Got my smart car today

[Cakemeister]

After 15 months of waiting, my smart car arrived the day before Thanksgiving. I went to pick it up today.

I haven't driven it yet. The wife and daughter are hogging it. 

The attached picture is not my car, but it shows the color scheme.

[shmokes]

There are two cars in that picture.  Which one is yours?   

[Blanka]

The front car is the car, the rear car shows the colour scheme 

[Singapura]

Nice! Whenever I am in The Netherlands I rent a Smart. Very handy, fast enough for me and not too thirsty.

[danny_galaga]

awww, so cute 

[koolmoecraig]

Sweet! Did you get it for MSRP or did they tack on some BS "market adjustment"?

They have to be making a killing on these things. It's basically unchanged from when they introduced them back in 1996(?)

Drop a Suzuki superbike motor in it and go hunting Ferraris!



Kit's only like $15,000.  It includes a whole new rear subframe for the engine and a sequential transmission.  

[danny_galaga]

Sweet! Did you get it for MSRP or did they tack on some BS "market adjustment"?

They have to be making a killing on these things. It's basically unchanged from when they introduced them back in 1996(?)

Drop a Suzuki superbike motor in it and go hunting Ferraris!



Kit's only like $15,000.  It includes a whole new rear subframe for the engine and a sequential transmission.  

that would sort of defeat the purpose of buying a smart car though...

[patrickl]

that would sort of defeat the purpose of buying a smart car though...

Lol yeah. Still it's fun. On Top Gear they had a Smart Roadster with a "V6". IIRC it was two standard Smart V3 engines stuck together so it was a biturbo too 

[ChadTower]

That first picture is like the "laid - or not laid" marketing poster.   

[Mauzy]

One of them had the plate "IM SMRT"..... I wanted to make a FAIL! pic out of it but didn't know if it was supposed to be like that.     

[ChadTower]

Cute, but those things are expensive.  :/

There's a dealership in San Antonio, so I see several on the roads now.  One of them had the plate "IM SMRT"..... I wanted to make a FAIL! pic out of it but didn't know if it was supposed to be like that.     

I would be terrified driving one of those in Texas.  It would like being a Doozer running around the floor of a train station.  Every other car on the road would be 5x the size.  And some drunk rednecks might just pick it up and throw it into their F250 while you're not looking.

[Cakemeister]

The wife wanted a convertible. I don't know of any other convertible under $20k. If she had not wanted a convertible, I probably would have gotten a Fit instead.

SUVs and trucks aren't as much a problem as crosswinds are. It was rather windy yesterday in Houston, I was a bit scared a couple of times riding the scooter. The wife said she really had to concentrate on driving in that wind when she was driving the car home.

And I got a Lojack in case the rednecks kidnap the car.

I got the car for MSRP, they didn't even add on the dealer fee or holdback or anything like that. I think the dealership makes their money on the add-ons and finance charges. I know that extended warranties are a rip-off, but I got one anyway, the full 5 years/60k mile one. Total cost for the convertible even with the ripoff warranty and the Lojack was still under 20k.

As far as the "laid or not laid" picture goes, I'm a married man, so it's definitely "not laid".

[ChadTower]

SUVs and trucks aren't as much a problem as crosswinds are.

I'm not sure the laws of physics agree here.  That thing could be made of adamantium and still lose badly when a distracted soccer mom in an Expedition decides your car is a speed bump.

[Cakemeister]

Tiny Smart car gets crash test kudos

[ChadTower]

Did you read that article?  That isn't a positive rating.  It basically paraphrases to "it is good among tiny cars, but since the crash test dummy's head hit the steering wheel through the airbag, it's too small to be safe on the highway, it has whiplash problems, the front end crumple zone is nonexistant, the door fell off on side impact, and it would not fare well against a larger vehicle..."

[Cakemeister]

Well, yeah I read the article.

The ForTwo, which is about three feet shorter and 700 pounds lighter than a Mini Cooper, earned the best possible rating of "Good" for front and side impact protection in tests by the IIHS, a private group funded by insurance companies.

