I for one am happy to wait.

[LIVNLTL]

We are all in love with the Smart Car. We love the way they look and we love the attention we're getting. We love the idea of something new and different and modern ... we see it as a new way of doing things that seems to fit our times. We all want one NOW!

But hold on a second. I'm thinking the ones that have to wait may be in a overall better place than the first adopters. We get to wait and see how things pan out before we decide. Maybe a good place to be. I for one am happy to wait.

[young-nyc]

i agree with you,
however buying the 1st year model, you'll always get that special attention.
I remember picking up my scion during it's launch phase, and everyone i mean EVERYONE was looking...i felt like a rockstar =P haha
of course most of the attention will be cooled down a bit after waiting..but i'm sure people will still look =)
I wouldn't mind waiting either

[Smartdavis]

I've never seen a brand new car come out without a recall happening on something. Let's let the first adopters find the bugs. We'll end up with a better car (and far more options!). Patience is a virtue

[Smartdavis]

San Diego chapter is already reporting some cracked windshields....see what I mean.

[StevenM1TX]

I am quite happy to test it out for you guys. So far so good. I'll keep you informed. It is kind of fun explaining what kind of car this is for people.

[tipo158]

I agree with the point here, but I also disagree.

Often times a car loses something as the manufacturer gets farther along into the production run as the manufacturer starts adding more and more features or take away quirky aspects of the car to broaden appeal.

For example, the original smart fortwo is much more quirky (the even shorter wheelbase, the original interior) than the US spec car and that is attractive to some people (even though the shorter wheelbase makes the original car trickier to drive).

Another example is in my profile to the left - my Elise.

My Elise is a very early, German market car, one of the first left-hand drive Elises ever made. It weighs 705kg; the US spec car weighs 200kg (more than 400 lbs) more. It has very lightweight aluminum MMC brake rotors; a year later Lotus went with normal (heavy) cast-iron brakes. It has a pre-A/C chassis (1500 cars after mine, Lotus put a notch in the chassis to allow a A/C compressor to fit). The fiberglass bodywork is thin and hand lay-up; the US cars have robust injection molded fiberglass. Sure, the MMC brakes don't work in the wet and the fiberglass is so thin that it has cracked in places, but in exchange for putting up with the quirks, you get something closer to the designers' original vision than you get with the current car.

alan

[young-nyc]

hi alan although you may be right with your elise,
you must also take into account that cars these days get better after each year, adding more standard features and better equipment.
for example, my scion xB the model year after mine got better rear tail lights, audio controls on the steering wheel and passenger side vanity mirrors.

My bmw, after my model year got better steering wheel with upgraded controls, standard aero kit with sports package, upgraded wheels and upgrade steptronic.

so although you maybe right with your model, it doesn't apply to all vehicles.

but then again i own the e39 bmw and i for one have to agree the new current e60 model just doesn't do it for me...
so i could see where you are coming from too..

[tipo158]

Originally Posted by young-nyc

you must also take into account that cars these days get better after each year, adding more standard features and better equipment.

Not always.

Creeping feature-ism is not necessarily a good thing. How many times have you heard people complain that they want a cell phone that is just a cell phone (not a GPS/music player/camera/internet device)? Some people prefer less features.

Also, manufacturers are under pressure to cost reduce their products and source cheaper parts to improve the bottom line.

[bucketboss]

Uh, have you seen the new Scion Xb? Progress?

[08-4-2]

Originally Posted by tipo158

How many times have you heard people complain that they want a cell phone that is just a cell phone (not a GPS/music player/camera/internet device)?

So far, I'm coming up with none.