Smart fortwo is a real car with real-car faults - San Mateo Daily Journal 12/28/2007

[Carnut]

Thanks Steve. So it does!

[2009Aveo5]

Originally Posted by 08-4-2

I'm not sure I understand your $30K scenario. The Smart looks like it would come in under $20K, tax and license out the door, for a Cabrio with every option.

That's in theory if you go through the registration process. A Cabrio base model with only dealer warranty and lojack sold for more than $20k at the White Plains dealer without tax and license. Some dealers are telling you it's a 3, 4, 6, 9 and some as much as 12 month wait to get that $20k loaded Cabrio order directly from Smart before dealers start adding their fabric protection and other costly items you don't want. So 30K for a fully loaded cabrio after taxes is more like it for the buyer who doesn't want to wait forever and ebay means dealing with financing and tradein problems. It's too expensive to buy one right now. I'm thinking about getting a aveo5 in May then getting a smart for the 2009 model year and hoping they fix some of the voiced concerns.

[august8pm]

Originally Posted by spdickey

http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articl...w.php?id=85195
It gets worse.

Ann Job is a car columnist with dwindling syndication and an idiot.

Anyone who cites the cost of a car (or anything) in pre-tax earnings clearly has another agenda entirely. Unless every review she writes does the same (and I assure you it does not), she's not even good at hiding it either.

[randyzimmer]

"I and my passenger had good views out..."
This "award-winning journalist" would have given my English teacher a stroke... had she survived me.

[Karl Roth]

Originally Posted by 2009Aveo5

That's in theory if you go through the registration process. A Cabrio base model with only dealer warranty and lojack sold for more than $20k at the White Plains dealer without tax and license. Some dealers are telling you it's a 3, 4, 6, 9 and some as much as 12 month wait to get that $20k loaded Cabrio order directly from Smart before dealers start adding their fabric protection and other costly items you don't want. So 30K for a fully loaded cabrio after taxes is more like it for the buyer who doesn't want to wait forever and ebay means dealing with financing and tradein problems. It's too expensive to buy one right now. I'm thinking about getting a aveo5 in May then getting a smart for the 2009 model year and hoping they fix some of the voiced concerns.

enjoy............................................. .........................................

[Westfield 11]

$18,700 total cost for a cabrio with every option is what I paid. It really isn't accurate to factor in a person's finance charges and sales tax since that varies from state to state and person to person.

Also why mention the cost of an orphan when doing a comparison? The most innovative part of the "smart experience" is the sales model: ordering like a Dell computer. No haggle pricing, and no slicks in polyester suits trying to steal your money! If you are in a hurry you WILL pay more, so what? People act like they have a God-given right to buy anything they want right now. Well, get over it, this is a new way of doing business, one that actually rewards those who plan ahead and who are willing to wait to save some money.
If it helps, just think of the list price as being $8k higher than sticker with a discount for those who wait, at least they are allowing the consumer to make the extra profit and not the dealer!

When a newer model becomes available, we intend to 1st order online, and then sell our old smarts when the new ones arrive, 8 or 9 months later. It ain't instant gratification but you still get what you want. It just depends on how badly you want one now vs how much you want to save money. YOU now have a choice that you didn't have before when the dealer just added on "additional dealer profit".