At the risk of being laughed out of town (or perhaps not) anyone here experienced owning a Smart Car?

The fatty stays in the garage all week because I do minimal miles short journeys all day and up 'till now I have been using the family runabout Corsa day to day which we brought for my eldest to learn to drive in. Trouble is the inconsiderate little has gone and past his test first time so the Corsa is no longer 'mine'.

That leaves me in a bit of a pickle and I'm seriously considering a Smart City car. £1500 gets a 55 / 56 plate good nick car with about 50k miles but I don't know anything about ownership.

Do I need to get my coat? 405 AB exec seats Baltic and Cirrus
93 RR Classic efi

Remember it's easier to get forgiveness than permission!

Gone in order:
4.4 TDV8 SE - gone to a good home
93 Classic hard dash Plymouth Blue
03 L322 Oslo Blue
2000 Disco TD5 ES Epsom Green
98 P38 Rioja Red
89 Classic Cairngorm Brown

why? I get the letting the ff sit on the drive and using a small car for city driving, but a fortwo smart car? Really? Never been in one but to my mind its more like a side by side 2 seat motorbike....

for that sort of money you can pick up the roadster version, which is still tiny but much more like a proper car. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

I like this type of thing....but would try for a grey one. Its all about small is clever. The roadster is too big for my needs (and even more ugly from the back)

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/adv...amp;page=1 405 AB exec seats Baltic and Cirrus
93 RR Classic efi

Remember it's easier to get forgiveness than permission!

Gone in order:
4.4 TDV8 SE - gone to a good home
93 Classic hard dash Plymouth Blue
03 L322 Oslo Blue
2000 Disco TD5 ES Epsom Green
98 P38 Rioja Red
89 Classic Cairngorm Brown

My daughter had a Roadster for a couple of years, we put a turbo, wastegate, intercooler and tic pipe on it as it was a bit leggy, chipped it and she had great fun... she got pi55ed off with the constant leaks that beset them (It was why Mercedes pulled the plug on the Roadster) Massive fun to drive though...





She has just changed it for a 2007 Mitsubishi Colt CZ2 which is basically a Smart ForFour, it's 60% smart, Mercedes engineering, made in the old Volvo factory, it's a 1.3 4 cylinder with a six speed automatic manual box, 66,000 miles FMDSH immaculate condition and cost £1,000... It also does far more MPG than the 0.7turbo Roadster yet is about as fast....!!!





Smarts seem to be well made, pretty reliable and parts are reasonable to... (bit like an FF... ) :thumbsup:

Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated  Pete

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2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

My other half has had a new 2seater city smart 2013 for 3 yrs and paid c. £159 per month. Never had a problem with it and even drove bristol to north Norfolk which was interesting. They get 50+ mpg and are brilliant to park as they fit in most spaces too small for a normal car. She's just bought a brand new (massive update in terms of shape and equipment) one on the same deal which is a vast improvement on the previous marque in terms of gearbox and equipment. You can still get enough kit inside if you are frugal

However I would buy a Seat/skoda/vw up/ Citigo which seats 4 and is much cheaper.

Had 3 Smart Fortwos 's 1.0 MHD.

2 of them had V-Belt issues as the duel starter/ alternator was misaligned so the belt jumped ( a known common fault) Fortunately the drivers stopped straight away before the engines ate themselves ( as the belt also is the timing belt too).

The suspension is very very hard and the auto box takes 2 seconds to change up/down so not smooth at all.

Cost to buy / rent is very cheap, insurance average and servicing seemed high for such a compact car. No spare wheel ( can of tyre seal not provided either) GONE 2010 Facelifted 3.6 TDV8 - Stornoway Grey + 22" Overfinch Olympus
HAVE 1999 Discovery 2 GS 4.0 V8 - Silver - Off Road Toy
GONE 2013 L405 4.4 SDV8 Vogue. Black with Silver roofline and 22" s
HAVE 2015 Jaguar XF.

I had a Brabaus one for about 4 years & loved it.

I always had a bit of an itch for one & then was bored between Christmas & New Year, bid for one on eBay and won it It turned out to be a great little thing

Because they don't even attempt a rear seat, they are surprisingly roomy inside

This was my collection a few years ago

You're looking at a 450 in your budget. If you do go that route then budget and engine rebuild at around 50k miles. It's not if it's when. If you can stretch your budget a bit then get a 451 which was available from 2007. They have a 1.0 Mitsubishi engine which is much more reliable and has longevity. Brabus 450's are OK.

Do not buy an MHD as mentioned earlier. They will throw the belt and lunch the engine. Once it overheats, it dies and there is no temp gauge, just a warning light by which time it's too late.

The 451 includes normally aspirated, 71bhp, turbo charged, 84bhp and a diesel, eff all bhp. There is also a Brabus version which can be pushed to about 120bhp. Considering the car weighs about as much as a basket of soup, the Brabus can move.

Driving them is a bit of a challenge to start with. You need to match revs to gear change for a smooth operation. It's not a normal slush box, like the fatty but a manual box with clutch that also includes some wizardry that changes gear automatically. That can be full auto, manually moving the stick or flappy paddles. When I drive ours I use flappy paddles, SWMBO uses "soft touch auto"

Our Smart (2008 Limited 2) has been in our ownership for nearly 4 years now and has cost nothing except regular servicing. We imported it to Greece as you can buy a UK car for about 1/2 what it would cost in Greece. Drove it across Europe to get it to Greece which was a great fun, 4 day road trip. Being a Limited Edition, it even has Ferrari Leather.

I would thoroughly recommend a Smart. It's as close to driving an original Mini as you can get.





Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated  2017 5.0 Autobiography Supercharged
2005 Merc SL350
2005 Disco HSE 2.7 oil burner

wouldn't want a bump in a smart car ive seen my neighbours and he was lucky to be alive at low speed  _____________________________________________________
Zambezi silver Vogue Se unique

They are, in fact, very safe, the tridion safety cell works well...

 Pete

__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Many thanks Gents - much food for though.

Found this great resource too:
http://www.evilution.co.uk/index.php

Cheers

 405 AB exec seats Baltic and Cirrus
93 RR Classic efi

Remember it's easier to get forgiveness than permission!

Gone in order:
4.4 TDV8 SE - gone to a good home
93 Classic hard dash Plymouth Blue
03 L322 Oslo Blue
2000 Disco TD5 ES Epsom Green
98 P38 Rioja Red
89 Classic Cairngorm Brown

I had one as a rental. I quite liked it.

ajac8 wrote:

Many thanks Gents - much food for though.

Found this great resource too:
http://www.evilution.co.uk/index.php

Cheers

+1 I'd forgotten about that site, but I got loads of information from it at the time