smart cars (1 Viewer)

[darklord]

I know beggar all about these things, but have seen a lot of them at a similar price to a motor scooter which i was considering buying........ALL info or views on these cars welcome to enlighten me.

 

[JJ]

Only rented one for a few days but I loved it... also, at six foot four, I found it really easy to get in and out of...:thumb:

JJ :Cool:

 

[slobadoberbob]

We are on our second one

Our first Smart was the MK7 4-2 with 6 speed triptronic gearbox with all the extras, like power steering, 4 airbags etc., and had a 899cc turbo engine... fantastic.. had it 7 years.. why did we sell it:Blush:

The new one we have had for 2 years and is the newer shape.. this one has the soft electric roof (Cabrio) .. the better model is the Passion.. the basic model is the Pure. One great thing about the newer model is that you have a hood to get to the lights when they need changing.. the older version costs a lot of money to have the whole front taken off to do a bulb change... Merc price £97.00 .. the new version is only 5 speed and has a 1,000cc engine and is very much a car type car... the older MK 7 was more fun in my mind and faster.. cheap road tax in the UK £35 and over 60 mpg.

Lots of room even for my ample bulk.

Once you have had one you will wonder why you have not bothered before.

Bob:thumb:

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[darklord]

Well you are convincing me, against a scooter, they appear to be dryer, less accident prone, and probably more "Mrs DL friendly", plus i wont have to take a bike test.

 

[656]

I have a 52 reg 4-2 Passion - top spec, with 58k on the clock. Starts 1st time and does 60 plus on a run and about 45 around town. Cost about £20 to fill up from a 1/4 full!!! It has an A Frame fitted and town without and problems behind our 'van. These 3 cylinder engines have 6 spark plugs, 3 of which are a bugger to get to, some garages don't bother changing them all just the top 3. There is no oil drain plug on earlier models so the oil has to be sucked out. The headlamp bulbs can be changed through the scuttle vents. Mine had a new windscreen fitted by Smart when I bought it and also a new A/C radiator was fitted at the same time. Glad I bought it from a dealer!!! Mine will be up for sale in a month or 2 with lots of paperwork and service history - most important, as I am thinking of selling the 'van and giving up motorhomes, so will be of no use to us. We have a 307 and Eddi would like a Clio so may buy her one and use the 307 my self.

 

[simsy56]

I had one, sold it, missed it, bought another one, love it. Comfy, economical, Smart. Don't tow on an A frame.

Craig

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[NEV3]

We have a 53 Smart 4+2 Passion Cabriolet. Excellent little car if you don't need to carry more than two people, fast too. Only £30.00 Road Fund Licence and 60+ mpg on runs.

We have towed behind motorhome on A frame for over six years now. Handles perfectly.

Only drawbacks we have come across when driving it are.

1. Very hard suspension, (not good negotiating sleeping policemen).

2. Restricted rear view on the cabriolet when reversing with the hood up. OK when it's down.

Hope this helps you in your decision making. I have yet to meet an owner of a Smart 4+2 who didn't like it.

NEV3

 

[Hayleylulu]

THEY burn well

 

[motor roamin]

Smarts are great, my two seater toad is a corvette much quicker as more fun 5.7 ltr and 20 to the gallon

All the best Rick

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[peter marshall]

Hi
We have one great little motor, been all over in it France, Spain, never hardly use my Jag local it's easier to use the Smarty. Pete :thumb::thumb::thumb:

 

[Loddy]

I had one, sold it, missed it, bought another one, love it. Comfy, economical, Smart. Don't tow on an A frame.

Craig

l

I had a 04 smart passion and towed it 10k miles with a A frame
with no problems at all

Loddy

 

[welsh winger]

I sold mine 2 months ago, the car did what it said on the tin, cheap tax, excellent on fuel, I did get fed up with the hard suspension cost me a fortune having my fillings redone.

The down side is the access to replace parts, as mentioned the headlamp bulb and spark plugs, the price of spares is on the whole reasonable, but so many silly things went wrong and each time meant half the car had to be taken apart, I suffer ill health and crawling under the car once a month was getting on my nerves

what finally made me sell it was the steering locked up, I went to turn in to our estate and solid, turned out the 2 universal joints on the steering column had seized, with no real warning before hand.

word of warning be wary of cars with over 50,000 miles on the clock, they may burn oil, this is nature of the beast and down to engine design, the middle cylinder get too hot and the rings fail, it will only get worst, the cure is a either rebuild or replace the engine at appox £900 at a smart independent specialist

All said and done I do miss the smart car, would I get another one? in short yes as a second car for towing behind the motor home, as a main car? no I like a bit more comfort these days.

a few sites to look at, I used these many time to cure the problems, as most forum there are a lot of scare merchants, but from experience theres no smoke with out fire.

to sum up get a car with a service history.

Link Removed

http://www.fq101.co.uk/

http://www.smartz.co.uk/


Nick

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[simsy56]

l

I had a 04 smart passion and towed it 10k miles with a A frame
with no problems at all

Loddy

It states in the Smart handbook, that they should not be towed wheels down at more than 30 mph, for a distance of no more than 30 miles. Your choice.

Craig

 

[welsh winger]

It states in the Smart handbook, that they should not be towed wheels down at more than 30 mph, for a distance of no more than 30 miles. Your choice.

Craig

There is a lot of confusion on this point, when I had my car I had a letter from smart stating it was OK to tow on an A frame.

