The Fortwo is not so Smart a consideration.

[Aren Jay]

I worked it out. For me to get a Smart Fortwo, locally, it would cost so much that with gasoline prices at the current level I would have to drive it for 20.7 years to break even, instead of driving my Marauder. Now if i didn't have my Marauder it would be a different story, but as a second car it just doesn't make sense.

[Mad4Macs]

Yeah, but when you consider you can park it on a pizza box, just think of how much easier it makes your holiday shopping!
:lol:

[crabby125]

For less than what the Fortwo is worth, you can get a decent motorcycle and still look cool.

On a plus side, you can keep that Fortwo in the trunk of your Marauder.

[CRUZTAKER]

I never knew the name of this buggy...

$11,500 U.S. entry level seems a bit steep for 71 HP.

http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//pictures/VEHICLE/2008/smart/2008.smart.fortwo.20132660-E.jpg

[Aren Jay]

I just watched the new Pick Panther movie and I still want one. Just not for it's MPG.

[sailsmen]

I would increase my life insurance and get max disability.

Nifty looking.

[Aren Jay]

They are pretty safe, and much safer than a bike. Easier to park than a bike too.

I wouldn't want to hit a cement truck, but then it might bounce off and out of harms way better than a sedan.

Kind of like being a beachball that is hit by a car. Bounce bounce airbags go off and you bounce out of harms way.

[Aren Jay]

http://www.thesmart.ca/site/smartnew/images/content/3.jpg
http://www.thesmart.ca/site/smartnew/images/content//19_9_backrest_136.jpgIt really isn't all that small, inside. The key goes below the gear selector. You can just see the red dot.

[quota]

I would increase my life insurance and get max disability.

Nifty looking.

Agreed.
I never drove a Smart. But a long time ago, I drove a Class A Mercedes during a couple of winter days in Austria. Same shape as the smart (while bigger), same manufacturer, same basket of electronic controls to prevent the car sliding or falling on the side (which fall occurred during a test drive made by swedish car press journalists). I say : gravity center too high, wheelbase too short, car too narrow, intrusive electronic systems made up for one of the most scary ride of my life.

JP

[Bluerauder]

I worked it out. For me to get a Smart Fortwo, locally, it would cost so much that with gasoline prices at the current level I would have to drive it for 20.7 years to break even, instead of driving my Marauder. Now if i didn't have my Marauder it would be a different story, but as a second car it just doesn't make sense.
So why is it even listed in your "pick one" poll of possible choices?? :dunno:

[dynodon]

I took a VERY short test drive in one late this summer in St. Louis. Drove 130+ miles to go about 400 feet! I have a deposit on one of these things, just for giggles. $99 to be part of the process, and I can get my money back at some point. After this test drive, I WILL get my money back.

the engine idled worse than some John Deer single cyl tractors I have seen. The tranny lurched and behaved somewhat like a centrifigal drive go-kart, got to give it gas then it lurches forward and shifting was the same.....rev, stall, lurch, rev, then maybe go.

I am also not happy that in Europe, they offer these little boxes with engines that get close to 60 mpg. So what does Penske do? He offers it only with the biggest engine, thus making this tiny car get the same mpg as several bigger, safer, nicer looking and more practical cars like the Honda Fit, at almost the same price. It is going to be slow anyway, I would rather have the tiny diesel that gets close to 60 mpg and get great mileage while going slow. Bad choice on Penske's part.

BTW, these are safer than they look, and HUGE inside for two people, and oddly enough when driving other than it drove crappy, it didn't feel all that tiny, at least in the one block I drove around at about 15 mph.

But I am sure once people drive these badly designed little cars, that they will fail. The need more MPG, better driveline and lower price.

I wanted them to succeed, but I don't think they will except maybe in S. Cal?

Don
Illinois

[Vortex]

What is a smart Fort Worth? Everyone knows Dallas is better!

[Aren Jay]

So why is it even listed in your "pick one" poll of possible choices?? :dunno:


Who says I can't buy my third car second?

[Aren Jay]

I took a VERY short test drive in one late this summer in St. Louis. Drove 130+ miles to go about 400 feet! I have a deposit on one of these things, just for giggles. $99 to be part of the process, and I can get my money back at some point. After this test drive, I WILL get my money back.

the engine idled worse than some John Deer single cyl tractors I have seen. The tranny lurched and behaved somewhat like a centrifigal drive go-kart, got to give it gas then it lurches forward and shifting was the same.....rev, stall, lurch, rev, then maybe go.

