Driving one of these things today (the 2 door) made me wonder what on earth people see in them? Slow, extremly noisy, the engine refinement possibly the worst i've ever experienced in 20 years of motoring, awful gearbox not only to try and figure out how to use but the way it's an auto trying to be a manual by dropping rev's and lurching through each gearchange. I felt positively unsafe at 70mph, very unstable, damm frightening when your're overtaken by a lorry spraying up water. Cramped inside, Engine difficult to access and so is washer bottle etc etc
So why the loyal following? Now i'm a petrolhead and I tried hard to like this car but what's the attraction? Owners just love 'em. Just can't see it myself. It advances the art of driving pleasure not one bit. (Mods: not an anti-car rant just at a loss to understand this vehicle)
Any Smartheads out there want to comment?
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I'm no smarthead but i was in one of these things a while back, with the tiptronic type gear box, and i thought that was the only good thing about it. Quite noisy and slow (600cc engine) and like you say horrible on motorways. also pretty bad handling.
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Our secretary here at work has got one. She absolutely loves it, and it's always been her ambition to own one ever since they were introduced.
She would, however, agree that the gearbox does take a bit of getting used to, and even says it really does need to have power steering, but then she is very small. She wouldn't be the least bit interested in what the engine access is like; it goes into the garage for anything that needs doing.
She mainly uses it for shopping and taking her young son to and from school; it's ideal for that, though perhaps a bit lacking in storage space for the shopping.
However, she would never dream of taking the Smart onto a motorway. She has the Subaru Impretza for that!
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I think the only reason can be the desire to own a car with it's own set of motoring laws. I have never seen one driven at anything other than maximum attack!
One of these devices kept locally to me makes me smile though: Huge "Powered by Mercedes" sticker on the back, and the three pointed star on the front, almost as if fearing that others might not know!
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I know someone who bought one as a way to avoid becoming a taxi service for her extended family.
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imagos,
I couldn't agree more. Its not like they're cheap enough to be regarded as a toy.
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The Smart Roadster, refered to by HJ is a seriously nice looking car. The sort of thing this country used to excel at years ago. As for the Smart itself, I can't see what mindset would make anyone pay more for it than they'd pay for a decent little hatch.
The last vehicle I had like that came in pairs, one for each foot.
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Well WE smart owners absolutely love our cars. www.thesmartclub.co.uk is the UK's second largest owners club, our London to Brighton jaunt this year had an estimated 1500+ finishers, we all wave to each other too!
Yeah so its got faults, the ride and handling arent the same as a car with a longer wheelbase but it aint all bad. The gearbox is as good as any other automated manual that i've driven (and better than the Alfa Selespeed). The latest 700cc models have full on ESP and because of this it has softer suspension which improves the ride and handling. Fitting wider wheels and a 80+bhp remap are recommended though ;-) Once upgraded a 2G smart really does motor.
Why buy it over a Fiesta/Corsa/206 etc? Who knows? Many do and wouldn't swap their smart city-coupe / fortwo for anything. I'm certainly one of them. Long live the smart!
Tony
(Festive Greetings to you all too)
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but its still a over sized airfix model ??????
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but its still a over sized airfix model ??????
Sorry to be pedantic, but did you know you have spelt Citroen wrong?
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Like most 'cult cars' they are popular because they are different.
We have them because they aren't run of the mill - get in one and compare it to a 'normal' car and you are on to a loser.
It has plenty of space for the front seat passengers - more than my Focus, plenty of luggage space (enough for a weeks camping including a large four man tent). It can be parked almost anywhere (when I'm in my Audi in a busy town I curse every time I see a smart sized parking space), it does 50+ mpg and following a £200 remap does 100mph (or so I've been told!).
The gearbox is great once you know how to use it properly and only use the auto mode in heavy traffic - older drivers will remember changing down the box on the approach to roundabouts and trafficlights which is now frowned upon - in a smart its a necessity and makes the box much more useable. Approach a junction in 6th and then decide you want 2nd and won't work - as it won't in most cars with these gearboxes (the only one which can do this is Audi's DSG).
Remember they are 'city car' so screaming up and down the M1 every day is not their natural environment, just as a Ferrari is useless around town.
As smart say the average care occupancy is 1.2 people - smart have been generous and provided two seats!
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Vaguely recall a Top Gear episode a couple of weeks ago where the aim was to find the worst handling car. The Smart almost left the track entirely due to understeer. Or, rather, no-steer-at-all.
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"It has plenty of space for the front seat passengers - more than my Focus"
This is a Smart and Ford Focus you are talking about?. Must be completely different models than the Smart and Focus that I have sat in.
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was not the roadster voted gay car of the year ? wonder what the next one will be?
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I'd imagine they make terrific town cars for people who either drive alone or don't carry much. A near neighbour has one but it's only slightly bigger than he is and the sight of him struggling to get in/out always raises a smile - if you substituted Robbie Coltrane for Peter Sellers it'd be rather like something out of a Pink Panther film. Co-incidentally got cut up by one on the A21 yesterday. The guy must've been in a real hurry 'cos he failed to give way to me at a roundabout and headed off at speed about 2" off the tailgate of a BMW 3 Series before I lost sight of him. Do they do a Type R version? :)
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There is a conpany somewhere that does a bike engine conversion, they go like poo off a shovel apparently.
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