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Hatchbacks Smart Car Smart Fortwo
491 messages, Last post on Oct 07, 2009 at 6:46 AM
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Replying to: dstrom (Apr 25, 2008 5:02 am) Thanks Randy |
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A reporter would like to talk with recent buyers of the Honda Fit, Ford Focus, the Smart car and other subcompacts. Please respond to jfallon edmunds.com with your daytime contact information and a few words about your experience no later than Tuesday, April 29, 2008. Thanks, Jeannine Fallon Corporate Communications Edmunds Inc. |
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Got the call Friday afternoon my reserved SMART is on the lot. I still don't know if I'm going to take it or orphan it. 
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I placed my order in June 2007 and it arrived at the dealer about a week ago. I bought it with the intention of reselling it fast but now my wife loves it and we may end up keeping it. Funky transmission but you get used to it fast. Driving it in manual mode using the paddle shifters seems to work best. Auto mode is good for low speed cruising around town. Surpisingly roomy inside and very comfy seats. Decent stereo, excellent power roof system. About the wait; while we were picking ours up another couple wandered in and bought a coupe right off of the lot. Apparently there are a lot of cancellations so if you want one now and aren't fussy about color, style or options visit your local dealer and you might find one. |
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Replying to: stanwict (Apr 26, 2008 6:08 pm) |
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OK, Haven't been here for awhile, but here we are in May '08 and almost at the 2 year anniversary of my purchasing a brand new '06 diesel 450 here in Canuckland. First off, it is a second vehicle, I also bought a brand new '06 Dodge Ram 3500 with the 5.9 Cummins, but it sits in the driveway mostly, I use the little car almost exclusively. On the small island I live on, we enjoy the highest fuel prices in all of Canada, last time I looked the other day, regular gas was over $1.50 a liter, diesel was even higher. I tend to fuel the big truck off island and save at least 25 to 30 cents a liter, still costs the best part of a $200 dollar bill to fill an empty tank. With the little smart, I can still fill it up locally for about $20, and its good for between 300 and 400 kilometers depending on the Mario Andretti factor when you are behind the wheel. It is the perfect car for gettin' the groceries, picking someone (or dropping off) at one of the ferry terminals, or just driving around. As our island is very tourist oriented, congestion is an issue on the weekends, especially in the summer, the Smart is as easy to find parking for as a motorcycle, but hauls way more stuff. Getting 6 bags of groceries in the back is easy. When I was renovating my house, yo wouldn't believe the amount of crap I was able to jam into the little car at the hardware store, that sunroof sure comes in handy! Once a month, I load it up with all of the recycling and take it to the depot, now thats green! So far I haven't had any significant issues with it at all. It is very reliable. The biggest beef I have with it is that in wintertime, the defroster performance on the windshield is poor, but one of those anti-fog sponges solved that issue for under $5. I agree with the comments about the road noise, it is a little loud, but turning up the stereo fixes that. Suspension travel is a little short, you just have to take it easy on rough roads, and speedbumps etc, no problem. As some others have pointed out, the shifting is easy once you get used to it. My wife drives in auto mode, but I don't like the shift points, the engine runs way too fast. I drive in manual, use the trans to gear down on hills, saves the brakes. As far as the performance, yes it is a little slow off the line, but once you get it going, it'll go 120 kmh easily. I love the looks on peoples faces when I pass them on the highway with a "roller skate". I think it performs just fine considering just what it is displacement-wise. I have owned motorcycles with similar sized engines, and thought that they were also underpowered, but I was a teenager then, now the economical aspect is way more important, and a sluggish start is to be expected in an economy car, a non-issue in my view. As I am a qualified mechanic, I do my own servicing. The diesel has no drain plug for the sump, so the old engine oil gets sucked out the dipstick tube, an oil rated drill pump takes care of this in no time flat. The oil filter is a replaceable element style, about $10 at the dealer, comes with a new o-ring for the cover. The fuel filter however, is a lot more expensive, over $50 but you only need a new one every couple of years. The air filter is a pleated paper cylinder cartridge inside the airbox, haven't priced one out yet, but it shouldn't be too bad for the OEM. If you read the european Smart websites, you can see an assortment of aftermarket air