The smart car is currently doing the rounds of Canadian M-B dealers - they're giving road tests and taking deposits, though no firm date for the car's introduction has been announced.

If you are interested, go to your dealer and have a test drive, but also do this: visit www.so-smart.com and indicate that you would consider buying the car. I think that M-B Canada is looking for a high level of interest before they decide to bring the car in.

I and about 60 others on Vancouver Island have already got deposits on a smart.

PLEASE HELP!!



thanks

 

Isn't that an oxymoron?

 

the current issue of CAR has an cross country US trip in a smart car. of course, it has the typical british stereotyping of the US (cowboys and elvis...) but it is an interesting read. smart car gets like 50mpg. (oops, yeah, i meant mpg...)

 

I'm hoping you mean mpg?

 

:p :p :p

 

oops! :o i corrected that. here's some more stats:

smart & pur 44bhp 52lb-ft 84mphmax [0-60 18.9sec]
smart & pulse 54bph 65lb-ft 84mphmax [17.5sec]
smart & passion 54bhp 59lb-ft 84mphmax [17.5sec]

55.4mpg

(courtesy of CAR magazine)

 

Hey Mike T. Would you seriously consider a car with such poor performance ? I mean 0-60 in 18.9 seconds ! That car would be a hazard on most streets and trying to merge on a crowded freeway would be a disaster. Unless the specs improve I think they should not look at importing this car.

 

Reminds me that the A-Class is supposedly coming to Canada in 2005! What's with MB bringing over all these little cars to Canada?

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...ghlight=canada

Tim

 

Does the Smart car have golf bag straps on the back. It's for use on golf courses right, not for real roads. 0-60 in 19 seconds would be death on U.S. freeways. Does Kleemann make a supercharger for it?

 

Yes I would; I have a deposit on a smart & passion cabriolet. Many Germans drive these little suckers on the Autobahn (right lane only, one imagines ).

I think that to be a good driver, everyone should have an apprenticeship with a sub-60 HP car. Driving fast cars does not teach creative driving and roadcraft. Hell, I've always wanted a 29 HP Citroën 2 CV 6. Compared to a 2 CV, the smart is a Porsche

The other thing is, in normal traffic, 0-100 km/h in 17.2 seconds --that would be about 16 s 0-60 MPH -- (54 HP smart specs in SOFTIP mode) is only rarely approached by the average driver on the street, in traffic. Also, the pause between shifts is a little exaggerated in the smart (a chip to tighten shifts up is available from Brabus) but the acceleration in gear is quite strong. Plus the little beggar has a nice torque characteristic. The maximum is developed from 2000-4000 rpm, rather like our C 230 K.

Also, the first four gears are very closely spaced, so the smart has to be at the top of the 4th gear before 100 km/h is achieved at the engine's peak power figure (5250 rpm). That's two more (slow-ish) shifts than many cars need to get to 100 km/h. So it's actually quicker than the figures would seem to indicate. By the way, a paddle shifter is optional (no launch control though ), and there is an auto-shift program too. No smart car has a clutch pedal.

Actually Brabus makes a lot of interesting stuff for the smart car, but speed is not what they're about.

If you don't care for the smart, that's OK, but it definitely will not be a liability in traffic.

 

I drove a Smart for about 2500kms last summer and I have to say that it´s not as bad as you would imagine. I drove both in cities and on autobahn. Topspeed is limited to 135km/h, so it´s not really perfect for autobahns but in the city it´s just a perfect small car. Easy to find parking space. It´s even possible to park it sideways because the smart is only 2,5 meters long

In some places you can park the smart for half the price (because it takes up only half of the space)

I liked the smart very much and I will probably buy one soon. It´s a nice "car" but of course you cannot compare it with a C230K, for example. You don´t buy a Smart for performance. Personally I think the Smart is the best small car out there. I even like it more than a Mercedes A-class.

Btw, have you guys checked out the Smart Crossblade? It has a little more power and looks much cooler!

 

Mike, This one has been up for a day now on the C forum... time to shift it over to the Smart forum... 3... 2... 1...

 

It's the beginning of the end! Soon Bob will be moving everything. He's changed since becoming a moderator.

 

i didnt think you had it in ya BOB, lol kepp up the good work.

 

Your replacing your pressure regulator. Why? What symptoms? I'm curious.