Should I buy a Smart Car?

Should I buy a Smart Car?

Author
Discussion

KFC

Original Poster:

3,687 posts

129 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all
I've been thinking today about buying a Smart Car and wondered what anyone thought. I've never driven one, or even been inside it.

Background - I live in Portugal, in a small fishing village. My current cars are completely unsuitable. I'm getting various complaints re noise about the decatted Gallardo. Its not helped by the fact I live in the city centre, and all of that is a one way system. And its narrow streets with tall buildings on each... almost like being permanently in a tunnel. Sometimes I might need to even lap it twice to find a parking space so its the same poor people in the same apartments getting the brunt of the noise every time laugh

Outside of annoyance of other people, parking is becoming a major issue, I'm always struggling to find somewhere I'm comfortable parking it. And as we get into the summer and more and more tourists arrive this is only getting worse.

I have a Cayenne GTS as well but its equally impractical. No noise issues but it suffers from the parking ones... st parking from other people often means there is a 'free' space but because they've went over the lines I can't fit in it. At least it was (relatively) cheap so I don't need to be quite so precious about where I park it, if it'll fit. Its been damaged a few times though, minor parking scrapes when I've not been there.

I live here on my own, but my family come out regularly. So basically I need a car for two purposes. The first is for me to potter around town in that will be simple to park and I don't need to care about it being damaged. The 2nd is to allow family trips - when they're all out, including myself there is 4 adults, 2 kids and a baby so the Cayenne is 2 seats short. I have an SLK too but my ex uses it - it would be a bit unfair to recall it and leave her carless for a few weeks at a time laugh

So, I don't actually need anything more than a 2 seater here and a Smart Car would obviously be the simplest thing parking wise. I don't need to go to work so mileage in it is going to be extremely low - I seriously doubt it'll even do 30 miles a week.

Should I buy a Smart Car ? Or just buy some random old turd of a car like a Clio, Focus etc?

There is one downside I can see to buying a 2 seater - when my ex has her mother/sister over to visit, she is the only one who can drive. So if I buy a Smart Car it means the Cayenne going out on loan and she's a st driver. If I buy a Focus or whatever I can give it to her to use without a care what happens to it.

Here is my choices as far as Smart Cars goes - http://faro.olx.pt/nf/carros-cat-378/smart+fortwo/...

So, what do you ?

Fattyfat

3,301 posts

195 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all
A Smart doesn't do anything any better than a 1.2 Clio or suchlike IMHO.

juliethotel

255 posts

148 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all
You could buy a smart car, or you could not throw your dignity down the drain and buy something admirable! wink

Also, I don't think any guy should use the phrase 'just to potter about town'

Just saying smile


steveo3002

10,494 posts

173 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all
they dont sound amazingly reliable vs a focus

Impasse

15,099 posts

240 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all
Isn't the default suggestion not the MX5 but the Suzuki Swift Sport in these types of situations?

loafer123

15,404 posts

214 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all

The answer is to buy a classic.

Much smaller, everyone loves you, much cooler.

KFC

Original Poster:

3,687 posts

129 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all
Fattyfat said:
A Smart doesn't do anything any better than a 1.2 Clio or suchlike IMHO.
I'll need to do some research on how they compare price wise to Clios, Focus and so on - I'm not really looking to spend much money here.

juliethotel said:
You could buy a smart car, or you could not throw your dignity down the drain and buy something admirable! wink

Also, I don't think any guy should use the phrase 'just to potter about town'

Just saying smile
Something admiral like what exactly? I'm open to suggestions laugh But in all seriousness I'm not looking for performance or fun - I can get that in the Gallardo. And I'm not looking for the ability to travel 200km in comfort, or carry 4 passengers and 3 suitcases - I can get that in the Cayenne. This really will be seen as 'white goods' and something to do A to B with no other real considerations.

steveo3002 said:
they dont sound amazingly reliable vs a focus
Mm, I wasn't aware of that. I guess then the question is is the poor reliability a fair trade off to have the ability to fit into smaller parking spaces?

KFC

Original Poster:

3,687 posts

129 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all
loafer123 said:
The answer is to buy a classic.

Much smaller, everyone loves you, much cooler.
I've never had any real interest in classic cars to be honest and don't know the first thing about them. With my limited budget here (say £5k) I don't think that would get me anything that would change my mind at this point?


Impasse said:
Isn't the default suggestion not the MX5 but the Suzuki Swift Sport in these types of situations?
I'm not paying more for the 'Sport' version of anything - this is A to B only... I'd rather have a newer poverty spec of a model than an older bigger engine one...

Axionknight

8,505 posts

134 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all
Impasse said:
Isn't the default suggestion not the MX5 but the Suzuki Swift Sport in these types of situations?
Should be IMO, my girlfriend had one and it was a great little car, pokey and revvy enough and handled well, it was a proper B road hoot, couldn't get enough of it on a quiet/early Saturday morning blast to the shops.

Cheap to run and reliable too, like anyone cares about that sort of thing.

loafer123

15,404 posts

214 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all
KFC said:
loafer123 said:
The answer is to buy a classic.

Much smaller, everyone loves you, much cooler.
I've never had any real interest in classic cars to be honest and don't know the first thing about them. With my limited budget here (say £5k) I don't think that would get me anything that would change my mind at this point?


[quote]

Perhaps you should reallocate some budget from cars you don't drive to those you can...