I am also not happy that in Europe, they offer these little boxes with engines that get close to 60 mpg. So what does Penske do? He offers it only with the biggest engine, thus making this tiny car get the same mpg as several bigger, safer, nicer looking and more practical cars like the Honda Fit, at almost the same price. It is going to be slow anyway, I would rather have the tiny diesel that gets close to 60 mpg and get great mileage while going slow. Bad choice on Penske's part.

BTW, these are safer than they look, and HUGE inside for two people, and oddly enough when driving other than it drove crappy, it didn't feel all that tiny, at least in the one block I drove around at about 15 mph.

But I am sure once people drive these badly designed little cars, that they will fail. The need more MPG, better driveline and lower price.

I wanted them to succeed, but I don't think they will except maybe in S. Cal?

Don
Illinois


I Canada we had the 0.8L turbo diesel engine but with you (Americans) only being able to use the non turbo 1.0L we now have to have the slug of economy engine too. The turbo diesel engine would get around 65MPG. The NA Gas engine only gets 40 MPG. I only am looking at this new one because it is big enough to fit into, the previous version was 3 inches narrower and 8 inches shorter. I didn't fit inside the previous version with the doors closed. I do fit into this one.

The drive isn't that bad. It is no Marauder. It is rough and quirky and almost everything a 2 seat mid engine car should be. Except that it isn't fast. Not 0-60 fast but it is 0-30 fast enough and great around a city. The new transmission is an improvement over the former automatic mode manual 6 speed. It really is a manual transmission with an automatic mode. No clutch. For your test drive you should have tried one with the steering wheel gear shifts. It is like an F1 golf cart, that can go 70 MPH.

The good thing is that you can add a turbo. And with mods, and they exist in Europe you can have a great fun fast tiny car. If it is as much of a hit as they are in Canada they will bring out the diesel engines and the high MPG cars.

400 feet is not enough room to test anything. Shame on you. It is like hopping in a Marauder driving 400 feet getting out and saying it has no pickup and leave.

On the highway/freeway they feel just like any other little car. You don't even notice that there is nothing behind you.

Parking is a dream. You approach the post. Drive up and park get out look see that you are two feet away get back in and drive forward again. Get out look and see there is still a foot distance away. You get back in and inch forward several times expecting to touch the post and when you are sure that you have you get out and see that your in the perfect position and that a seoncd Fortwo can park behind you without sticking out of the spot. Which is why you back up and leave a huge spot infornt of you so noone boxes you in. For parallel parking you have an easier time and only need to edge you front end out slightly with the wheels turned and no one can box you in. Although I'm not sure what happens if you park between cars in a parking metre area. between parking metres.

The Smart Fortwo is 106 inches long. Half the length of a Maruader. it is narrower too about two thirds the width.

I was passed by a Fortwo the other day I was cruising up to a red light and one shot passed me then changed lanes and turned. It was comical.

he Smart Fortwo is like a safe scooter for two. A little bit wider but not much. Better in the snow or ice or wet or slow moving traffic or almost anywhere else.

[dynodon]

Shame on ME? I gave the thing all the test drive they would allow.

I also was told I had to register for the test drive and only those with deposits would be allowed to drive, but when I got there, noboy in the over an HOUR long waiting line had a deposit down or had pre-registered, and the people running the thing weren't trying to accomodate their customers.

I stand behind my comments. The version I drove was the production ready American version and my car had the steering wheel shift things, I used them, and tried it in auto mode in the short time I had it. The person they had ride with me knew nothing about the car just how to apply the parking brake if it looked like the driver was going to splat a pedestrian.

I didn't need a long drive to feel the very rough engine, or the tranny that needed rev's to take off like a bad go-kart.

Shame on Penske and Smart for putting on such a poorly designed and run "test drive" and for not training their personel and for not letting people get a real drive in the car.

Since they tell you our deposit isrefundable, but give you NO way to get it back, I will probably wait till they tell me my "smart" is ready, and then give it a longer drive, and THEN probably ask for my money back.

Yes, Shame on someone, but not me.
Don
Illinois

[Aren Jay]

Shame on you for dismissing a car you have barely driven, some would say you havn't driven it at all. Shame on them for being morons. Shame on you for giving the car a black mark when it was the dealership that desevered the black mark and a reservation of descision on the car.

