Reasons not to buy a Smart car

So how did it end up on its side?

 

someone farted....

 

An elk walked past...

 

Meh, probably makes no difference to its performance which way up it is

 

It's no worse than the Suzuki 4x4s from the 80s - the car that would roll over in a turn at less than 20 mph...

 

Seen this before, the image is from a Canadian smart forum where the poster said people in his town had begun taking up 'car tipping' with smart cars, and he woke up one morning to find his like that

Kind of amusing, but you'd be pissed off if it happened to any of your cars (though saying that, I doubt most of your cars are that easy to tip over!).

 

Note that the car appears to belong to a company. This is the tendency here too, just down the road from the home of Smart. The number of privately-owned Smarts appears to be well outnumbered by the number of company cars. I suppose it falls into the category of cute gimmick. I personally wouldn't like to own a car with a wheelbase that short (=much pitching on the road) and a rear engine, not to mention such an expensive little device (it really represents poor value for money).

Another interesting phenomenon is how often I am passed on the Autobahn by Smarts being driven by what appear to be failed Kamikaze pilots trying to requalify. Whether the owners of Smarts feel they have something to prove I know not, but it often appears thus.

 

You should go to Daimler-Chrysler in MK, its Smart city, even smart parking bays that only smarts can fit in.

 

Hey tones there's a few rear-engined motors I wouldnt mind sat in my garage! smart defo aint one of them though

 

I once saw a police smart car on the M5.... caused a right hold-up because no one wanted to pass it.

 

Would that be what we call a left hold-up ?

 

I won't be buying one because my chauffeur said that she "wouldn't be caught dead driving one of those".

 

I wouldn't want one of them either. Rich guys' toys.

 

Not one? C'mon, must be one? Not even a fully restored 1960's Karmann Ghia, freshly imported from Miami? Featured on the front cover of VW mag? I'll let you have it at a good price, fsh, original USA brochure, all documentation from the US, totally original......

 

Seems to be a similar mentality here really. I recall one (fitted with a dump valve no less) trying to race my dad off the lights once, I mean really, why do they bother? Smart car versus a 1.8 turbocharged petrol passat....hmmm

 

I'd rather drive a Sinclair C5; it's probably safer too....

 

Saw one at the Salon de Genève some weeks ago. It occurred to me that it looks as ugly now as it did then. As a DIYer, I am boringly practical. My Astra Caravan can swallow a 2.5M ladder, tons of potting mix, tiles, wood... No time for rear-engined toys of any description.

 

UGLY!!! you've upset me now.

 

You clearly have never been in a Smart car . Joke all you like but they are very nice little cars. I've driven them a few times as rental cars. They're awesome little city cars and an 80mph blat up the M11 to visit my parents in Cambridge posed no probs either. Never a hint of instability or top heaviness.

Only downsides are that they do only have 2 seats and, when they first came out at least, they were very expensive for what they were.

Smart was in danger of being axed completely but Mercedes (which owns them) decided to throw then another lifeline allthough the roadster and coupe models have been chopped from the lineup.

Michael.