RE: Smart Roadster: Tell Me I'm Wrong
Discussion
hondansx said:
it's just that it is for a lady about town, not a track day hero.
A few years back several Roadsters had a great time at Cadwell Park in pouring November rain, its more than capable on track as it carries far more speed through the corners. I've been back to Cadwell in mine a few times and shown more powerful cars up. Granted things might be different at Silverstone, but for a cheap and fun track-able car, there ain't much better out there.No.
Horrid, horrid, horrid. Dull and lifeless steering, and a gearbox that makes you want to get out and beat it with a branch. Hateful in manual, unpredictable in auto. Its slower than a slow thing.
It looks like its made out of bits of other cars.
The interior is okay.
You're wrong, Dan.
Horrid, horrid, horrid. Dull and lifeless steering, and a gearbox that makes you want to get out and beat it with a branch. Hateful in manual, unpredictable in auto. Its slower than a slow thing.
It looks like its made out of bits of other cars.
The interior is okay.
You're wrong, Dan.
GregE240 said:
No.
Horrid, horrid, horrid. Dull and lifeless steering, and a gearbox that makes you want to get out and beat it with a branch. Hateful in manual, unpredictable in auto. Its slower than a slow thing.
It looks like its made out of bits of other cars.
The interior is okay.
You're wrong, Dan.
Err... have you driven one?Horrid, horrid, horrid. Dull and lifeless steering, and a gearbox that makes you want to get out and beat it with a branch. Hateful in manual, unpredictable in auto. Its slower than a slow thing.
It looks like its made out of bits of other cars.
The interior is okay.
You're wrong, Dan.
Amirhussain said:
'Styling still looks fresh a decade on'. Have to disagree with that, ugly when they came out and IMO ugly now.
They are awful looking things. The coupe shape is nice in silhouette but looks pretty grim in the light. The interior is dreadful too. It's a strange car because the concept is excellent, but the execution is lacking, it's like they couldn't quite get away from Smart's history of building naff city cars with this one.137699 said:
GregE240 said:
No.
Horrid, horrid, horrid. Dull and lifeless steering, and a gearbox that makes you want to get out and beat it with a branch. Hateful in manual, unpredictable in auto. Its slower than a slow thing.
It looks like its made out of bits of other cars.
The interior is okay.
You're wrong, Dan.
Err... have you driven one?Horrid, horrid, horrid. Dull and lifeless steering, and a gearbox that makes you want to get out and beat it with a branch. Hateful in manual, unpredictable in auto. Its slower than a slow thing.
It looks like its made out of bits of other cars.
The interior is okay.
You're wrong, Dan.
Why the hell would I make comments on a car I've not driven?
300bhp/ton said:
I love mine :- )
Will have had it 4 years in Feb. It's my daily driver for circa 80 miles a day. It lives 24/7 outside. On the way to work this morning it ticked over the 100,000 mark. And when I filled it up yesterday it worked out at 53.4mpg.
If there is a better more livable every day sports car I don't know of it.
And I love the gearbox, it's one of the best features of the car along with the noise the 3 pot makes. Handles well and always puts a smile on your face and has pretty good luggage space.
It's a crap town car though and the gearbox doesn't not work well in town traffic. It's at home hammering down B roads and back lanes.
I didn't realise "that" was 300bhp/ton Will have had it 4 years in Feb. It's my daily driver for circa 80 miles a day. It lives 24/7 outside. On the way to work this morning it ticked over the 100,000 mark. And when I filled it up yesterday it worked out at 53.4mpg.
If there is a better more livable every day sports car I don't know of it.
And I love the gearbox, it's one of the best features of the car along with the noise the 3 pot makes. Handles well and always puts a smile on your face and has pretty good luggage space.
It's a crap town car though and the gearbox doesn't not work well in town traffic. It's at home hammering down B roads and back lanes.
redroadster said:
My smart roadster is moving slowly to completion fitted with cooper s supercharged engine,we have fitted mini dash, all wired up working, suspension is taking time up now will be on road in 2014 been quite a job but will be worth it i think !
Pics? That sounds cool. What are you doing for gearbox and steering?GregE240 said:
Yes, I have. I drove one around Edinburgh in about December 2009. It belonged to a PM colleague of mine. Have you driven one?
Why the hell would I make comments on a car I've not driven?
Well there seem to be plenty of people on here who have not but seem to declare themselves experts on the engine, steering & gearbox.Why the hell would I make comments on a car I've not driven?
I'm in the 'missed opportunity' camp with these too...
I sat in one at the Motorshow and really wanted one but I waited until they were released and the gearbox was just horrible
everyone who has owned one, who I know, really rates it. My buddy rates it as more fun than the Cayman he replaced it with.
I do wonder (although it's underpowered) whether the 3-pot, manual engine/ 'box combo of the C1, 107, Aygo would work in this car?
That could be an interesting project and the bike engined ones appear to fly!
I sat in one at the Motorshow and really wanted one but I waited until they were released and the gearbox was just horrible
everyone who has owned one, who I know, really rates it. My buddy rates it as more fun than the Cayman he replaced it with.
I do wonder (although it's underpowered) whether the 3-pot, manual engine/ 'box combo of the C1, 107, Aygo would work in this car?
That could be an interesting project and the bike engined ones appear to fly!
Root Ginger said:
I purchased a Smart for my wife and we both drove it regularly for three years and I drove a Smart Roadster for a while. That's how I know the Smart Pulse was the only model with the extended overboost initally, the top spec Passion did not have this. The roadster then had the same extended overboost in all models (Pure, Pulse and Passion). It was widely reported in the motoring press that the Roadster was not a sales success and why it was pulled. The numbers it sold were a small fraction compared to the City Coupé. For example in 2001 46,000 Smart City Coupés were sold in Germany alone.
Sports cars generally sell less. Take a look at GT86 vs Yaris, or Z4 vs 3 Series.Do you know if there was a UK allocation too? Basically if you can only get hold of 'x' number of cars, then you really can't sell more. I'm sure Jeep will tell you the Wrangler Rubicon didn't sell in the UK, but what they won't tell you is only 19 cars where allocated to the UK, all sold some 6-10 months in advance. But still 19 cars is a low total number.
NOT wrong, but RIGHT !
This car is massively ahead of its time. They fumbled it a bit with the dodgy detailing and crude gearbox, but the basic principle was very, very, sound indeed.
They should have stuck with it. Something like this with an EV would be definitely a car of our times ( sadly ) .
This car is massively ahead of its time. They fumbled it a bit with the dodgy detailing and crude gearbox, but the basic principle was very, very, sound indeed.
They should have stuck with it. Something like this with an EV would be definitely a car of our times ( sadly ) .
137699 said:
Oh and it's not that they didn't sell well... problem was they sold TOO well. And Merc made a loss on every one they sold. Hence why it was killed off so early. The longer they kept selling them, the more money they were haemorrhaging.
Don't forget all those warranty claims too. I bet they're still SMARTing from that (every pun intended). 
Didn't it come bottom in somebody's survey of UK-available cars reliability at the time?
I almost bought one way back when. I loved it on test drive and wangled an extended test. It was novel, and at the time IMHO unique and interesting.
But ultimately, it was made of s
t, and the auto box was dog-pap. I couldn't get past the scooter engine either, which although impressice for its size, should have been fitted to a mobility scooter instead.
I bought an MX-5 instead, and I never looked back.
But ultimately, it was made of s
t, and the auto box was dog-pap. I couldn't get past the scooter engine either, which although impressice for its size, should have been fitted to a mobility scooter instead.I bought an MX-5 instead, and I never looked back.
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