If I came here said that I piddled a marauder 400 feet and never went over 15 mph and it shifted really bad and had no power, shame on me.

[dynodon]

Well aren't we throwing shame around a lot.

I stand by my "test drive evaluation" I didn't need more than the short drive to feel the bad engine and the poor tranny performance. I guess you can forgive a car that behaves that badly, but I sure won't.

I would be lax if I didn't let people know my experience. I gave the conditions and said some nice things about it, but it was what it was, a very poor excuse for a car.

Also, I gave the car all the "test drive" the company would allow. I would say that If the manufacturer says that 400 feet is all that is needed to impress me, then they get what they deserve. I would love to have given the car a full test, and will eventually, but for now, they get the review they earn.

So I guess I will say it again: you started this silly shame thing, so shame on you for your attitude. You are welcome to your opinion and I am welcome to mine.

Don

[Aren Jay]

D & D the Shame brothers.

What a Shame.

[Aren Jay]

Hey the Smart Fortwo uses Premiun gasoline.

[quota]

That "car" is probably not so bad for a limited, low speed use, inside big cities like New York, Paris, Montreal, etc where it could reveal as a "smart" tool. I would even consider it as "interesting" from the engineering and marketing point of view. As a matter of fact, the SMART was originally imagined by Mr Hayek, a genius who created some revolution on the watches market by launching the SWATCH. After many stories, the SMART project was finally taken over by Daimler-Benz which had the industrial - financial capacity, but which also dramatically modified the original concept.

Now, you are consulting people who like driving, and who own a genuine North American car that was built with something else in mind than mpg/dimension ratio...so do not expect too much of admiration...
JP

[Dr Caleb]

Now, you are consulting people who like driving, and who own a genuine North American car that was built with something else in mind than mpg/dimension ratio...so do not expect too much of admiration...
JP

Why? Marauder owners bought it because of it's form and function. Some, like me, also bought it because of where it was built.

We get lots of threads about the price of gas, E85, Biofuel, dependence on foreign oil . . .can Marauder owners not see that the Smart Fortwo does exactly what it is designed to do?

I see these things all the time (diesel) , and I have to say I would probably buy one, as a daily commuter for me and my laptop. The seem to be pretty decent winter cars (-20 last week, lots running around on bad roads) whereas the most common car in the ditch was the single passenger SUV.

The Fourtwo isn't a Marauder, just like apples aren't hydrogen. The most common thing I hear against them on this site is 'safety' but since they came to Canada, I've been looking for statistics on their safety. Can't find any. None. Anyone have any facts to show these are unsafe?

[quota]

Wow.

In fact, we agree that SMART would be a good tool for the ones who find the appropriate use of it. Sure also that some would buy it because of the country where it is made. It is currently the only made-in-France car sold new on the North American market...

Concerning safety, TUV and other european agencies give it a 4 stars rating at crash tests.

From that point of view, I feel more confortable and safe in my MGM as well as in my MM. Driving impressions, like feelings, are not always square and rational, aren't they...?

JP

[Aren Jay]

I look at the Smart Fortwo as kind of a safer alternative to a Motorcycle.

I personally wouldn't mind having a motorcycle, but I wouldn't want to use it on a road with cars or trucks.

I've thought about getting a Scooter a few times but again worry about using them in traffic.

Winter doesn't work with motorcycles, this is the biggest problem with motorcycles and scooters in Canada.

The Smart car does work though, in Winter. Not perfect but not too imperfect either.

Best thing about the Smart convertible is it is the nearest thing to a motorcycle that you can use without a helmet.

It is also hard to fall off of.

[Dr Caleb]

Driving impressions, like feelings, are not always square and rational, aren't they...?

JP

Nope. And from the sound of it, Mercedes send a dud down south. I can't believe it is so terrible having an Auto trans and gas motor. At least, it sounds that way.

People I talk to who own the diesel/manual version love it.

4 Stars on crash tests are pretty decent, given the size of it. But I bought the Marauder because it was 5 star on all 4 sides, and because it was road proven. The one thing holding me back from a Smart is the sheer number of big (F350 sized) trucks on the road and a lack of statistics concerning Fourtwo crash injuries in the real world.

It's been quite some time since I've had an accident of any sort, so perhaps I shouldn't be so concerend. ;)