Eagerbeaver

386 posts

198 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all
Why don't you hire one for a few days.

You will find a lof of negativity from the kind of car enthusiasts that sneer at anything which isn't a fashion badge and those who expect something that Smart isn't.

It has it's good points but it doesn't do much better than other small cars, some stuff arguably not as well but it is good at being tiny.

I've only ever had them as cheap hire cars to zip me around cities and small villages. For a village, I'd probably go for a Renault Twizzy.

Back home, I've almost looked for an excuse to own one as I've found Smarts to be quiet at low speeds, the later gearboxes are entertaining to learn how to use and they are just altogether nice things. That is as long as the roads are smooth as they don't do potholes well.

As I say, hire one for a week and you'll either love if or hate it.

KFC

Original Poster:

3,687 posts

129 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all
Axionknight said:
Should be IMO, my girlfriend had one and it was a great little car, pokey and revvy enough and handled well, it was a proper B road hoot, couldn't get enough of it on a quiet/early Saturday morning blast to the shops.
It might be fun.... but do you really think if I was going on a Sunday morning run I'm going to choose that over the Lambo ? laugh This new car will have pretty much zero chance of ever going over 30mph - if I'm going out of town I'll take one of the others. So paying more for 'performance' anything would be a complete waste of money.

loafer123 said:
Perhaps you should reallocate some budget from cars you don't drive to those you can...
I need a big jeep type car - I've got a dog cage in the back and it folds flat for when I need to pick people up at the airport and fill it with cases etc. I enjoy owning a Lambo. So there isn't any way to free up any budget there really. Trading in the Merc would piss the ex off unnecessarily and I have a financial interest in keeping her happy so thats a no go also.

I suppose I could come up with more money - off the top of your head what would £5k or £10k get me in a classic car? The other issue there is cars just aren't that popular here - you'll probably suggest something and there will be none of them for sale here.

Edited by KFC on Saturday 3rd May 21:24

RegMolehusband

3,959 posts

256 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all
My partner had one until recently against my advice. It wandered terribly on main roads and motorways and the auto gear change is laughable to dangerous.

Then a BMW hit her from behind. The lack of crumple zone resulted in a huge bruise the diameter of a football on her back and nasty whiplash. The car, worth £6000, was written off due to damage tothe engine and gearbox. Awful things IMHO.

Big Fat Fatty

3,303 posts

155 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all
I'm not going to read any of the OP but I don't need to to know the answer is no.

KFC

Original Poster:

3,687 posts

129 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all
Big Fat Fatty said:
I'm not going to read any of the OP but I don't need to to know the answer is no.
Thanks very much for that valuable input redcard

RegMolehusband said:
My partner had one until recently against my advice. It wandered terribly on main roads and motorways and the auto gear change is laughable to dangerous.

Then a BMW hit her from behind. The lack of crumple zone resulted in a huge bruise the diameter of a football on her back and nasty whiplash. The car, worth £6000, was written off due to damage tothe engine and gearbox. Awful things IMHO.
The car would never see motorways or be in a position to be in a high speed crash - how did you/she find it around city centres?

Eagerbeaver said:
Why don't you hire one for a few days.

You will find a lof of negativity from the kind of car enthusiasts that sneer at anything which isn't a fashion badge and those who expect something that Smart isn't.

It has it's good points but it doesn't do much better than other small cars, some stuff arguably not as well but it is good at being tiny.

I've only ever had them as cheap hire cars to zip me around cities and small villages. For a village, I'd probably go for a Renault Twizzy.

Back home, I've almost looked for an excuse to own one as I've found Smarts to be quiet at low speeds, the later gearboxes are entertaining to learn how to use and they are just altogether nice things. That is as long as the roads are smooth as they don't do potholes well.

As I say, hire one for a week and you'll either love if or hate it.
Thanks, I'd love to hire one for a few days but I don't have a credit card so I can't use any of the big rental agencies. And none of the little independent places that I can use, have them in stock.

Those Twizy things look great - but I'm in an apartment with no place to charge it so any sort of electric vehicle is ruled out unfortunately. I'd have loved one of those though!

Axionknight

8,505 posts

134 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all
KFC said:
It might be fun.... but do you really think if I was going on a Sunday morning run I'm going to choose that over the Lambo ? laugh This new car will have pretty much zero chance of ever going over 30mph - if I'm going out of town I'll take one of the others. So paying more for 'performance' anything would be a complete waste of money.
Think of paying for not looking like a tt, then.

loafer123

15,404 posts

214 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all
http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/search-classic...

Plenty of local interest...the racing Mini classic looks good.

KFC

Original Poster:

3,687 posts

129 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all
loafer123 said:
http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/search-classic...

Plenty of local interest...the racing Mini classic looks good.
Thanks for the link, didn't realise there would be quite so much there. I don't think race spec and full harness seatbelts etc is a great fit for going 2 miles at 20kmh for a pint of milk though laugh

I quite look the look of that 1987 6 series BMW but at £26k its worth more than my Cayenne so it'd be completely pointless on the issue of having something cheap and not worrying about parking dings frown

Riley Blue

20,915 posts

225 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all
Get yourself a Renault 4. The one I hired in Portugal years ago was superbly suited to the local roads and was an absolute hoot to drive.

bozzy101

506 posts

138 months

Saturday 3rd May 2014
quotequote all


....just gonna leave this here.