Soon to be 4-2 Passion owner

[The Rigger]

Originally Posted by TMACK

1. The horn. What were the engineers of this well-designed car THINKING?? First on the list is to replace that "Little Miss Sunshine" stock horn.

Two words: Stebel "Nautilus." 139dB at 4", 110dB at 4', dual-tone ear-cannon. It's a bit of a squeeze getting it in to the stock horn location - it's quite, err, large - but you *WILL* be heard by Oscar Grope in his Deathmobile. It'll be the best $40 you spent on safety gear. Lots of us here have that horn in our fortwos.

Originally Posted by TMACK

2. Cruise control. This class car really can benefit with the MPA or the 451. That's number two on the list.

Ayup... Cruise control was #1 on my list; I had it before I even took possession of my Cabrio. Both are well-executed systems, both, by all reports, are fairly painless to install.

Originally Posted by TMACK

who really needs to know the ambient temperature?

Well, me for one... Or anyone who normally puts a heap-o-miles on the car in winter. It's nice to have a bit of a "heads-up" for icy conditions.

Originally Posted by TMACK

3. The "rev counter" and analog clock. Why did Smart place those two expensive options in such a manner? A portion of my view is blocked with that position. Number three list is to figure out how to squeeze them closer and lateral.

You'll possibly have to replace the center radio/climate control bezel (easily removed), as it's notched for the stock mounting brackets in their present position. Shouldn't be too much of a chore to do it, but you'll definitely want to be sure they're solidly mounted wherever you wind up putting them. You won't want 'em breaking away in a collision and flying around the passenger compartment...

Originally Posted by TMACK

4. My co-workers are morons.

Yeah, there's a lot of that going around. Welcome to the club.

Originally Posted by TMACK

And, now I am loath to admit: I took the Passion to 85 mph on an isolated stretch of Rt. 66 for about 10 seconds, (yes, I know: That was reckless, provocative and juvinile, but I just had to know), and it performed just fine.

As long as you take it e-a-s-y with the Loud Pedal for the first 1,000-1,200 miles until the engine's broken in, no harm done. Resist the impulse to push the gas through the floorboards; smoooooooooooooooth is the key here. High speed in and of itself won't hurt too much, but since you have the dash tachometer, you'll want to keep the RPMs down in the lower half of the gauge range until the hamsters inside the motor are all acclimated and cheerful in their new home. Assuming you have the shifter paddles, it's good practice shifting, too - make it a challenge to see how smoooooooooth you can shift the car. You can do it with the floor stick, but it's easy-peasy with the flappy paddles...

As everyone else has said, welcome to the forums. The learning curve here is sometimes more of a learning *cliff*, but it just keeps getting more and more fun.