Consumer reports is influenced by advertising dollars and is WRONG way too often. If you are in an industry that you know factually well, see how they rate products that you know. I'm a camera repairman by trade and I have seen consumer reports rate cameras very high and soon after the companies quit selling cameras altogether in this country because of their poor quality. So take the consumer reports and use it as toilet paper.
I Had a Suzuki Samurai and it rode rougher than a 3 legged donkey. It would literally beat you to death unless you were on a perfectly smooth road. But 4 wheel drive, short wheelbase, what do you expect. It did what it was designed to do as does the smart
The actual owner's please let me know what you would rate from 1-10 (10 being best) for the bumpy rides.
Your question points out the problem of quantifying anything about the smart fortwo compared to any other car. For a car with a 73" wheelbase the ride is a 10, factor in the price and it's an 11. But compare it to a car with 97" wheelbase and the ride is a 5 if the other car is a 6. Compare it to a mid-size car with a ride rated at 8 and the smart would be a 3.
In my opinion it rides better than my scion xA, and much better than the 1984 Honda Civic I owned. But about 1/4th as nice as the 1970 BWM 2002 I owned. But these other small cars are still 4+ feet longer than the smart.
You can't easily quantify the smart and Consumer Report's opinion will be more important once they have completed 10+ additional microcar reviews.
I read the article before ordering my smart. I then went and test drove one the next day and got my hands on an orphan all within 4 days. F em in the A. I didn't buy the smart to impress some one with unrealistic expectations in a fuel efficient ride. It suits me well and I'm loving my smart.
Consumer reports is influenced by advertising dollars and is WRONG way too often. If you are in an industry that you know factually well, see how they rate products that you know. I'm a camera repairman by trade and I have seen consumer reports rate cameras very high and soon after the companies quit selling cameras altogether in this country because of their poor quality. So take the consumer reports and use it as toilet paper.
No, they aren't influenced by advertising, as they don't accept any:
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Consumer Reports does not print outside advertising, accept free product samples, or permit the commercial use of its reviews for selling products. Its publisher states that this policy allows the magazine to "maintain our independence and impartiality... [so that] CU has no agenda other than the interests of consumers."[3]
The ride is horrendous, and broken urban pavement.. I live in the BFE of Austin, TX more holes then you can believe.. Totally disagree
I would like to know the roads they tested on, what sort of Smart car they used, were did they get the car from..
The transmission shifts in an uncomfortable way; with pauses and heaves between gears... did they have it in auto or manual? I guess auto.. You have to take you foot of the gas when the car is changing gear for about a second so you get a much smooth ride not floor it
Handling is not very responsive, and it takes a lot of wheel winding to coax the car through corners... sorry I call Balls!@t on that my car sometime is too responsive and I don’t even have EPS
It’s slow, noisy engine makes you plan ahead when merging into traffic. The smart car is not slow…Its all about how you drive it, its not going to be driving Ford F150 please remember it is only three cylinder engine with an 8 gallon tank HELLO!!
The engine is not noisy; remember the car is less the 8 feet long so you will get some engine but its not noisy at all.. Somebody really hates this car
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Originally Posted by Rylaroo
My Smart Car is still on order. Look what Consumer Reports writes:
“A car like this should be fun and zippy. Sadly, the Smart is neither. The ride is horrendous, and broken urban pavement, this car’s natural habitat, pummels occupants mercilessly. The transmission shifts in an uncomfortable way, with pauses and heaves between gears. Handling is not very responsive, and it takes a lot of wheel winding to coax the car through corners. It’s slow, noisy engine makes you plan ahead when merging into traffic, although once on the highway it keeps up the pace.”
Consumer Reports (August 2008)
You who own a Smart Car, please tell me how this compares with your experiences with your Smart Car.
CR is testing and writing for the lowest common denominator. What they are looking for is the most value for the buck. Not the most value, nor the lowest price, but the best ROI (Return On Investment).
I stopped reading CR years ago as I came to the realization that I liked what I liked and CR usually panned my choices - usually either too expensive or impractical.
The Smart is what it is. Expecting anything else isn't realistic.
i agree with the earlier poster - you have to understand CR's demographic and understand that their subjective editorializing appeals to that demographic. people who follow CR reviews religiously also like to boast about their purchase, about CR's top rating. nobody reads CR and then buys the middle-rated piece of whatever. if you read CR and trust CR, you only ever consider the top-rated whatever. that's the whole point of CR - you trust them implicitly and unconditionally.
since automobiles, in this country anyway, represent a tangible expression of the owner's personality... and since individuals' connection to their vehicles are typically very passionate - it makes sense that there is either a widespread agreement with CR's POV or widespread disgust.
don't take it personally. each magazine reviews these vehicles and others in the context of who they believe to be their audience. CR is looking for super-reliable, affordable, consistent, time-tested, dare i say "boring" vehicles to award top honors.
the smart is way too much a niche player to even belong in CR but i sense that the high consumer interest and ongoing demand pretty much forced them to review it in hopes of selling more subscriptions.
on a personal note - i drive a jeep on 35" tires with a 4" suspension - so the smart drives like a sports car in comparison. i cannot relate to their criticisms of the steering, again, compared to my offroader it tracks like it's on rails. i think it's plenty zippy for anything but the 1/4 mile. as to the shifting, it's not for those who are accustomed to an auto tranny - i find the paddle shifters as smooth as glass and the D mode quirky but passable in situations where manual shifting would be a repetitive hassle (stop&go traffic for instance).
it would be interesting to see what kind of comments journalists would make if they were not permitted to see the specs and details on the vehicle before they tested it. i get the sense that reading the specs and especially the performance specs, you go in expecting a a slow car or a poor fuel economy and then go about a course of action to validate those assumptions.
alot has been made about the 12+ second 0-60 times. honestly, i think the car is rather sporty, especially in the 0-35 area. 0-60 times are somewhat overrated as i don't know very many people or places where one can accelerate at WOT for distance outside of a controlled track setting. i bet most people's natural inclination to accelerate is within the 12+ area.... i don't see many regular folks stomping it to the floor when the light turns green hoping to get the best time to the next light. lol. the high-revving smart is in it's power band under spirited application of the throttle and the sensation is anything but disappointing IMHO.
an earlier poster mentioned lifting the gas pedal during shifting - this is ill-advised and incorrect and probably a contributing factor to so many negative comments by auto journalists on the herky-jerky shifting. lifting your foot will confuse the computer which is trying to analyze the force on the accelerator and determine the appropriate clutch engagement, shifting and fuel management during that action. when you lift just prior to the shift, you send the wrong feedback to the computer which manages all those complex calculations. steady and even pressure on the gas pedal tells the computer what you want to do and manual shifts are far smoother as a result IMHO. the car is driven by YOU via input through the accelerator. i think many journalists are accustomed to the vehicle driving the person behind the wheel with auto tranny's and torque converters smoothing things out to imperceptible levels. either that or they are so accustomed to the clutch, ease of gas, shift mechanics that it has become ingrained and they are unable to not reflexively do this in the smart on a 100mi test drive.
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