In the NHTSA front crash test, the ForTwo earned the top rating of "Five Stars" for driver protection

The Smart ForTwo earned the best possible ratings in side impact tests conducted by both NHTSA and IIHS

I have to admit I'm just yanking your chain a little bit by just picking out the best bits from the article. Clearly, the laws of physics dictate that the smart will be worse off in a collision than a Suburban. But, the engineers at smart have done a good job making the car as safe as the laws of physics allow.

[ChadTower]

Some Texas redneck not paying attention hit my wife's Scion xD with his F250 at ~10mph and did $4,000 worth of damage.

 

To the car, hopefully?  Not your wife?

Cakemeister, you may also want to point out that they said that those ratings are "in its class" and then mentioned that "this is the only car in its class".   

[orion]

What the first car is yours??? Are you too cheap to spring for the Ford GT or something?

[HaRuMaN]

Should have got the Fit instead...

[koolmoecraig]

Get some super loud Italian airhorns for the thing.  They seriously will save your life time and time again.

They've easily saved me in my Miata from dozens of moronic, cell phone chatting, Beverly Hills SUV drivers.

No joke.

You can buy a triple set of airhorns from Fiamm.  They are the same ones used in 80's Ferrari's.  They have a high-pitched shriek that scares the hell out of people.

[Hoopz]

Should have got the Fit instead...

That's what I am researching now.  Not looking to purchase until next fall but the Fit is my pick for now.

[HaRuMaN]

Should have got the Fit instead...

That's what I am researching now.  Not looking to purchase until next fall but the Fit is my pick for now.

I have a 2008 and I love it.  The 09's have even more features, and get a little better gas mileage.  Currently I'm averaging 36 mpg in the city, and 40+ mpg on the highway.

[ChadTower]

Could you fit a pin in a Fit if you had to? 

[Hoopz]

You could get it in a basement.

[ChadTower]

You could get it in a basement.

Could you get it in Level42's new gameroom?

[Hoopz]

Speaking of game rooms, did Saint ever say what he was doing in his? I followed the thread for awhile but never saw a final answer.

[ChadTower]

Speaking of game rooms, did Saint ever say what he was doing in his? I followed the thread for awhile but never saw a final answer.

Last I remember he said it was postponed because of RL and never revealed what it was.

[Hoopz]

Maybe it should have been a kid sized toilet...   

[HaRuMaN]

Could you fit a pin in a Fit if you had to? 

Yes, if you take the legs off and lay down the back glass.

A Capcom Impress fits inside as well, with the hatch closed.

[ChadTower]

Yes, if you take the legs off and lay down the back glass.

A Capcom Impress fits inside as well, with the hatch closed.

Ooh, even with the head still attached?  I just assumed you'd have to remove it from hinged pins.

[HaRuMaN]

Yes, if you take the legs off and lay down the back glass.

A Capcom Impress fits inside as well, with the hatch closed.

Ooh, even with the head still attached?  I just assumed you'd have to remove it from hinged pins.

It should, by my measurements...  I didn't try it myself because I couldn't figure out how to get the head to lay down.  The cargo space (when the rear seats are folded down flat) is pretty tall.

[HaRuMaN]

 

[RayB]

They should link Smart cars with a tractor truck for easy "train style" commuting!

[ChadTower]

They should link Smart cars with a tractor truck for easy "train style" commuting!   

It might be cheaper to put them on a flatbed or conveyor belt.   

Hell give them a hanglider and let them keep taking off and landing.

[danny_galaga]

It might be cheaper to put them on a flatbed

how do you tie them down?

[ChadTower]

how do you tie them down?

You don't, you weigh them down with fat chicks.

[walls83]

lol

[ChadTower]

What?  You can't let the beer get warm.

[Cakemeister]

That would not work with my rag-top convertible. 

My Lojack was installed today. They gave me a window of 8:00 am to 12:00 pm, and they came at 8:04.

I got the Lojack purely for insurance purposes to lower the cost of the comprehensive coverage, but then when I contacted the insurance agent he said the cost of the policy would only go down by $20/year. D'oh!

There are a few things the car needs. It doesn't come with floor mats. They cost extra. There is no armrest between the seats. There's a third party mod for that. There's no place but the glove compartment to put my sunglasses. What's up with that?

[ChadTower]

Duh.  Put them in the crisper.