filter products are widely available over there, should be showing up here soon, highly recommended for performance/mileage improvements. There is no factory service manual currently available for this car, the only thing I could find was a "homemade" service info CD on e-bay which I bought. It has some but by no means all of the info one would require for complete service information. Mercedes is holding their cards a little too close to their chest on this one, I feel that is their game plan for recouping their investment, by making you pay obscenely high labour costs for service. I'll give an example. The clutch that everyone seems to hate. It is a standard pressure plate style flywheel cutch that is actuated by a electric screw-jack style actuator. To adjust the clutch actuator is a 2 step process. Step one is to just slack the mounting bolts off, slide the actuator housing towards the bell housing, then release it, it will push itself back out slightly a couple of millimeters, then you tighten the bolts back up - easy right? Well, not exactly, the second step requires special software on a laptop hooked up to the OBD port to tell the ECU (Engine Control Unit) where the new clutch engagement and release points are. If you do step one without step two, you will fry that clutch in very short order. The software is called "Win-Star" and is very expensive to buy. The Smart dealership will (up here) charge you $150 an hour (1 hour minimum) for this simple 5 - 10 minute procedure. One of my goals is to hack my Smart, and develop a standalone application that we all can use to overcome this issue. The rubber seal on this actuator unit is poorly designed, and it is an entry point for water to get in and cause the actuator to stiffen up and fail. There is some information already online on how to fix this in such a way to prevent this from becoming a problem by improving the integrity of the rubber boot. Another weak spot is the outer door handles, mine will stick "out" occasionally, preventing the door from closing properly, I just haven't gotten around to taking them apart yet, and re-greasing them with silicone grease. The key is a little too large for a key ring, but they are like that on almost all new vehicles these days, so I just carry it seperately in my pocket, no problem. As is the case with all these immobilizer systems, if the battery in the key fob goes dead, then you are stuck. I have a new spare in the locking drawer under the drivers seat, you can always open the back with the key to get in, change the battery with the help of a coin, and away you go! My other half called me from town a couple weeks back, she was in the parking lot at the supermarket with a flat. I had picked up a nail last year with the same tire, put a plug in it myself, and all was well until now. When I got there to bail her out, I noted that the sidewall was torn. As it was getting dark, and I was too cheap to pay for a tow, I thought I would try the repair kit. The car comes with a bottle of instant patch, as well as an air compressor and other tools under the passenger side carpet in the footwell. First, I moved the car so the tear was at the 6 oclock position, removed the valve stem guts with the tool provided, poured the liquid from the bottle into the tire, and screwed the valve stem back together. I hooked up the compressor, noted the liquid coming out the tear, but lo and behold, it stopped, and the tire held air! Drove the car home without incident. I had to buy a new tire, and when I went to change it,
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I found that my sweetie had driven quite a ways on a flat, as the entire inside of the tire was full of shredded rubber from the sidewalls. As I have the mags instead of steel rims, they withstood this abuse with no damage (thank god) and the new one went on like a dream. The whole snow thing? Well, we don't get snow here like we used to, and the few times we do get enough to cause issues, well thats one of the reasons I bought the Dodge. I did however try the little car out in the snow just for kicks. I didn't find it to be any better or worse than any other small car in a similar situation, but I have years of experience in driving in this type of snow, and had no problems. With a set of Blizzaks mounted on the rims, it would likely be unstoppable. The only thing you would have to watch out for would be not to high center your self on too much snow. Anything up to 4 or 5 inches would be manageable though. Overall, I am really glad I bought this car, I love driving it, and other than the servicing issues, which I intend to solve, I am happy with my investment. I would have not bought the car if it wasn't for the diesel though.
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Replying to: engineer al (May 01, 2008 12:45 pm) 1st tant - 45.51 mpg; 2nd tank - 44.69 mpg. GREAT!
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Replying to: engineer al (May 01, 2008 12:53 pm) |
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Replying to: dstrom (May 02, 2008 4:55 am)
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