Would I regret swapping a 350Z for a Smart Roadster Brabus?
Discussion
As above really.
I absolutely adore the 350Z, but there's no denying its a right thirsty bugger. Less thirsty car = more hoonage.
I know it wont be as quick, but I've driven a regular poverty spec smart and they feel a hell of a lot faster than they are, and thats just a 60 bhp version.
I also loved the noise. Almost as good as the 350Z in its own way (which is the best sounding car I've ever owned).
Are they reliable? How fun to drive? Would I regret it?
Money isn't really that much of a problem by the way I can afford to run the 350Z, but if something can give me more hours behind the wheel its not a bad thing.
Only thing is with the 350Z is it encourages you to drive everywhere at license losing speeds.
I absolutely adore the 350Z, but there's no denying its a right thirsty bugger. Less thirsty car = more hoonage.
I know it wont be as quick, but I've driven a regular poverty spec smart and they feel a hell of a lot faster than they are, and thats just a 60 bhp version.
I also loved the noise. Almost as good as the 350Z in its own way (which is the best sounding car I've ever owned).
Are they reliable? How fun to drive? Would I regret it?
Money isn't really that much of a problem by the way I can afford to run the 350Z, but if something can give me more hours behind the wheel its not a bad thing.
Only thing is with the 350Z is it encourages you to drive everywhere at license losing speeds.
I did something very similar a few years ago and replaced a mk1 Skoda Octavia vRs for a normal Smart Roadster.
It last 6 months before being chopped in.
Things to consider:
1) The EPAS is fine in a Smart ForTwo, in the roadster it's lacking in any feel.
2) It will break, most likely it will leak, the AC pipes will break (drop engine fix) and/or the SAM unit will get fried by water.
3) It doesn't *feel* like it is doing uber miles to the gallon.
The last issue for me was the biggest, according to the trip computer it was doing 45mpg, in reality that was a little lower, but it was still doing circa 50% more to the gallon than the vRS. However, the tank is just pitiful and I felt like I was living in petrol stations, weekly to ten day fill ups for the vRS had become every 5 days, to a week if you *really* stretched it.
I'd loved it to pieces, and it is a great car. But I got naffed off with filling it up all the time and found myself wondering if I'd be going outside to a swimming pool everytime it rained!
I'd have another, but it would be a toy. And I'd be looking to bin the EPAS, fit some stronger brakes and take some weight out, the seats are just stupidly heavy.
It last 6 months before being chopped in.
Things to consider:
1) The EPAS is fine in a Smart ForTwo, in the roadster it's lacking in any feel.
2) It will break, most likely it will leak, the AC pipes will break (drop engine fix) and/or the SAM unit will get fried by water.
3) It doesn't *feel* like it is doing uber miles to the gallon.
The last issue for me was the biggest, according to the trip computer it was doing 45mpg, in reality that was a little lower, but it was still doing circa 50% more to the gallon than the vRS. However, the tank is just pitiful and I felt like I was living in petrol stations, weekly to ten day fill ups for the vRS had become every 5 days, to a week if you *really* stretched it.
I'd loved it to pieces, and it is a great car. But I got naffed off with filling it up all the time and found myself wondering if I'd be going outside to a swimming pool everytime it rained!
I'd have another, but it would be a toy. And I'd be looking to bin the EPAS, fit some stronger brakes and take some weight out, the seats are just stupidly heavy.
TameRacingDriver said:
I've had 2 MX5s mate. Don't want another unless its seriously turbocharged (yes I know power aint everything, but I would like it to be shockingly quick if I had another).
I think if you give an MX5 one of the turbo kits and drive on boost a lot as intended, you will be travelling at similarly licence losing speeds and hard pressed to see any fuel saving over the 350z - at least that's my experience of turbocharged performance cars!Mastodon2 said:
I think if you give an MX5 one of the turbo kits and drive on boost a lot as intended, you will be travelling at similarly licence losing speeds and hard pressed to see any fuel saving over the 350z - at least that's my experience of turbocharged performance cars!
Yeah you're probably right, and having owned a couple of MX5s, the noise the 350Z makes is not just in another league, its in an entirely different universe.TameRacingDriver said:
Mastodon2 said:
I think if you give an MX5 one of the turbo kits and drive on boost a lot as intended, you will be travelling at similarly licence losing speeds and hard pressed to see any fuel saving over the 350z - at least that's my experience of turbocharged performance cars!
