Anyone here know squat about the Mercedes Smart car?
'08~'12 years.
They run a Mitsubishi motor, 1.0 L 3-cylinder.
Don't be taking my man card away yet... hear me out.

Back story:
When they first showed up, they didn't. Oh, they were talked about but never hit the shores. Seems by the time they had enough to be for sale it was almost four years late and was being bypassed by other, newer small cars.

Now there are plenty to be found in all configurations. At good prices, too.

I've never driven one but I've heard they've got room in there for 13 clowns.
My neighbor has a 2012. I've talked with her and asked almost every question I could think of.
Her insurance went down from her old Nissan she had. MPG is 34~35 in town and 40 on the road. Freeways it rides solid.
Yes, it's only a two seater but I was surprised at the amount of room there was behind the seats.

I've always ignored them but a couple of weeks ago I saw one take off from a corner. Different exhaust sounded excellent w/o being obnoxious. Along with other things they changed on the car.

Now let's compare this to a motorcycle.
Both only have seating for two.
Both get close to the same mileage.
Smart car is warm and dry in the winter or anytime around here.
No special clothing needed to drive the car.
Can haul groceries in the car.

Opinions?

It seems everytime I see one it looks like the person driving it is "wearing" it. You'll have to gain some weight

Hate to get in an accident in one.

I used to say that too but when I checked it out a little closer, their safety rating is better than most.

I would agree to Rick's points when compared to a Motorcycle as far as Safety. I will stick to full size Cars myself though.

There's something about the tiny two-seaters that doesn't appeal to me... Reminds me of Portland, Oregon for some reason. Probably irrational on my part.
I love the idea of 45-50 MPG which I used to get in older VW diesels. My first was a 1978 VW Rabbit that I paid $800 for... Not sure what made me buy that, but that was most excellent for my long commute. I regularly got high 40s MPG, and occasionally low 50s. The front wheel drive got me out of two scrapes caused by other cars on icy roads, and the lightness of the vehicle made it pretty nimble when going off road on my tree farm.

The Balrog's presence makes this an easy decision though.
No two-seaters in our immediate future.

Every car and consumer magazine thinks Smart cars are junk. They are not reliable and fall apart. Plus they are borderline unsafe between the lousy handling and lack of any crumple zone protection. I wouldn’t take one if it were free. Also their mileage actually sucks.


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If you lived downtown and only had to go maybe 20 miles a day and not have to make a Costco run they are a good idea. My 08 Ford Focus can do 30-40 mpg on the highway depending on conditions and costs the same 15,000 new when the smart cars came out and I got two more doors and a trunk to put groceries in. Reliability? I put 200000 on it from the lot and the worst thing that I had to pay for was the thermostat going out. Besides oil changes and tires that has been my least expensive car to maintain. It rattles a little now, the plastic is a little loose on the inside, but the air conditioner still works and it still runs. I wasn’t a Ford fan until I bought that thing and took a chance, I might have to get another Ford after this one finally dies.

Having worked on the Smarts, my opinion is such that between it and road bike, I'd still take the bike. They engines are somewhat a pain to service, and get incredibly dirty due to the location. There is no spare tire or jack. You get a can of fix-a-flat instead. The front to rear tire sizes are different, so tire rotations to extend tread life is out. Driving about town is alright, however freeway driving is a bit of a experience. The have a narrow wheel base, so tend to wander in the lane due to semi-ruts, which have caused DUI pull overs fro a couple of my customers. Now as far as accident survival, sure, they do well against like size and weight objects such as a shopping trolly, but against anything else, you'll loose. Parts can, depending on your locale, be a pain to source, and the cost can be unattractive. The on-board control system is Mercedes propriety, so any electrical issues with the engine/transmission controller can get real expensive. The lot I was at, we sold them for a short while as they were cheap to buy, but soon found they were not cheap to repair, and the re-sale profit just wasn't there.

+1

You can get 40-45 MPG from a 1.5 liter Honda/Toyota/Scion and lots more room for cheaper.

My 1.8 Corolla gets 40+MPG, but worse of course if there is a lot of city driving.

Yes, there is an aspect of safety that comes from design. The other aspect is physics.

The safety tests are usually running into a static barrier of some sort, and the results there are a function of design. But when you are in a head-on with a 1-ton pickup, physics of momentum and kinetic energy come into play. In that situation, the Smart driver Will likely have their lunch eaten.

Which is why I drive a 1-ton pickup.

.

What wizardry allows them to only get 40mpg with a 1.0L engine in a 1,500lb car? I would have expected 50+

The kids mom had a 79 VW diesel rabbit.
Thing vibrated so hard cassettes would rattle out of the stereo.
Was a hard ride, gutless, but it did get over 50 MPG and handled great in the snow.
Kinda wish we kept it just for parking downtown Seattle.

Special POS programming.