Introducing me....

[bonedude6]

looks like it's going to be a great vehicle with the restyling on the 2009 model. I've been thinking about it myself. I too have a Passion, White with Silver and red interior coming, but mine is still about a year and 5 months off. Still plenty of time to check out the Fit...it probably is available with cruise control. I might have to make the Smart our second car.

[Scoot]

Thanks for the feedback. Our second car is currently a Prius, which amazes me in gas mileage. Our third car is a Ford Ranger which I would really like to get rid of. I do think the Smart is cool. I do think the Fit is practical. And I do think that MB reliability really sucks these days but I don't know that the Smart is that closely linked to other MB products. I still don't know what I'll be doing.

[yuckmoon]

Originally Posted by Scoot

Hi -

I'm Scott. I reserved a Passion in white, silver Trident thing, and red interior. It's due for arrival on August 17. I have mixed feelings about it -- mileage isn't what I think it should be, warranty is crap, and my experience with Mercedes Benz products in the past several years has been less than positive. On the other hand, it gets better mileage than any other gas-only car, it's small and cool, and I like it. So I don't know what's going to happen on August 17... will I buy it or walk away... I want it but I wonder if a Honda Fit would be a better way to spend the money.... Thoughts?

thanks
Scott

I went and checked out the FIT. I looked SO cheap inside. It just looked very poorly put together and the material wasn't as nice. It doesn't get as good of gas mileage. Honestly, If you weren't going to get the smart I would go with a yaris. Good mileage, nice shape, much nicer interior.

[ronstaug]

there's an added bonus to owning a new Smart Car that I didn't plan on. I have a Red/Black trim Passion, got it exactly a month ago. Every female from early 20's to middle age foxes with lots of plastic surgery constantly asking questions about it. Mostly: how many MPG, how much, where can I get one, will you buy me a drink, are you married, etc, etc. A Prius doesn't offer those benefits.

[Scoot]

Well I went to the dealer on Sunday and drove my car around. Took it on the freeway, drove around in a parking lot, did enough to know that while I like it, I don't like it enough to justify it. Regarding the other people who chimed in on this, I appreciate your comments. Regarding a couple of the comments --
1. I don't _want_ people to come up to me in a parking lot and ask me questions
2. I _DO_ want to look forward to getting to my car in a parking lot, which a Smart would provide. (It's about me, not what other think about me)
3. If I did like other people asking me about it, I would like it a lot more if I could say it got 60 mpg than 40 mpg.
4. The red interior -- it wasn't red enough. I know that sounds stupid, but with a white exterior I was expecting a red interior, and it's more of a red/rust color
5. It felt kind of like a go-kart on the freeway (steering)
6. The babe-magnet factor -- I don't care, I'm a happily coupled gay man
6a. You would assume that a SmartCar is a guy magnet for gay guys -- it probably is, but I don't have any data on this.
7. I think the Yaris is cute too. But I think the Fit is cute. Both of them offer practical solutions that are less cute but probably much more cost effective.

Bottom line: my priority for "cute" lost out on the test drive. I am REALLY glad I said I wanted to go on the freeway -- it wasn't in the salesman's plan.

Oh, plus a couple of other things that made me say "wait"... The salesman talked about future Smart products including one that shuts off when you stop and possible electrics. If that happens, I would rather have one of those than the current model. Also, I would wonder about the residual value after the Smart has had a couple of years in the states and the newness factor wears off (like it wore off with the mini).

Best wishes too all of you, I smile everytime I see one on the road and I hope to see more of them (and other smaller cars) in the future.

Scott

[letsgoskatepool]

I don't get how the warranty sucks, my experience with it was more than excellent. Good luck with your honda.

[Scoot]

Originally Posted by letsgoskatepool

I don't get how the warranty sucks, my experience with it was more than excellent. Good luck with your honda.

The warranty sucks in that 2 years / 24,000 miles is the shortest warranty of any car sold in the United States. Add that to the fairly dreadful reliability that Mercedes Benz has demostrated over the past 10 years and it seems like a big vote of non-confidence on the part of the manufacturer.

I'm actually not getting a Honda yet either. Going to wait until I either need to buy a car or something captures my heart enough to make it worth it for me...

A slightly better Smart, a mini-Prius,... who knows.

best wishes
Scott

[briantbe]

My wife and I took delivery of our Passion on March 31st from the MB dealer in San Francisco. From the moment we drove it off the lot and down Market Street, right through Haight-Ashbury and over to Golden Gate Park, many people would honk and wave and still do to this day. Some of those folks included a few somewhat bored-looking MB salesman at the dealers place. Passion envy, perhaps?

Joyce and I have given many tours of the car, including having a doctor drive it around the parking lot of a clinic. I think all the owners are the best advertising Smart could hope for. We even made up a specification and information sheet so we could point out the differences between ours and Honda, Toyota and anybody else. We've had a Subaru Forester for the last 8 years and are going to sell it next week because we enjoy driving the Smart so much.
I operated a small trucking company and drive my own rig. Came back last week after 4000 miles around some western states. Parked my Peterbilt and jumped in the Smart and felt just fine. What a deal.

[Orphan-Beggar]

Originally Posted by Scoot

Well I went to the dealer on Sunday and drove my car around. Took it on the freeway

Bottom line: my priority for "cute" lost out on the test drive. I am REALLY glad I said I wanted to go on the freeway -- it wasn't in the salesman's plan.

Freeway test drives should be a must-
it obviously resulted in an orphan in this case

[chieftmc]

Originally Posted by briantbe

My wife and I took delivery of our Passion on March 31st from the MB dealer in San Francisco. From the moment we drove it off the lot and down Market Street, right through Haight-Ashbury and over to Golden Gate Park, many people would honk and wave and still do to this day. Some of those folks included a few somewhat bored-looking MB salesman at the dealers place. Passion envy, perhaps?

Joyce and I have given many tours of the car, including having a doctor drive it around the parking lot of a clinic. I think all the owners are the best advertising Smart could hope for. We even made up a specification and information sheet so we could point out the differences between ours and Honda, Toyota and anybody else. We've had a Subaru Forester for the last 8 years and are going to sell it next week because we enjoy driving the Smart so much.
I operated a small trucking company and drive my own rig. Came back last week after 4000 miles around some western states. Parked my Peterbilt and jumped in the Smart and felt just fine. What a deal.

You can get "handouts" nicely done up from your dealer for free !