Bought my Smartie yesterday.

[vegansmartie]

Helllllo!

I'm Cheyanne, I live in Brownsburg, Indiana... 24 year old, 3rd year law student.

Saturday I went and test drove an orphaned 2009 smart fortwo Passion.... Monday I bought it! I just couldn't believe my luck... I'd wanted one since the first time I'd seen them, although they aren't too popular here which doesn't bother me because they are somewhat of a rarity.

Anyways, it only had 6,490 miles and it's in excellent condition. Does anyone have any suggestions on things I need to check?

Nice meeting you all, hope I can learn a lot and share the love!
(I'd post a picture of my BB, but I can't post links yet!)
-C

[a2jack]

" Anyways, it only had 6,490 miles and it's in excellent condition. Does anyone have any suggestions on things I need to check? "

Too late. You are already hooked.

Seriously, First, before you drive it at all, change the oil.

You didn't say if you bought it privately or through an MB dealer.

Welcome to the group and please post often. We love questions, so fire away. A2Jack

[BB Benz]

Welcome, Vegansmartie. With such low mileage, your car probably has not had the latest update to the transmission software. It is an update that eliminates the problems that some folks have where the transmission does not want to go into reverse. It does have other improvements as to shift points and improves drive-ability. It is simply a software update. I had no reverse problem, but I did enjoy the improvement. Some dealers do it for free, some charge up to $150 for the download. It will make it drive like a 2012.
There are different control units that can be polled for codes in their memories, such as the a.c. controller. it won't show up as a check engine light, but stores a code just the same. I had an intermittent issue with the a.c. and a code was stored that called for the a.c. controller to be replaced, luckily under warranty. A number of those have had problems. So, you might want to take it to the dealer and have the control units, all of them checked for codes of things that might need to be replaced or checked for further issues. It might not be a bad idea to have the anti-freeze bled of air in the top of the engine, and the anti-freeze topped up. You could have an air bubble that will cause overheating that will not show up anywhere and pinging is the result. It was not figured out by two different techs. I was told by one advisor it was bad gas. NOT!
Love the car, having figured that out. I expect you will enjoy yours if you like cars and don't mind learning what it has to give. It is quite capable once you know how to use its' resources. One tip just to save you the scare that I had: If you plan on darting through a hole in traffic, either give it plenty of gas, or shift into manual mode with the paddles so that YOU decide when to shift, or it may decide to shift gears in the middle of the dart and scare the crap out of the guy you darted in front of, and may just leave you sitting in a puddle. In auto mode, it doesn't tend to shift IF you have plenty of accelerator pressure applied. But, it will shift, if only light accelerator pressure is applied, whether or not it would be a good time to drop power and shift. It is completely unaware of that oncoming traffic that you can see bearing down upon you. So if you need to scoot, either give it enough gas to keep it occupied and prevent it from shifting, or use manual mode to keep power on until it is safe to pause and shift. The computer pauses the engine long enough to never miss a shift, but it may scare you shiftless.

[vegansmartie]

Originally Posted by a2jack

" Anyways, it only had 6,490 miles and it's in excellent condition. Does anyone have any suggestions on things I need to check? "

Too late. You are already hooked.

Seriously, First, before you drive it at all, change the oil.

You didn't say if you bought it privately or through an MB dealer.

Welcome to the group and please post often. We love questions, so fire away. A2Jack

I bought it through a dealer, but it was a Honda dealership, they knew absolutely nothing about it! :P but I did a lot of research and was super unbiased while I was driving it. The dealership changed the oil and checked all of the fluids on it. I am pretty comfortable with the purchase since I got an 8 year warranty with it.

Thanks for the welcome, I'll be sure to post lots!

[SkippyThorson]

Originally Posted by vegansmartie

I bought it through a dealer, but it was a Honda dealership, they knew absolutely nothing about it! :P but I did a lot of research and was super unbiased while I was driving it. The dealership changed the oil and checked all of the fluids on it. I am pretty comfortable with the purchase since I got an 8 year warranty with it.

Thanks for the welcome, I'll be sure to post lots!

Be sure that the dealership changed it with the correct oil and put the correct gas in it. The Chrysler dealership I got mine from also knew nothing about the car. They put 5W-30 Shell (non-synthetic) oil in it, and regular grade gas, which I assume meant 87. They didn't make a mistake though, they told me it took regular gas... Until I opened the fuel door.

Congrats on your Smartie purchase! Awesome find on a low-mileage car!

[jefferios]

BB Benz suggests a few updates, I recommend those. An Oil change wouldn't hurt.

Remember to Bookmark this site. A bunch of help is always available.

See you on the road!

[jwight]

to SCoA! Hope you'll consider joining other owners at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway May 23rd: 4th Annual smarts go to the Track Event

[MB DNA]

Originally Posted by vegansmartie

I bought it through a dealer, but it was a Honda dealership, they knew absolutely nothing about it! :P but I did a lot of research and was super unbiased while I was driving it. I am pretty comfortable with the purchase since I got an 8 year warranty with it.

HOLY MOLY, with an 8 year warranty some of we "gray hairs" would have to include that in our will . . .

Welcome to the SCoA Asylum, we look forward to both your smart and not-so-smart posts!

[Z06-LITE]

The dealership probably used their bulk oil which is most likely not synthetic. I would also advise a new oil change to fully synthetic oil. A lot here use Mobil 1 OW-40 and the Mobil I oil filter M1-108. Good luck with your new car and welcome from Florida!!

[mrmvolz]

Congrats!!!