Detroit News article by Neal Rubin (04/08/08)

[Mr. Incredible]

An article in the Detroit News (detnews.com) 04/08/08 by Neal Rubin

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...ON03/804080396


Mark
(aka Bob_Parr)

[mismart]

Mark,
Thanks for posting this link - Neal's review was certainly more reasonable than that of his Detroit News counterpart, Scott Burgess, on Monday.

Neal called me today wanting more information to do a follow up story about the Michigan smart club, and I expressed the displeasure of all of us regarding Scott's closed minded (open your mind) comments.

I think maybe I'll invite both of them to our gathering on the 19th.

[cmjars]

Mark,

Thanx! Reminds why I bought mine and now I look for any reason or not to take it for drive.

-Chris

[jonnysan]

Now that was an unbiased article written with complete honesty. I have resigned my self to the fact that there will always be people that will try to belittle a new and different car like the smart (mostly those opposed to change) and I've found a way to deal with them. Education....it can take some time but sooner or later the naysayers will get it. AS long as I get more than twice the mileage that I got with my Taurus, this little smartie is good enough for me. Anywhere from 35-50 will make me happy anytime. I absolutely feel I could get an honest 50 on a long trip driving strictly interstates.....with no snow or ice to drive thru.....

[a2jack]

The Detroit News and Free Press are joined at the hip via a joint operating agreement, and speak with one voice... Pro big three.

I read the actual paper/ papers that these articles appeared in and had to laugh at how conflicted they were.

On the one hand they have felt duty bound to spin the anti small car message for their masters, the big 3, yet deal with the fact that Smart Corp is a Detroit business that must be handled with respect by the city newspaper.

So how did they handle it? Both articles were surrounded by very large, high quality color photos of Smart cars . One photo was at least 6x6. They had pix of the interior with the leather seats and the pods and a whole bunch of the stock photos from smartusa including the one with the woman smiling while sliding back the sun roof.

This ended up to be a big advertising boost for Smart, despite the garbage they wrote.

A2Jack

[SharonRB]

Originally Posted by mismart

Mark,
Thanks for posting this link - Neal's review was certainly more reasonable than that of his Detroit News counterpart, Scott Burgess, on Monday.

Neal called me today wanting more information to do a follow up story about the Michigan smart club, and I expressed the displeasure of all of us regarding Scott's closed minded (open your mind) comments.

I think maybe I'll invite both of them to our gathering on the 19th.

When I read this this morning, I thought it was a much fairer article than Burgess' from the other day.

I think I'll be taking delivery on the 19th (my car is in, but that's probably the first time I'll be able to set it up for), so maybe Scott and Neal can watch the delivery process if they show up for the event. ;)

[Belleveu1]

Received an e-mail from Neal last night. He said that he has a follow up article for today's paper - May 9, Wednesday. Couldn't locate it online, however.

Paul's words - I wrote a follow-up for tomorrow in which a smart owner makes exactly that point, with exactly that number. His theory is that if your primary car fulfills 90 percent of your needs, you can rent or borrow a car for the other 10 percent. Since you already have the Grand Prix, you're all set.

I made a grocery store run when I had the smart, and I also took it through a car wash. It did fine with both. It also held the road well on a rainy day, and it didn't seem unduly buffeted when I drove it alongside semis or let myself get passed by some.

Just watch out for windy days, and try to steer clear of particularly rough roads. You'll feel like you're a bobblehead doll.

Those are small things, though. You'll have fun with the car.

[Belleveu1]

Oops - don't know where Paul came from - should have read Neal

[MichaelJ]

Ya know - it is what it is.

Take it at face value and don't try to make it into something that it isn't.

I've wanted one since 9/12/2001 when I visited my first Smart dealership (in Italy). Got my call that the car was ready for pickup on Jan 18th and (finally) picked mine up on Jan 24th from Tyson's Corner here in Virginny.

Two+ months and 2K+ miles later I'm still happy with the car - it does exactly what I wanted and expected it to do.