city car is like a golf cart but the roadster is FUN! Sure it is slow off the line but it is almost as fun to drive as the MINI. Also, when I was driving in front of the open air cafes in the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, people were looking at us like we were movie stars.

I am SO glad that the roadster will not die!

 

The Smart Car for me, rocked back and forth, and top speed was 60 or 65 MPH that must have been the Smart City Car.

 

Smarts are available in the US and there is currently a waiting list for them Some company in Calif is bringing them in and making the necessary changes by adding the front and rear side lights, etc.

I also heard that MB is trying to prevent him from bringing them in, presumably because MB will eventually sell them here.

 

Found the company doing the work, ZAP.

http://www.zapworld.com/cars/smartcar.asp

 

The Smart Coupe is very cool!
And Brabus makes a cooler version of it!

http://finn.no/finn/car/object?finnk...44&pos=1&tot=9

 

Saw a Smart being towed as the run-about vehicle behind an RV with Quebec plates a few weeks back.

Revenge of the Canucks They Walk Among Us!

 

They are currently available in the U.S. and have been approved DOT and EPA for U.S. drivers since March of 2006.

Here's there latest newsletter that I got today in email. They are WAY, WAY overpriced. There only selling the two door version. No plans for the sports car version for the U.S. (photo above).

/*ZAP!*/news http://www.zapworld.com/about/news.asp

4/25/2006 *Smart Car Rally ZAPs Gas Prices from NY to California
<http://www.zapworld.com/about/news/news_smart_return.asp>*
ZAP announced today that with the completion of the New York
International Auto Show, a rally for the new Smart Car Americanized
by ZAP is headed back to California to highlight a solution to record
gas prices. ... Read More at URL
http://www.zapworld.com/about/news/news_smart_return.asp

4/24/2006 *Lithium Battery Systems Introduced by ZAP at Silicon
Valley Maker Faire*
<http://www.zapworld.com/about/news/news_smartmaker.asp>**
ZAP introduced its new Portable Energy products for powering
handheld electronic devices at Maker Faire 2006 in San Mateo,
California, a unique Silicon Valley event that celebrates new
technologies and their makers. ... Read More at URL
http://www.zapworld.com/about/news/news_smartmaker.asp

4/18/2006 *Smart Car 'ZAPs' Record Gas Prices in NY*
<http://www.zapworld.com/about/news/news_smartny.asp>
Long Island Dealership and ZAP Host First Public Test-Drive of the
40-MPG Smart Car Americanized for ZAP. ... Read More at URL
http://www.zapworld.com/about/news/news_smartNY.asp

More ZAP News at http://www.zapworld.com/about/news.asp

*/ZAP!*/watch* *http://www.zapworld.com/about/zapwatch.asp

4/21/06 *ZAP!blog* - *CNBC Interview with Steve Schneider*
<http://www.zapworld.com/about/video.asp> - ZAP CEO Steve Schneider
was a guest Friday on CNBC's "Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo," a
nationally televised news program covering the last 60 minutes of
trading on Wall Street. Streaming video of Schneider interviewed by
one of Wall Street's most respective journalists is now available at
http://www.zapworld.com/about/video.asp.

4/24/2006 *Congratulations to ZAP Director Guy Fieri for Top Chef
Honors <http://www.zapworld.com/about/news/watch_chefguy.asp>*
Congratulations to our own Guy Fieri, a member of ZAP's Board of
Directors, for his culinary masterpiece, winning his own TV cooking
show from the Food Network. ... Read More at URL
http://www.zapworld.com/about/news/watch_chefguy.asp

 

A friend just spoke with one of the ZAP people at the NY Auto Show -- I think he was interested in the +2. The ZAP guy told him there was something like a 3 year waitlist for that car...

They are cool though -- and that after seeing the comparitively lame ones at the suto show. The coupe above is outrightly foxy...

 

I saw and sat in them at the Denver Auto Show and was not impressed at all. They are very cheap inside. Check out the prices at our local dealer. They are INSANE!! You can get a very well equipped Mini for this price!!

http://www.elizabethrvauto.com/listm...rd=Smart%20Car

 

Weird thing is, I saw a Smart ForTwo (or whatever they are calling them these days) in Austin about a year and a half ago, not two miles from my house.

Weirder thing is, it had a Mercedes star on the front.

I did a doubletake, wondered if it wasn't an A-Class, so turned around and caught up with it. But...it was a Smart in Mercedes clothing.

 

Cars that have been seen in the U.S. have been imported by there users before 3/2006. They are technically illegal to drive. The Zap company is doing it legally now.

Yes, they are made by Mercedes and it has a three cyle engine.

 

This is one thing I'll never understand, the Smart has been here in Canada for 2 years and not in the US, the Elise on the other hand was in the US but couldn't sell in Canada, what is the difference? now we can get the Elise but can't import it from the US and here it cost way more money and I can't buy it south.
I know I bought 3 cars in the US and one was a 75, no problem, the second was a 95 and needed daytime running light, the last was my 05 MINI and needed to pay duty because it wasn't built in the US, then a friend of mine bought an 04 Z06 from the US and had to have the bumper removed to replace the impact bars. The new GTO can not be imprted to Canada period, why can't they get together and have the same damn rules, it's such a pain in the butt.

 

I have seen a total of 3 of these now on the streets in Austin. For some odd reason, I tend to run in to A LOT of rare/hardely seen cars here in Austin.

 

I live in Baton Rouge, La and every now and then I see the older man and his wife cruising around in a white one. I had to do a double take. The first time I say it was maybe 4 months ago and it had a license plate.

Ps I have a video of the mini cooper S convet vs. the smart Brabus roadster from the british tv show 5 gear (go to final gear.com) and use the search tool looking for mini cooper s and it will give you a link to the torrent. Any way the mini waxed that @-$. They said that mini felt more stable and by the end of the race I belive the mini had either put 2 or 4 seconds between them, But that brabus is SEXY

 

I know a few people who owns one here in Canada and they love them.
Basic MINI here starts at $27K, the Smart starts at $13k both in Canadian $$
3 cyl diesel, and they get 74 mpg, top speed governed at 140 km/h
.621 = 1 mile

 

regarding post #10 , the first pic: from the drivers door forward, it looks identical to an RX-8!! am I the only one who sees this? but looking at all of the other pics, they are obviously quite different. what are the performance numbers on the roadsters?

 

Yeah, I immediately thought RX-8 as well. Those coupes are beautiful!!!

 

You're not alone, I actually called my wife to come and look at a Smart car that looks like an RX8.

 

I saw a Smart Car 3 weeks ago parking on Constitution Ave. in DC. Wish I'd had my camera with me - he whipped that thing right in between 2 SUVs..

Donna

 

Like I stated the roadster is a pig off the line. It shines zipping in and out of traffic. It has nice paddle shifters but a crap gear box. Top gear slammed it for the performance but they said that it was one of the most fun cars to drive, and it is true. I did a 2 hour test drive in Berlin and we were all over the city.

One of the best days ever!

Motor On