No Cruise. No adj. wheel. No armrest...

[rawlus®]

there are fewer anf fewer places on american roads where traffic is light enough to accommodate cruise control IMHO. on the east coast anyway. armrest, be nice if it had one, i'm not bummed that it doesn't. if i decide i really need one, the aftermarket is likely to produce a much better armrest than any OEM one could be.
adjustable wheel would be nice, but not expected at the price point.
for me anyway.

[bob_in_europe]

Originally Posted by Jeepster55

DING, DING, DING.....we HAVE a WINNAH!!! i would imagine that unless one is traveling on the 'Autobahn', there's not much need for Cruise Control in most Europeon cities, with their crowded, narrow streets and so many bicycles.

Cruise Control is probably just an American or German thing.....and since these are made in Francais, as the 'Soup Nazi' might say: NO CRUISE FOR YOU!

Regardless of where the car is produced, the features on the car are tailored to the wants/needs of the market and the customers as to provide the best value (selling proposition) to the customer at the greatest marginal profit to the VM (vehicle manufacturer).

As an Yank living in Switzerland for the last 10 years (incidentially working for the company which produces the steering column for the ForTwo), and as the driver of a 2004 W450 Brabus ForTwo coupe (with factory cruise), I can say that with the perponderance of low speed limits 50, 60, 80 km/hr (30, 35, 48 mph), I wouldn't have bought my car without the factory cruise.

Frankly, lack of optional factory cruise in the W451 is a mystery to me (esp since it was available in both the W450 an the W452 Roadster, nd the basic system must have already been homologated in the US for M-B vehicles), and is rather a barrier to my thinking about buying the new W451 model ! Esp when one considers the extra, unusual, and desireable feature of the M-B cruise system ... besides the cruise doing the normal holding the set-speed thing, it is possible to set (in 5kph increments) a maximum speed; one can cruise thru town and not exceed the speed limit (except on "kick-down" and then only for safety reasons) ... tickets over here are exceedingly expensive... So hopefully, the lack of a factory cruise/speed-limiter system (which i see as a deficiency) will be remedied in the near future. In the meantime, there are a number of competent suppliers making retro-fit kits which provide the same functionality (look to other threads for more detail on the topic.)

Lack of column adjust was a decision by smart, since they thought that few owners would find value in a feature that adds weight and cost and reduces fuel econ. Simple as it may be, it is a relatively high-tech column made by the same manufacturer, and in the same european plant, and with the same production and quality standards, by which we produce columns for a variety of VM's and their market and segment leading european vehicles.

[MichaelJ]

Originally Posted by Smart Frank

..and no adjustable seat height?

It does adjust in height - just not separately from the forward/back position.

As far as cruise - this beast is intended for an urban environment - not much use there.

Armrest? Anything large enough to be useful would intrude pretty badly into the passenger's area - the seats almost overlap.

[Flashman]

Originally Posted by Broken Kid

I agree with bottlerocket too...I got used to the stereo controls on the steering wheel, and it does seem a reach sometimes that takes my attention off the road. But that's by not means a necessity, just another luxury. I have to stop wanting to change channels in heavy traffic.

One of the "plus" features in my 2004 Mazdaspeed MX-5 is they pulled out the original steering wheel with radio/cruise buttons and replaced it with a proper racing style steering wheel with NO buttons. :-)

My wife's Mazda 3 has all those steering wheel buttons. I use the cruise, but never the stereo ones.

[curtis]

I like no armrest, I seem to always break them...even my dog busted one once when he jumped to my back seat..The first thing he did when I got him in my Smart was hope to the back so if I had an armrest it could have been broke on day 1. I think my dog was a little baffled when he got to the backseat and realized it wasn't there!

[2micro4u]

Originally Posted by Smart Frank

..and no adjustable seat height? Seems to be fairly common in most cars today. Curious as to why these items would have been left off. The lack of a cruise control option and an armrest seems a little surprising to me. I hope this is corrected for 2009...

To keep cost as low as possible to produce. It is possible to make it but the value and price of the vehicle would be alot more expensive. Since its the 1st year for SMART they wanted to bring it to us the lowest cost possible to see whats best to market to the US demand.
Im sure for 09 or 2010 they will add it if the demand is there.

[bottlerocket]

Originally Posted by Flashman

One of the "plus" features in my 2004 Mazdaspeed MX-5 is they pulled out the original steering wheel with radio/cruise buttons and replaced it with a proper racing style steering wheel with NO buttons. :-)

My wife's Mazda 3 has all those steering wheel buttons. I use the cruise, but never the stereo ones.

See, it just depends on who you ask! ;)

[dbwill]

Now here's a nit for you. My wife 5'4" and I 5'11" both drive the car. for convenience we would like a memory system that remembers seat and mirror positions, but this is an inexpensive city car so that's the way it's going to be

[Alan_Hepburn]

When we go on the highways for a trip with our smart, the cruise control works perfectly - the system we use is built by Blue Ox and connects the smart quite solidly to the back of the motorhome, and the cruise control in the motorhome works to keep the whole system running down the road at the set speed...

[Smartfor2guy]

All the above stuff could be added to the new Smart Fortwo. Just dont be surprised when they are $20000.00 instead of a reasonable Passion at $13500