Smart cars are not "true" Automatics, it has a clutch, not a toque converter which is operated by an electric solenoid, the gear changes work with a electric motor, all controlled by the the CPU instead of the driver.

So as long as the car is in neutral it is the same as any manual car

 

[FULLMOON]

I HAVE A BISCUIT TIN, LOADS OF ROOM INSIDE AND EASY TO PARK

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[olley]

Brother works on them quite often as the garage he works for were one of the first "Grey" importers. He's said before the smaller 600cc engine is worked very hard, so doesn't tend to last, they don't hold much oil, so when they start to burn it, you need to keep an eagle eye on the level. Another mech at the same garage has a nice little sideline, buying them of ebay with knacked engines, recon's them and resell's them at a nice profit.

Ian

 

[slobadoberbob]

100% right - read the hand book

It states in the Smart handbook, that they should not be towed wheels down at more than 30 mph, for a distance of no more than 30 miles. Your choice.

Craig

Yes Craig you are 100% right... not designed to be towed. I have had two and would never think of usin g one as a toad. In fact I have a full size four wheel trailer which I use behind my RV.. I tned to take my Hyundai Matrix on it (Like this weekend to Malvern) if I wanted I could just as easy load the Smart.. but as it is clear in the hand book and talking to Mercedes it is a no no..

Bob

 

[slobadoberbob]

yes they do especially as a toad

THEY burn well

100% right.. especially if used as a toad...

Bob:Blush:

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[olley]

Yes Craig you are 100% right... not designed to be towed. I have had two and would never think of usin g one as a toad. In fact I have a full size four wheel trailer which I use behind my RV.. I tned to take my Hyundai Matrix on it (Like this weekend to Malvern) if I wanted I could just as easy load the Smart.. but as it is clear in the hand book and talking to Mercedes it is a no no..

Bob

Smarts must be one of the most popular cars for "A" framing, with loads on the road, Pete on another site has dragged his all over Europe, and you rarely hear of any problems as long as its connected properly. So I would guess the manual is just covering Merc's bum.

As, has already been said its a manual gearbox that's been robotised, manual gearbox's don't have oil pumps, they rely on splash lubrication so it doesn't matter whether its the wheels which are turning it or the engine.

Ian

 

[Larrynwin]

Wouldn't buy one , only 2 seats unless you get the smart for 4. We have a Peugeot 107, 62mpg, 4 seats and still room for the shopping . A great toad :thumb:

 

[johnson]

Have two of them - sold the BMW Z4 - 'nuf said

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[Reallyretired]

Absolutely fine as a toad, as long as you ensure you are in neutral. I trashed the gearbox and clutch on mine by towing it not in neutral. It was an expensive repair. However it is probably the most popular toad and you see them on A frames all over the place.

I now tow a Matiz because we found the Smart a bit small, with two people and a dog there wasn't room for much else such as shopping.

 

[darklord]

Well, we are definatley going to get one, we will be going to a local dealer on sat, and hopefully trading in the wifes Focus. I,m nudging toward a new one, but might accept a dealer 2nd hand one.....tis the warranty i want. Mrs DL will use it as her daily drive (20 miles a day) and then we can stick it on a trailer when we hop off. We willl be looking at diesel/auto, thanks for all the advice.

 

[Squadron Leader]

I started off with a Honda C90 on a scooter rack and took it on a weeks holiday in Dorset. Covered over two hundred miles on it but, boy was it slow. So then bought a 125 twist and go Scooter which was really good, but when we went to the Ludlow food festival this year, every time we left the site to go into town or back to the site - it rained on us so I though to my self 'there's gotta be a better way to do this so I bought a little Smart Convertible.

It is a revelation :thumb: I tow it behind the Hymer on a Brian James Bantam trailer which only takes a few minutes to load/unload and voila..! the perfect car for nipping into town/shops or touring around the region. Just last weekend during the heatwave I was enjoying Ledbury with the roof down. They are great little cars and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one.

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[Jaws]

I love smarties.. had em all and currently got the latest version..

But

I still reckon the best ones were the Mk7 ( 2004 to 2006/7 ) Passions with all the extra's.
Truth be told I wish I still had my one and not th eone I currently have

 

[jhorsf]

They are great little cars BUT if you need to do some jobs on it yourself it is a bit like trying to change the toilet roll in the upstairs bathroom through the front door letterbox whilst standing outside

 

[alcaeus]

We decided on a Toyota IQ, same approx dimensions except a bit wider, nice a light, seats about 3.25 people!

Toad on a 4 wheel 11 trailer, its an auto so no choice about A-Framing, but the trailer is easy to use etc. I'll post some photos one day. Decided against the next size up car (the Peugot 107 ala the Citreon C1 aka the Toyto Aygo) and the Fiat 500 as we really don't need more than 2 seats.

No regrets

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[Paul T]

Smart car towing

Dont know if this helps at all regarding the problems relating to the smart and towing but, if you leave the key in the ignition after finding neutral for towing, even with out switching on, the oil pump starts to run. Unfortunateley...this is what causes burn out to either the gearbox or the pump! Some people have left the key in place thinking there is a steering lock , so by leaving the key in situ, they believe the steering lock to be off and safe for towing.Unfortunateley the oil cannot get around the gearbox until the engine is running, hence ...premature failure.
Suggestion..Test for neutral with the key in place before you tow. (Look for the N to pop up) Then remove the key from the ignition. This prevents the oil pump/gearbox from running dry. Hitch up and off you go.:thumb:
Regards Paul T