Yeah you're probably right, and having owned a couple of MX5s, the noise the 350Z makes is not just in another league, its in an entirely different universe.
(from someone who has had several!)
The brabus has clutch issues an engine life of approximately 60000 before needing a rebuild wheels which buckle, leaks leaks and more leaks, dodgy electrical problems, springs that snap, terrible build quality plus interior plastics which are worse quality than tic tac boxes.
Broken air con pipes plus if you need to change the plugs you have to take the rear of the car off.
Also it only supposed to run on super unleaded and the main dealers don't have a clue how to repair them.
Keep you old car also the car tax on the roadster is not that cheap.
I would get around 40mpg out of mine, I didn't really have any real problems with mine, but everyone else who owned one I knew did.
But mine was garaged so it never got to see rain or winter and was only used weekends during the summer.
Broken air con pipes plus if you need to change the plugs you have to take the rear of the car off.
Also it only supposed to run on super unleaded and the main dealers don't have a clue how to repair them.
Keep you old car also the car tax on the roadster is not that cheap.
I would get around 40mpg out of mine, I didn't really have any real problems with mine, but everyone else who owned one I knew did.
But mine was garaged so it never got to see rain or winter and was only used weekends during the summer.
I have a Roadster, it's now a second car but spent almost 30k miles as my only car. I love mine but everything above is true, both good and bad!
- engine and transmission reliability has been perfect, despite being remapped from 80ps to 109ps.
- the rest of the package has been pretty flaky. Mine is one of the worst I know, but even shopping carefully you'll be lucky to get one without at least one of the common faults such as leaks or air con pipes
- The driving experience is not "pure" like a Lotus, MR2 or MX5 as it has electric or assisted everything, but it's still somehow very absorbing as you learn to use it properly. The gearbox will never be perfect, but it is an enjoyable challenge. Maybe I'm weird but I'm on the side of those who say DSG perfection sucks the soul out of a car... For me it's much more interesting to drive than the usual suspects.
- The handling is actually very good. The grip is almost too high, but the balance and feedback is good despite the slowish steering.
- The key thing I love is that it begs to be driven FLAT OUT everywhere, but without getting too far into license losing territory or even pissing off other road users like it would in an obvious fast car. Everything works together when you push it, even the gearbox does not seem the issue it is when trying to drive smoothly at low speed. This is a key thing for me, I used to have Imprezas and felt constrained all the time because using the performance was not compatible with daily driving. The Smart suits my heavy footed style and I still get over 40mpg.
I'm finding it hard to replace now I've bonded with it. And this from someone whose daily driver is a 4.6 V8
By the way, only the earliest left hand drive cars were 60ps. A standard car is 80ps and a Brabus is 101ps. Standard cars will happily run maps up to 110ps on stock internals, Brabus up to 120ps.
- engine and transmission reliability has been perfect, despite being remapped from 80ps to 109ps.
- the rest of the package has been pretty flaky. Mine is one of the worst I know, but even shopping carefully you'll be lucky to get one without at least one of the common faults such as leaks or air con pipes
- The driving experience is not "pure" like a Lotus, MR2 or MX5 as it has electric or assisted everything, but it's still somehow very absorbing as you learn to use it properly. The gearbox will never be perfect, but it is an enjoyable challenge. Maybe I'm weird but I'm on the side of those who say DSG perfection sucks the soul out of a car... For me it's much more interesting to drive than the usual suspects.
- The handling is actually very good. The grip is almost too high, but the balance and feedback is good despite the slowish steering.
- The key thing I love is that it begs to be driven FLAT OUT everywhere, but without getting too far into license losing territory or even pissing off other road users like it would in an obvious fast car. Everything works together when you push it, even the gearbox does not seem the issue it is when trying to drive smoothly at low speed. This is a key thing for me, I used to have Imprezas and felt constrained all the time because using the performance was not compatible with daily driving. The Smart suits my heavy footed style and I still get over 40mpg.
I'm finding it hard to replace now I've bonded with it. And this from someone whose daily driver is a 4.6 V8
By the way, only the earliest left hand drive cars were 60ps. A standard car is 80ps and a Brabus is 101ps. Standard cars will happily run maps up to 110ps on stock internals, Brabus up to 120ps.
I owned a Smart Roadster Coupe for a couple of years. I quite liked it and didn't have any reliability issues with it.
