After living with the car for almost a month shy of a year now the thought came to me I got what I wanted. All my personal cars over the years have been RWD manuals and my better half drives only cars with two pedals. The search was on. Looked at a lot of small cars with the New Mini on top I just could not bring myself to buy one with an automatic. (yes I am full of myself)
then news trickled in about smarts coming and man I had what I wanted.
So about a mere 10 years after seeing the first one there she was sitting in the driveway. Coming home from the dealer the car had more zip than the one I had driven in Germany we both enjoyed the car and we kept jostling for the keys and that goes on to this day. Any regrets maybe not getting the cabrio. Have a roadster already so thought herself would be happier with the coupe the panorama roof has been a hit here in the north east. The one thing that gave me a start in the beginning like many others was the transmission.
The new car drove like a person just learning to drive a manual car. After a period of time (x number of shifts) it had smoothed out until it was cracking off shifts like an endurance driver of old (they all get run like sprints now)
Then the battery died. (Replaced for free at the dealer) and the antics where back. x number of shifts later (Less this time) happiness had returned.
Is there something I don't like, service cost. The price of taking proper care of these cars needs to come down in my view. They do not require an excessive amount of work to keep them running but costs at the dealers are too high and the parent company not letting repair information out hurts in my view. Would I do it again?
I am not well to do, rich or whatever you want to call having more money than time to spend it. I need to think about what my toys will give me. It will never be as fast as a sport bike or handle like a sports car. My smart does 99% of what a vehicle needs to do for me and makes me and most of the people around smile. Yes I would buy an other in a heartbeat.
Has it been troublesome? Not mine thank goodness (knock on wood even).
A key went to the dump and took some time and a bunch of money to replace. The only thing to fail on my early production car so far has been the battery. None of the other faults that many other posters have referred to have given me any problem. Most of the challenges have been seeing an old problem in a new light. So in a word no.
Why do so many auto writers get it so wrong. Why do so many enthusiasts here get the facts wrong. Is it that the little car is so far from what we are all accustomed to? I don't know. It is the most technical car I have owned. The least expensive model comes with all that is ALL the safety equipment of the top model. I don't think I got used to the shortcoming of my car. I just don't see the lack of a back seat as a problem.
Have a houseful of children, have to have the posse with you all the time, this may not be your car. Want a micro car? Only one choice at the moment. Will we get others like the Toyota IQ, time will tell. mine has a few blemishes now but still makes me smile. nice to run a week for less than 10 bucks. Leaves more money to live well.
karl
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