Article Comments 2008 Smart Fortwo First Drive

110 messages, Last post on Aug 07, 2008 at 8:31 AM

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Article comments for First Drive: 2008 Smart Fortwo - The 2008 Fortwo is larger than its predecessor, but it's still outrageously small, some 40 inches shorter than a Mini. In real life, it looks like an artist's impression of what a car might look like if we all drank skinny lattes. (more)

Full Test: 2008 Smart Fortwo Passion - Bottom Line: Hugely versatile as a city-only car, but perhaps not the best choice for those who go farther or need to carry more. (more)

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#52 of 110 Pictures! by plekto Mar 14, 2007 (11:18 am)
http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=15&article_id=4521 Of note is the shot of the boot/trunk. They widened the car so that you sit side by side. Then they lengthened the rear by 6-8 inches. That makes the rear suddenly as large as a typical hatchback's(area behind the rear seats). That's huge compared to the original models. At least 18 inches deep and 30-36 inches wide by the looks of it(and as tall as the roof, plus a wide opening hatch).
#53 of 110 Underwhelming results. Road test of DumbSmart [plekto] by joe131 Mar 16, 2007 (1:40 am)
Replying to: plekto (Feb 24, 2007 10:48 am) Car & Driver road test. Smart zooms from 0-60 mph in 15.5 seconds! Sips fuel (2008 EPA estimates) at an astonishing 31 mpg city, 43 mpg highway! Wowee! So, based on my experiences with EPA estimates and actual driving, it looks like drivers may get in the low to mid 30 mpg range in mixed driving. (And yes, I know the test procedure has been changed to suggest lower mpg compared to 2007 numbers.) And, it will drag itself from 0-60 in no big hurry at all. A run to 60 in 15.5 seconds is just plain S L O W . I said it before and I'll say it again: "If they only get 40 mpg combined hwy/cty then they'll flop big time. US likes bigger, not smaller when it comes to cars. A person would have to give up too much in the way of size, comfort and utility to make the extra few mpg attractive. Look at Toyota Yaris. You get 4 doors, nice handling, comfort and space for about the price of the Smart. And the Yaris still gets around 35 mixed gas mileage. Smart sounds dumb to me." Replies to this message: snakeweasel (Mar 16, 2007 4:11 am) drums148 (Mar 17, 2007 6:17 pm)
#54 of 110 Re: Underwhelming results. Road test of DumbSmart [joe131] by snakeweasel Mar 16, 2007 (4:11 am)
Replying to: joe131 (Mar 16, 2007 1:40 am) And, it will drag itself from 0-60 in no big hurry at all. A run to 60 in 15.5 seconds is just plain S L O W . Don't do much city driving do you? The Smart is targeted to urban areas where traffic congestion is high. 0-60 times in most urban driving is irrelevant as you can only go as fast as the car in front of you. If you are more than a few cars back at a stop light you will never accelerate much faster than a Smart will. if your the first in line accelerating faster just means you get behind the cars at the next light just that much faster. in urban areas 0-60 in 15.5 seconds is meaningless. Look at Toyota Yaris. You get 4 doors, nice handling, comfort and space for about the price of the Smart. And the Yaris still gets around 35 mixed gas mileage If I am not mistaken the Yaris will still cost more than the Smart and will still get less gas mileage (most Yaris drivers driving mostly city, over 50%, report low 30's). So in the overall scheme of things the Yaris will cost you more. Why should I spend more money just to get a back seat that I will never use? While the Smart sounds dumb to you to someone who looks at it realistically it makes perfect sense.
#55 of 110 You're forgetting a couple of things by plekto Mar 16, 2007 (3:46 pm)
The Smart will have ABS, side airbags, traction control, stability control... Wait... A Civic doesn't get those things standard. Close, but not all of it.(maybe with some uber-premium package) The closest competitor feature-wise is a Mini. This thing even can be had with leather, real premium sound, and a convertible top. Sounds a lot like a 2 person Mini/Mini sans the nearly useless rear seats) and not a Yaris. It also will likely have the same cult-ish folowing as the Mini, since both look 200% like well, nothing else on the road. It's the small car equivalent of a 6wd Army transport. People stare at it I suspect that if they opted for a real manual gearbox, they would just do about 35/45, or 40 in mixed driving. When Toyota gives you A/C, ABS, TC, ESC, and Side Airbags in a Yaris all for $12-$13K, then we have something to compare it against. Btw - how large is the gas tank? If it's only 6-8 gallons, that limts range. Otoh, if it's 12 or 13... we could be looking at 400-500 miles between fillups. Replies to this message: snakeweasel (Mar 16, 2007 4:03 pm) yukon252 (Feb 12, 2008 8:59 pm)
#56 of 110 Re: You're forgetting a couple of things [plekto] by snakeweasel Mar 16, 2007 (4:03 pm)
