So, I'm finally buying my first car; and about time too since it's almost 8 years since I passed my driving test.

I've looked at all sorts of cars at all sorts of prices, but I've settled on a Smart car. It's ideal for the short journeys I'll be doing, very easy to park and quick but not to powerful, so cheap on the insurance - an ideal first car.

A local main dealer has an 11 month old Passion model that has done 9k miles.

I've done a little research on the net, but I'm just wondering if anyone here has any experiences with Smart cars and has any opinions or comments. Anything to look out for? What are the servicing costs like? Any essential accessories I should go for? Any tips for where to get cheap insurance?

http://www.thesmart.co.uk/ for those not aware of what a Smart car is.

That Smart Roadster Coupe is pretty sweet looking.

I dont have much experience with them, but when I sat in one, it was reeeeealy small, to the point of being uncomfortable

I have a pulse cabrio (convertible) cdi for ca. 18 month and 27000 km now. I love the car. The feeling inside is like in a much bigger car. The diesel runs at 4,5 liter for 100 km. Very cheap on insurance, but the insurance-system here in germany is a little different to the UK i think.
If you are lazy, you'll love the soft-touch, which the passion already has. (automatic mode)
Air-condition is in the passion, too.
Accessories are available for style, safety (sidebags) or comfort (leather), but nothing really essential. The passion has a lot inside.
Servicing costs are not cheap, at least here.

How much is the passion? I think it would be about 12 - 13000 Euros here.
What's the warranty in the UK? We have 2 years. A weak point at Smarts are the turbos, look for oil around it. If it dies, its not so cheap outside of warranty.

Any questions left? feel free to ask...

cheers, Thomas

The model I'm looking at is a standard passion with the heated leather seats option and nothing else AFAIK. They're asking £7,450, which seems like a reasonable price to me, it's £1200 off the retail price of a new car.

The softouch gearbox was great. Not as smooth as a real automatic, but it made driving very easy. I can't see myself ever not using it.

Warranty is 2 years, so I'll have a year left on it. I'm only planning to keep it for 2 years anyway, so that's fine.

You should be able to beat the price down a bit more than that - www.parkers.co.uk reckons the retail was £7995 and the dealer price now is 6610. It doesn't mention the leather option but I would value that at 50% of the new price.

Personally I think the front-end of the original version was a bit to ugly, although I accept the design spec was quite limiting. The new roadster does look very nice and I hope they reflect it in newer versions.

By the way, although they say you can park it end-on in a standard bay this is rarely possible. A colleague says somebody parks like that near his house and it sticks out by about a foot - he's sure somebody will smack it in the dark one day.

Gareth

Uhh, prices differ to the german ones, probably because of different taxes.
But with leather and seat heating you'll be satisfied. And with 1 year warranty left, nothing bad can happen. If the price is good for the UK, i can reccomend it.

cheers, Thomas

I have no precise comments or suggestions. Generally speaking, however, Rome is FULL of them. Everybody wants one as a second/third/city car. Most young people want it too because it's "cool" . Most people love it. It is a good quality car. Not very stable on wet, so be careful. Other than that, it's the best you can get if your're using it in a city, and two seats are enough for you, IMO. Because of the stability problem, I would recommend that you get one with large tyres. I saw some new ones with some "sporty" set-up which may definitely increase stability.

Having driven one in Germany once, I'd definitely say that, if at all an option, stay well away from the smart semi-auto gearbox. After the fifth 6 second gear change the thing was ready to go off a cliff.

I'm not sure if this is an option or not, but I really, really, hated it.

After having seen one on the autobahn in Germany pointing directly upwards (i.e. with it's hatch to the floor, astronaught stylee), I'd never get one, but I have friends who swear by them.

Cheers,

Paul.

After having seen one on the autobahn in Germany

I never saw one on the Autobahn when I was in Germany. The Smart cars were everywhere but the Bahn. I assumed it was because they couldn't go fast enough.

Saw a fair number of them on the 'bahn when driving to and from the Amersfoort meet. Most of them driven as if they had far larger deformation zones than they do...

/Michael

What is the top speed on those things anyway? I saw one in South San Francisco a while back. It looked very out of place amongst the SUVs and full size sedans. Kind of like a glorified golf cart

-Mike

What is the top speed on those things anyway? I saw one in South San Francisco a while back. It looked very out of place amongst the SUVs and full size sedans. Kind of like a glorified golf cart

According to their website:

37 kW engine - 135 km/h
45 kW engine - 135 km/h
55 kW engine - 150 km/h
60 kW engine - 180 km/h

Jelle

180 km/h with such a small car?

Does it come with a bodybag or is that an option ?

Kind of like a glorified golf cart

Looking at the Crossblade version one would be even more confused...



They claim that they have had good results in crash tests, but I wouldn't want to drive it outside city limits...

(Not that my own car is of the large variety - currently Peugeot 206RC and previously VW Polo - but they do offer a couple of more inches of deformation zones than the Smart)

/Michael

Well, after a week of puttering around Germany and Switzerland in the passenger seat of Thomas's SmartCar, I'm a big fan of the little car! Seemed to handle well, and never lacked for much power anywhere he took it. I want a few for my driveway now..

Yes, power has never been an issue with Smarts. I also tend to believe that there must be a decent level of safety in the smart design, since it did pass the required tests, and, mostly, it did not gain a bad reputation after four (or more) years on the market. It is also a small "luxury" car, not a cheap one, and carries the Mercedes benz name, so you would expect its customers relatively demanding.
What I did get a bad reputation on, at least here, is its stability on wet (or on streets which offer poor grip)...

Their ok, but lack some street cred. Stick some 18'' alloys on it and your laughing though.

Is Empeg mounting possible ?

After pondering it for a couple of days I put a deposit on the car and should have it by the end of next week at the latest

cool, congrats

It is possible to get an empeg in there but I'm not going to as it's a bit too much hassle and expense for the amount I'd use it.

Instead, I've ordered an adapter cable that provides a 3.5mm stereo plug and a DC barrel plug from the CD changer port of the stock radio which I'm going to use with the Rio Riot I've got lying about here.

It'll have 15" alloys as they're standard on this model, so it'll look decent.

I'm not too bothered about street cred though, I was very keen on getting a Volvo before I settled on a Smart

Oddly, I just got my first unprompted compliment on my Volvo a scant few hours ago.

By the way, although they say you can park it end-on in a standard bay this is rarely possible. A colleague says somebody parks like that near his house and it sticks out by about a foot - he's sure somebody will smack it in the dark one day.


I've just read that this is illegal in the UK, according to Smart's website.

It seems to be legal here, and there actually are many people doing it. I honestly hate when it sticks out too much, I have to say. Many people avoid it by putting two wheels on the sidewalks, which is probably even more annoying if you're a pedestrian. But Rome's traffic is wild, and that's the least of the worries... You should see what scooters do, including the huge new spaceship-looking ones...

It's no problem to bring in the empeg. The amp is under the seat, driving the original speakers. It only costs me an adapter-plug. I hope, i get a better setup ready til the 2004 european meet.
Going on the Autobahn is OK, if you consider, that you are not with the fast ones...

cheers, Thomas