North Star

I was just curious to see some opinions of people that drive Smart Cars on s2ki. I seem to see little by little (no pun intended), more and more Smart Cars on the roads of Southern Cali.

So are they just novalty items, or are they in fact a good alternative?

txjeepn

I have driven one, had a deposit on one for my wife. And I thankfully was able to talke her into something else. For what you get its over priced and yes a novelty.I talked her into a 1 year old miata for the same price. And she got ALOT more for the money.

Chris S

Seems like they might be a good city-only car if parking is an issue - esp. if you're allowed to park sideways. They don't get that impressive economy, so otherwise, why not get a Fit?

North Star

That is basically along the lines of my thinking as well. When I saw that the MPG was pretty much the same as some normal cars, I couldn't really understand the reasoning for purchasing one.

Although I did see that there are some folks out there, dropping Hayabusa and GSXR1000 motors into these little cars! If they came that way from the factory, I'm sure it would be a seller for some!

North Star

Like this little guy for example. I wouldn't mind pushing this thing around as a DD. Old article, but was the first thing that came to mind...



Let me introduce, Peter Bee. Peter is a sensible English fellow who took a liking to the Smart Car as soon as it was introduced, so he bought one. He found the car so much to his liking that he kept on buying them, great second car, nice for running errands, quick scoots around town, all very sensible. Problem is, Pete spends his days around MHP, makers of high performance exhaust systems. When you constantly see high performance vehicles of various sorts and drive a Smart, you soon get the urge to tweak it a bit and Peter did just that. He managed to get the engine up to around 100hp which isn

dombey

seems like the only time the size would come in handy for me, in real life, would be in situations where all the parking within 10 blocks is metered. So being small really doesn't help in the least.

Fit FTW

vader1

I am really surprised as well that the fuel economy is not MUCH better. Its smaller than my brothers 1991 CRX hf that got much better milage 17 years ago.

Someone here at work just bought one and the wife's company has one. I have seen several on the road. I am surprised to say I have seen 4 times as many Smarts as I have seen G8's on the road.

I did see one four door Smart down in Cabo San Lucas. My wife and I both thought it looked pretty neat.

FishermanIvan

Yeah, we get the diesels up here in Canada, so the economy is pretty good.

That said, they're tiny. You can't go shopping or golfing in one, so there's no point. And you sure as hell can't fit a hockey bag in the trunk.

Ted H

Did I miss them releasing a 4-Door? I checked the cars out awhile ago, and only saw the 2-Door and the Cab... I too was unimpressed with the MPGs.

cdelena

My neighbor borrowed one for the weekend and quickly decided he could not use it on a regular basis. A stop for a simple item at Home Depot was aborted because it would not fit in the car and his wife said it was too small for shopping at Costco.

Looks to me that there are more practical high mileage vehicles.