Squirting through traffic is effortless in the Smart, but it cannot be argued that merging onto a freeway moving at 70+ mph without either a long, clear, or downhill on-ramp can be a challenge...the Smart is a slow car, especially without some momentum.
I agree that learning how to drive the automated manual transmission is a must. My lil' blue does quite well accelerating, especially with my new Breathless sport exhaust. Brings back memories of my old 1970's VW bug.
What are they talking about with trouble getting on the highway? I get in just fine in ATLANTA home of some of the worst drivers in the country (of course we have all those imports from NY, NJ, Mass., and other places to contend with). Heck I even passed someone getting on the highway yesterday (2 lane on ramp).
I have never had a problem getting on any interstate in the tampabay area ,and I can stay up with the best of them in my smart,my MPG is only getting better ,I drove from the east coast to the west coast last week,averaging 52 on the highway at 65 with the A/C on
Squirting through traffic is effortless in the Smart, but it cannot be argued that merging onto a freeway moving at 70+ mph without either a long, clear, or downhill on-ramp can be a challenge...the Smart is a slow car, especially without some momentum.
When I lack momentum, I make it up with my lead foot....
Man, what is up with all this "hail Mary - merging onto the freeway" poop. It took me all of one time to realize that that was complete bunk, who's driving our cars during the review? But enough negative - add the cost factor and how damn attractive and fun we are - WE'RE #1 BABY! :woohoo
I'm not complaining...I knew what I was buying and I'm happy with the car...in fact very happy with how well it cruises at 80mph+. However, the car is slow to accelerate up to those speeds, whether entering the freeway or getting back up to those speeds after getting around a slow moving Prius (and there are many here in CA).
Not sure where some of you live, but along with slow Priuses, in CA we have traffic signals on freeway on-ramps. The Smart has a 1/4 mile trap speed of 70mph (on a good day). The distance between an on-ramp signal and 70mph traffic is about 1/8 mile. There can definitely a pucker factor.
The Smart also takes 12 seconds to accelerate from 50-70mph (per C&D). That is an eternity if for some reason you are forced to lose momentum in one of the faster lanes moving around slower obstacles at 70mph+.
The 71hp Smart is a slow car, period. With its 13 second 0-60 time, it would have been considered a slow car 25 years ago; those that think otherwise are living in the clouds. Again, I'm not complaining...just stating facts. There is a reason why they build a turbo version (even though it is not available here)...
The Smart also takes 12 seconds to accelerate from 50-70mph (per C&D). That is an eternity if for some reason you are forced to lose momentum in one of the faster lanes moving around slower obstacles at 70mph+.
Yes, that is also taken in top gear. If you need to jump 50-70 quickly, there is a kickdown function which will significantly improve this.
Perhaps it is the fact that I drove buses for 5 years while in college, but no one should be worried about a 12.8 second (best I have seen so far) 0-60 time. I've had many a time where I had to merge into traffic at 35 MPH, and I had no choice in the matter nor could I gain speed quickly at all with something like a Detroit 6V92 shoving me around. It might require a bit more planning ahead than some vehicles, but it's no big deal.
A Prius with a fully charged battery hits 60 at full whack in 10.6 seconds. A Hyundai Accent sedan with auto is 11.1 seconds 0-60. A Hummer H3 I-5 is 11.4 secs 0-60, an Aveo is 10.8 0-60, a Saturn VUE with the VTi tranmission is around 11.4 secs... we're kind of splitting hairs here on the 0-60 times... there are plenty of cars on the road that aren't that far off from the smart.
60 mph in 14 sec, that also being the 1/4-mile time and speed, is the performance of the 1962 Volvo P544 I used to have, and it felt fun to drive too. That had 1800cc, 90 hp, weighed ~2200 lbs. The deal is, you have to use revs to get the most out of it.
That doesn't necessarily ruin fuel mileage. Planning ahead and minimal use of brakes helps. Alternating accelerator-brake, accelerator-brake ruins it. I got 42.6 mpg from Redding CA to Bend OR, and the first part of that involved some very heavy throttle and running 3rd gear at 75mph up steep slopes.
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