Replying to: plekto (Mar 16, 2007 3:46 pm) Btw - how large is the gas tank? If it's only 6-8 gallons, that limts range. Otoh, if it's 12 or 13... we could be looking at 400-500 miles between fillups. Well currently its 33 liters which translates to about 8.7 gallons. According to the UK website the Smart will get in the high 40's in combined fuel economy meaning that it could break 400 miles in the tank. Of course the new Smarts will be somewhat different.
#57 of 110 Humm... by plekto Mar 16, 2007 (6:30 pm)
I wonder how hard it would be to swap out the crummy slushomatik we gere here for a nice actual stickshift from Europe? I bet it would boost the 0-60 time to at least 10 seconds. Replies to this message: diesel18 (Jan 11, 2008 2:50 am)
#58 of 110 Re: Underwhelming results. Road test of DumbSmart [joe131] by drums148 Mar 17, 2007 (6:17 pm)
Replying to: joe131 (Mar 16, 2007 1:40 am) My wife purchased a 2006 smart fortwo and we took it on vacation for a week from Edmonton AB to Penticton B.C. we put close to 2000 miles in the week and the fuel cost was $99 Cdn for Diesel. The car absolutely loved running at 120 kph (approx. 75 mph)without a problem averaging almost 70 miles to the imperial gallon. The car was comfortable and a great conversation piece wherever we stopped. It is a very surprising automobile and it it looks a lot better than most Japanese Imports!!
#59 of 110 Smart Trumps Prius and Honda by wowlfie Aug 28, 2007 (9:04 am)
Right now Prius sales totally dominate the hybrid industry and Honda finally got the message that it's not just the 'green' factor driving hybrid sales but also the 'recognition factor'. Many of those environmentally conscious buyers who bought the Prius did so as a status symbol that was highly recognizable due to the Prius' unique shape. In contrast--Honda hybrids looked just like the non-hybrid designs. Honda hybrid owners didn't feel as much pride in ownership because their cars didn't scream 'I'm helping the environment too'. So as it stands now owning the Prius is synonomous with 'green' and thus Honda--experiencing a sort of 'Prius envy' had to shut down production of some Honda hybrids for lack of interest. Of course Honda won't concede this market to Toyota without a fight and is agressively planning completely new hybrid lines (rumored to be plug-ins getting 65 plus mpg) for 2009/10 that may or may not eliminate 'Prius envy'. So what has this to do with Smart for Two? A bunch. At the present moment the Smart for Two trumps anything currently available from Toyota OR Honda in the 'recognition factor' (and 'fun factor') that is so important for this market segment. As it stands today the Smart for Two is an incredible magnet due to it's unique shape and design as witness the incredible interest wherever this car has gone on it's American journey to date (it's street smart tour). That is one reason why Smart has already signed up nearly 40,000 prospective buyers (way more than production for 2008). So if the Smart for Two gets a gas mileage rating of 40/49 or similar it's going to blow the doors off the Prius and anything coming down the pike from Honda for at least the next 12-18 months because it's cheaper, more fun, and even more recognizable than a 'Prius'. Despite what many think Americans are not dumb. They know the hype that surrounds the hybrids is generally over blown and that real life mileage is much less than the EPA ratings for these cars. Prius owners are reporting mileage around 40-45 mpg combined. Not 55. And certainly not 60. It's capable of that but it won't in real life get that. So if the Smart achieves a realistic 45 combined it's cheaper economically (far lower sales price) in the long run and far more 'fun' and 'recognizable'. The Smart is destined to do very well here because there is a ton of pent up demand as witnessed the nearly 40,000 people signed up to buy one. If it gets a safety rating 3 or above (4 is probable; 5 is possible) and a gas mileage rating of 40/49 or close to that then it's going to be a big winner. And for at least 2008/09 it's going to be 'Smart envy' instead of 'Prius envy' for Honda because the Honda isn't ready to go yet. And even if so it probably won't have the 'fun factor' or 'recognition factor' as unique as the Smart for Two. It will probably be too costly too ($25,000 to $30,000). For that you can buy TWO Smart for Two's. And then if necessary the Smart can bring over the diesel, or a diesel hybrid or even a full electric if necessary to keep interest high in their 'fun factor' & 'recognition factor'. People want other people to know their helping the environment. Certainly the Smart for Two stands way above the crowd here. At least in America. Hey just in case your interested I signed up for one. Probably too late to get one in 2008 though darn it. Replies to this message: karkus (Sep 07, 2007 1:20 pm) snakeweasel (Sep 07, 2007 6:58 pm) plekto (Sep 09, 2007 8:11 am)
#60 of 110 Re: Article Comments 2008 Smart Fortwo First Drive [KarenS] by smartwrap Sep 06, 2007 (6:34 am)
Replying to: KarenS (Feb 22, 2007 8:48 am) I had a chance to drive the new smart and I like it! I put my driving impresions on my smart web page.link title