I got up to 59mpg driving very steadily in France but generally got about 48mpg. The 'handling' seemed secure and the thing seemed over tyred - so grip was fantastic but feedback was a little numb. It was fun to drive at pace (still within the law) though....
Everyone moans about the gearchange (it does slow the 0-60 down considerably) but it became an art to get the changes slick. Once in gear the acclereation is reasonable.
I found the interior was a little plasticky - but seemed resilient. I didn't experience any leaks and consequent issue with the SAM unit. I never used MB to service and used specialists who seemed to know their stuff and were enthusiastic. Just check it has been serviced correctly as the rear three sparkplugs do require the rear end to be removed and I suspect some would not bother!
Mine had a lot of 'gadgets', heated seats, auto wipers, auto headlights, aircon, electric everything but it all stood up to time and abuse. I sold eventually after about 20,000 miles (due to a medical issue rather than getting fed up), and would probably buy again if I didn't have kids.
HTH
Mike
I got up to 59mpg driving very steadily in France but generally got about 48mpg. The 'handling' seemed secure and the thing seemed over tyred - so grip was fantastic but feedback was a little numb. It was fun to drive at pace (still within the law) though....
Everyone moans about the gearchange (it does slow the 0-60 down considerably) but it became an art to get the changes slick. Once in gear the acclereation is reasonable.
I found the interior was a little plasticky - but seemed resilient. I didn't experience any leaks and consequent issue with the SAM unit. I never used MB to service and used specialists who seemed to know their stuff and were enthusiastic. Just check it has been serviced correctly as the rear three sparkplugs do require the rear end to be removed and I suspect some would not bother!
Mine had a lot of 'gadgets', heated seats, auto wipers, auto headlights, aircon, electric everything but it all stood up to time and abuse. I sold eventually after about 20,000 miles (due to a medical issue rather than getting fed up), and would probably buy again if I didn't have kids.
HTH
Mike
Vince70 said:
The brabus has clutch issues an engine life of approximately 60000 before needing a rebuild wheels which buckle, leaks leaks and more leaks, dodgy electrical problems, springs that snap, terrible build quality plus interior plastics which are worse quality than tic tac boxes.
Broken air con pipes plus if you need to change the plugs you have to take the rear of the car off.
Also it only supposed to run on super unleaded and the main dealers don't have a clue how to repair them.
Keep you old car also the car tax on the roadster is not that cheap.
I would get around 40mpg out of mine, I didn't really have any real problems with mine, but everyone else who owned one I knew did.
But mine was garaged so it never got to see rain or winter and was only used weekends during the summer.
Just to correct one point, the 60k rebuild issue was confined to the 600cc/60ps Roadster and early for2's, this simply isn't a problem with 700cc engined cars, which includes all right hand drive Roadsters.Broken air con pipes plus if you need to change the plugs you have to take the rear of the car off.
Also it only supposed to run on super unleaded and the main dealers don't have a clue how to repair them.
Keep you old car also the car tax on the roadster is not that cheap.
I would get around 40mpg out of mine, I didn't really have any real problems with mine, but everyone else who owned one I knew did.
But mine was garaged so it never got to see rain or winter and was only used weekends during the summer.
Taking bodywork off to change plugs is a non-issue too, it's a simple job and it's not for every service. The aircon pipe problem is now fixed by Smart redesigning the pipe so there is a long term solution available.
I'll concede that main dealers are pants though and that leaks are the big issue. You have to asses car-by-car. Mine used to leak, it was fixed straight after I got it in 2008 and has not leaked since.
I've had a Smart Roadster and currently have an MX5. There's no comparison.
Everyone complains about the Smart's gearbox - which is a genuine problem. But let's not forget how slow the steering rack is. It's not a sports car by any stretch of the imagination. What it is, is a simple repackaging of the city car's subassemblies.
It's just not a viable proposition.
Everyone complains about the Smart's gearbox - which is a genuine problem. But let's not forget how slow the steering rack is. It's not a sports car by any stretch of the imagination. What it is, is a simple repackaging of the city car's subassemblies.
It's just not a viable proposition.
daemon said:
TameRacingDriver said:
My first one was supercharged for a while. It sounded better but still not a patch on the Zed.
Surely if you're considering going from a 350z to a Smart Roadster, then neither speed nor purity of engine noise come into it?Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff