Monday 2nd September 2002

Smart Roadster

Coupe/Roadster thing hits the streets in April

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[Bodo]

[plotloss]

They're bloody at it again.

Bastard offspring of Z8 and Alpine A610.

Matt.

[CarZee]

cool

best thing to come out of MCC by a long way..

[CarZee]

quote:Bastard offspring of Z8 and Alpine A610.

I reckon the side profile looks like 1/3 Elise, 1/3 Anony-Euro-box (Saab 9-3 doorhandles) and 1/3 New Megane.. though the rear 3/4 view reminds me of an old Honda CRX.

Can't really complain about it being dull looking though, eh?

>> Edited by CarZee on Monday 2nd September 13:57

[smifffy]

Here you go Aidan, you're looking for a new motor.

[jeremyc]

quote:Here you go Aidan, you're looking for a new motor.

Congratulations on managing the technological complexities of the name change ap_smith, errrr... Smithy.

[mattc]

Looks (potentially) great to me. We need a successor to the Midget/X19 etc i.e. affordable lightweight roadsters.
And it's mid-engined with a turbo - wot more do you want?

(Of course, it might look dreadful in the flesh, and the ESP may be permanently on, and.... )

[smifffy]

quote:
Congratulations on managing the technological complexities of the name change ap_smith, errrr... Smithy.

Aha, Ithangya.

It appears "smiffy" was a hidden member, hence the difficulty in getting the name change through. Bah!

ap_smith just reminded me of my mother... "GET BACK HERE NOW AP SMITH"... eeeh when I were a lad....

[CarZee]

quote:Here you go Aidan, you're looking for a new motor.

yes, having sold, rather than rolled, my last one

[Bodo]

quote:
And it's mid-engined with a turbo - wot more do you want?

They're running on three cylinders only - as standard!!!

[smifffy]

'Tis a thing to be quietly proud of, but not so much that you'd want to do it again

At least the Impreza saw plenty of track action rather than doing the shopping run to Sainsbury's old chap

[JSG]

quote:

quote:Here you go Aidan, you're looking for a new motor.

yes, having sold, rather than rolled, my last one

Meeeoooow - :saucerofmilksmiley:

[Fatboy]

I hope they don't put the Smart's god awful gearbox in it! Could be a winner otherwise...

[mondeoman]

All it needs is a V8........

[stevenrt]

hey it looks great - same weight as the elise, mid engine also but probably a lower CoG since the Smart engine is more compact. with the turbo you could get some good torque too - very nice pacakge, some real innovation for once from the car world

[viperman]

smart cars:

[hertsbiker]

I own a smart. Not sure I'd ever buy another !
Nuff said?!
Maybe if it knocked out 150bhp. Until then, stuff that cruddy gearbox. It may handle good though, which could save the day. If you like that sort of thing. Personally I'd sooner have the power, and no traction control. Strange? yeah, I'm a biker.
C

[Stephen White]

Looks like a fantastic idea. Just what we need - a cheap, genuinely small, lightweight, mid-engined, economical 'daily driver'. It could get a whole new generation of drivers into the virtues of driving with finesse.

[andytk]

I think its great. A long time ago I posted a thread about such a car. I read in Auto Car or summat that it should retail for about 11 Grand. Probably cheaper if you buy it on the Continent. It would make an ideal first car for guys like me who want a little roadster/town car but can't stump up for a new Elise and still want to buy new. I'm sure that it won't be long before the engine has kits available to turn the boost up.....

Of course I still fully intend to get a motorbike for real driving thrills. But it'd be handy to have a car as a runaround. And this will make a great little runaround.


Andy

[jamesc]

When you look at these close up; why pay small fortunes for other stuff. The Coupe is actually very good! Better than a Kitcar clone. Anyway most people round hear are talking about the new Tamora Coupe.

James