Smart Car question

[85_Ranger4x4]

Interesting. I would have thought they were front engine and FWD like almost everything else.

On the one I drove your feet stuck out the bottom Fred Flintstone style. That was back in the 80's so maybe the newer ones are different.

 

[snoranger]

Interesting. I would have thought they were front engine and FWD like almost everything else.

Did you ever get a good look at one? There isnt enough room for an engine in front.

My mom has a convertible... Its a fun little car, slow as $#!t, but handles good, and surprisingly enough, has a lot of leg room.

Edit:

See, There's that leg room I was talking about:

On the one I drove your feet stuck out the bottom Fred Flintstone style. That was back in the 80's so maybe the newer ones are different.

 

[19bonestock88]

They are slow as hell, but check out a brabus smart... They have like a hundred hp, and are about as quick as my stock suzuki forenza, lol

 

[Will]

My mom has had one for years. She made me ride in it when I was up visiting a couple of years ago. Of course the last time I rode that close to my mom was in 1969 when I was riding around in her kangaroo pouch.

I don't know anything about these, but the engine and drive have to be in the back. There is no trunk back there and no room in the front for a motor. It's so small it feels painted on. It's like being in a motorcycle helmet. I don't like it, but she loves it. And that's why she's now looking at Lincoln Navigators. I guess.

Actually, I think she did recently buy an SUV.

The main complaint with the smart was that it doesn't run in the winter in northern Iowa. There seems to be an issue with the oil filter that when it's really cold, there is no pressure and the engine controller won't let it start. France is at a higher latitude, but it's much warmer there due to the gulf stream hauling all that warm water up there. They didn't plan for Iowa winters.

 

[Will]

My mom has had one for years. She made me ride in it when I was up visiting a couple of years ago. Of course the last time I rode that close to my mom was in 1969 when I was riding around in her kangaroo pouch.

I don't know anything about these, but the engine and drive have to be in the back. There is no trunk back there and no room in the front for a motor. It's so small it feels painted on. It's like being in a motorcycle helmet. I don't like it, but she loves it. And that's why she's now looking at Lincoln Navigators. I guess.

Actually, I think she did recently buy an SUV.

The main complaint with the smart was that it doesn't run in the winter in northern Iowa. There seems to be an issue with the oil filter that when it's really cold, there is no pressure and the engine controller won't let it start. France is at a higher latitude, but it's much warmer there due to the gulf stream hauling all that warm water up there. They didn't plan for Iowa winters.

 

[martin]

Our minister had a smart for a few years until he wrapped it round a tree. We're still trying to figure out how there's enough of one to wrap around a tree but apparently there is. He was uninjured but the car was totaled. He never had a starting problem, and winters here can be brutal. His only complaints were that the heater was rubbish and maintenance was expensive, mostly due to the fact that the only people that would touch it were the Mercedes dealerships

 

[snoranger]

Our minister had a smart for a few years until he wrapped it round a tree. We're still trying to figure out how there's enough of one to wrap around a tree but apparently there is. He was uninjured but the car was totaled. He never had a starting problem, and winters here can be brutal. His only complaints were that the heater was rubbish and maintenance was expensive, mostly due to the fact that the only people that would touch it were the Mercedes dealerships

I've made myself a good amount of money due to this fact.

Smart car owners are worse then Jeep owners with their little cliques. I have a group of them that will only take their Smart to me to be fixed.

 

[snoranger]

I had to do front brakes on my mom's Smart this weekend. I figured I'd snap an underhood pic...

 

[wildbill23c]

These things are an overpriced golf cart with doors and windows. Problem is the people that drive cars like these are the ones that get their asses ran over because they seem to think its a bright idea to pull out in front of full size trucks in their pedal cars. I think my lawnmower has a larger engine than these cars do.

 

[Will]

These things are an overpriced golf cart with doors and windows. Problem is the people that drive cars like these are the ones that get their asses ran over because they seem to think its a bright idea to pull out in front of full size trucks in their pedal cars. I think my lawnmower has a larger engine than these cars do.

Interesting opinion.

I don't like them either.

My mom bought one when they first came out and loves it. I rode in it once, and it is small, but I fit. I'm 5'10" 210# and it was fine with my mom on the other side. Two blokes my size and you would have to be in love. But I love my mother, though she is nowhere near my size. It's not a golf cart--she did some serious weaving that almost made me puke to prove it. I still don't like it, but it does what it is alleged to do.

She also rides motorcycles--an 800 Kawasaki Vulcan, presently, she bought new and has 58,000 on it. She knows about things with wheels, even though she is old as granite. She's a Lutheran Minister that travels all over to visit her flock. She has to use my dad's truck in the winter at times, but mostly her Smart Car does the job.

 

[snoranger]

These things are an overpriced golf cart with doors and windows. Problem is the people that drive cars like these are the ones that get their asses ran over because they seem to think its a bright idea to pull out in front of full size trucks in their pedal cars. I think my lawnmower has a larger engine than these cars do.

You do realize the car your talking s#!t about will out accelerate, out handle, go farther on a tank of gas (8 gallon tank), create less pollution, and ride smoother then your 2.8L BII. It will do all this with the top down and still have a better crash test rating then your truck.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

You do realize the car your talking s#!t about will out accelerate, out handle, go farther on a tank of gas (8 gallon tank), create less pollution, and ride smoother then your 2.8L BII. It will do all this with the top down and still have a better crash test rating then your truck.

It doesn't get good enough mileage to justify its small size IMO. Or cheap enough either. For similar $$ you can get a car with the other half attached that gets the same if not mileage (upper 30's lower 40's isn't all that special in the car world anymore) and is safer against more than bumping into padded walls.

Here in the sticks small size doesn't really mean much for getting around town or parking... just means they are helpless in winter. I would think they would get blown all over the highway for as short coupled and tall as they are too. They crash tested it when they first came out against a midsize, like a Fusion sized car, nothing huge. It held up ok but it was thrown away from the accident going airborn into another lane. They didn't like that, its on youtube.

I sat in one once at a car show for giggles... it was a good laugh as I peeled it off of me but it is safe to say I will never own one. It doesn't offer a thing that I need and I plain and simple don't fit in it anyway.

 

[snoranger]

It's really a matter of where you live and what you use it for. My mother lives in a more urban area then "the sticks" you speak of. Its perfect for her. She never needs to go on the freeway with it, it's almost always just her in the car, it gets 42-43 MPG (averaged over the 4 years she's owned it), and it's a convertible that cost her well under 20k.

They defiantly aren't for everyone ( I wouldn't own one), but it's fits her lifestyle perfect.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

It's really a matter of where you live and what you use it for. My mother lives in a more urban area then "the sticks" you speak of. Its perfect for her. She never needs to go on the freeway with it, it's almost always just her in the car, it gets 42-43 MPG (averaged over the 4 years she's owned it), and it's a convertible that cost her well under 20k.

They defiantly aren't for everyone ( I wouldn't own one), but it's fits her lifestyle perfect.

For a smaller city dweller that never leaves town a car like that would make a fair amount of sense.

I would rather not have something that was so goofy though, but to each their own.

 

[snoranger]

For a smaller city dweller that never leaves town a car like that would make a fair amount of sense.

I would rather not have something that was so goofy though, but to each their own.

I never argue with something that makes me money. I bring in about $3-4k cash a year working on a bunch of these little sh!t cars on the side.