major problems w/smart w/in 1st yr. HELP

[chieftmc]

Isn't it great how "someone" expresses an "opinion" (and we ALL know what opinions are like ) on the Internet and it becomes FACT !!!

[gstreetcomic]

Mine was made in 6/08 and i been lucky, well except for he notorious cltuchplate issue that is buzzing around the forum. As far as the ac thing, id pursue that fast. I have a Pure myslef and been very pleased overall with the car.

Originally Posted by NCC1701

16 months and approaching 18K miles for me. I live 300 miles from a service center and, so far, have had no issue worthy of a visit to them (other than 10K scheduled). My car has a build date of 6/08.

Since you mentioned your Neon ... I had an early production run Neon. Purchased 3/25/1994, I drove it for 14 years. If I hadn't neglected maintenance in the last years of its life it would probably still be alive today. Yes, a DODGE NEON. Got my money's worth out of that one.

[churpee]

Sorry to hear about your problems -all i can say at 18 months and 17000 miles is i have had zero problems or compaints about the car-hope this does not jinks me-try to keep the faith and hope that the service issue are corrected--good luck

[jetfuel]

Originally Posted by short93106

I am taking it in this wed. to see why the rotors are warped

..when you said " to see why"...is this a diagnostic done by a dealer/local shop/SAE mechanic or Bubba down the street?
...when you are traveling down the road at about 30mph does it tend to pull side to side with the steering wheel following the sway?... and when you hit the brakes from a high rate of speed does it bounce up/down like riding a wild horse?.....................just curious


jetfuel...let's troubleshoot this one..

[short93106]

Originally Posted by jetfuel

..when you said " to see why"...is this a diagnostic done by a dealer/local shop/SAE mechanic or Bubba down the street?
...when you are traveling down the road at about 30mph does it tend to pull side to side with the steering wheel following the sway?... and when you hit the brakes from a high rate of speed does it bounce up/down like riding a wild horse?.....................just curious


jetfuel...let's troubleshoot this one..

Thanks for the response. Yup braking at high rates of speed makes it do the bouncy dance. It doesn't seem to sway any direction at this point ( I don't have power steering so it always seems to stay straight and stiff to me). It does love to squeal and squeak every time the wheel makes a full rotation. The slower I go the louder it is. And while driving it only makes the noise when I am coasting. which I have learned from past car experiences is the dead giveaway of a warping rotor.

[fortow]

Originally Posted by John_H

...fortow:
You say "They need to stop thinking that this is a small luxury car and get back to decent basics" then counter "It should just 'feel' right and perform 'right'." If they try to make the manual work like an automatic, it's deviating more and more from "decent basics," increasing complexity, hence reducing reliability.

I was not inconsistent in those comments. They relate to the marketing attempt to make people believe it had an automatic transmission. I even had to correct a service writer's mistaken impression that the transmission was an automatic.
There are many small and inexpensive cars that do have good performing auto transmissions - and they are not luxury cars. Feeling right, and performing right have nothing to do with luxury.

Also, I am not suggesting that they try to make the manual work like an automatic. That's where they have gone wrong now. Small cars do have good automatics. The space limitations in the smart may preclude using a standard type auto transmission, but may not as well. This particular single single clutch automated manual with the programming it has just does not work very well. There are automated manuals that do work well. Of course they are more costly but smart does not have to use them. There are also other options.
By the way, increasing complexity does not have to equate with reducing reliability.

[Georgieslovak]

Too bad you are having a slew of issues with your first Smart. Mine is a /05 diesel and other than service.....I've driven 128,890 k's with nary a problem.