I think most people are under estimating the smart...

[bottlerocket]

I DO drive rather fast already but in the smart I do definitely try to show people they have some bad misconceptions about the little car! I love the looks on people's faces when I leave them behind...

By the way, I also drive fast because I enjoy it! And my little bugger seems to like it too.

[deaconpark]

I too, typically drive fast at least when I am driving my Xterra or my wife's Solara convertable, but I have found that by driving 65-70, my gas mileage has deffinately increased by 3-5mpg. Yeah, I can drive faster than the others, but I don't have to. I will tend to meet up with the gas hogs at the fuel pump,but only when the fuel is running low at 300+miles.
Russ

[orange_scoa]

Ego parking fits here too! I had one lady in a station wagon refuse me a perfect spot even tho she wouldn't fit in if her life depended on it

[mike-in-sa]

I found a great little spot to park my smart when we eat at the local Hooters. It's right up front in a little triangle at the begining of a row. I do a lot of sign work for them and the manager said thats my spot. It's fun to watch from the tables as the bubbas head back to their pick-ups.

[angel]

Originally Posted by JPaul

Someone (Probably Angel) did say that driving a smart can be compared to riding a motorbike.

Yes. I did make a post here somewhere about how learning how to drive the Harley helped my driving skills. And now that I'm driving the smart it's a good idea to apply defensive driving and pretend I'm invisible.

Originally Posted by VinceLA

At times I really want to show them that the smart can be a quick little bugger. But technically I am still in the break-in period. So things have to be really toned down before the 1k mark.

You know it's capability. Why does it matter what others think?

[winstonhowell]

I find it's mostly guys in pick up trucks, passing me and cutting in front, only to slow down when they realize I really was keeping up with traffic.

[timhood]

Originally Posted by saskdiesel

Is the Smart the slowest car sold new?
Anyone have a 1/4 mile time??

Yes. It's the slowest 0-60 and the slowest quarter-mile. Makes sense to me since it has the least horsepower and torque, too.

Road & Track shows a 0-60 of 13.3 and a quarter-mile of 19.2@70.5 MPH. Of course, this was on a car that wasn't broken in and they never drove it enough to get actual fuel economy numbers from it (they estimated 32 MPG), so take those figures for what they're worth.

Personally, I think a broken-in smart could do a little better than that...probably about 1/2 second less on both times. Of course, we all know that their 32 MPG estimate is very low (below even the EPA's city estimate), which shows that R&T was driving it more like a track car than a road car. My very first tank delivered almost 42 MPG, and I've yet to get below 38 despite my wife's more aggressive use of the accelerator or the use of the A/C. That may change when the A/C goes full-time this summer, but R&T wasn't using the A/C when they tested in March. ;)

The really interesting thing is that despite the "on paper" numbers, the smart seems very capable of keeping up with traffic from stop lights, without having to hit the accelerator hard and lose fuel economy. I believe it's because the good low-end torque and lower gearing of first and second gears (and to a lesser extent, third gear). I think the smart gets from 0-45 quite easily, but 50-60 probably takes up a proportionately longer time. So the full 0-60 may not be so fast, but light-to-light it hangs with the rest of the crowd.

Curiously, autos.com optimistically lists the 0-60 time at 9.5 seconds. While the smart feels quite peppy, I'm not inclined to believe that even smart USA would underestimate the 0-60 time by more than 3 seconds. Makes me wonder where they got that info...

[smartcar08]

I think it's slow but I anly have 200 miles, and I used to drive granny's buick, my friends tell me they seen it do 90 on the highway, I'll try it one day!! Vroooooommmmm. Just kidding dad!!

[jonnysan]

Are about to be.

Install the *Italian Air Horn* and put a big mouth on the little car! It works!! ;)
They think they are about to screw around with a tractor trailor but can't see it!!LOLOLOL
John

[maxtraxduffy]

well went the other to see a friend that worked at a chevy dealership to show off my car.as soon as i pulled up all the the people that worked there came out to the my little yellow car. lmost everyone loved it !!!ESCEPT ONE THE SALES MANIGER he said "just a novelty"well i just gave him a grin and said "well you have 200 new gms on this lot and i dont see a single person looking at them, now that a novelty" and i got in my car to go . a car pulled right up behind me , well as you can guess sence all the sales people were looking at my car they all jump them right away. the man driving the car asked are yall selling the SMARTCAR i want one !!!!!!!!!the sales manger said no but we have a great rebates on all our fine chevy products!! well the guy said no thanks tailed me off the lot and flaged me over to ask the same question yall all get asked. while talking to him my cell went off it was my chevy friend well he told me the sales maniger said i was not welcome there in my "little tin can of a car" god that made me soooooooooooo happy!!!!!!!