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I am starting to get them too...
I was searching around today to see what is out there that could be somewhat compared to the smart. I ended with a Yaris, an Aveo ( no thanks ), the Mini ( which I had for 2 weeks ) and the lil' smart.
My mini was giving me about 36mpg. i loved the car. But after having the car for 2 weeks, the tranny crapped on me and to replace my CVT - the Mini dealer in peabody MA wanted to charge me ... TADA! $7,142.** Yep! The car was out of warranty, but was covered by the dealer I bought my mini from for a 3months power train. After screaming and yelling around, They took the car back and gave me back my crappy PT Cruiser. I ADORED the mini and the way it drove. Even if its a smaller car, on the freeway, I NEVER felt like I was driving a small car. It felt solid - made me all happy the way it took corners and it was damn sexy inside
I am so unsure at this point of what I want. I have to say that the warranty that smart offers is not really "generous". I have wanted a smart since my trips to Germany a while back, but I am hesitating between a Cooper and a smart at this point. The thing is, I will have to drive about 1 1/2 hour away to get to the "nearest" smart center for anything that might happen to it while under warranty. It seems almost pointless.
Talk me out of it please?!
Last edited by Amethyste; 01-27-2008 at 02:36 PM..
I live in the middle of the largest petrochemical complex in the known world, thank you.
Every morning I step outside and breathe the fragrant aroma of ketone, acetone, methyl tertiary-butyl ether, butane, benezene, dioxin, kerosene, gasoline, butene, ethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, from DuPont, Mobil, Texaco, Goodyear, Motiva, Huntsman, BASF, Valero, and Chevron Phillips just to list a few.
So, when you crank up your new toy you can thank the hard-working people in my "hellhole" for the fuel, rubber, paints, surfactants, plastics, adhesives, nylons, lubricants, and solvents making possible for you to have so much fun.;)
Sorry to say I am following your train of thought. I had not looked at lower priced cars for awhile, but after returning from our local car show I can say it was an eye opener. For the price of the smart you could buy a real car, trunk, back seat way better warranty, almost as good as gas mileage, with regular fuel no less. With GM offering rebates plu an extra $1,000 if you own a GM, plus the rebate from my GM credit card, of which GM just "rounded" me up to a total of $3,000 I could buy a nice car with a 5 year 60,000 mi warranty. When I read the smart engines may be shot after 80,000 miles that is worrisome, I could hit that in four years. My local dealer is even discounting Honda Civics $2,000 which puts it squarely in the smart price point. The longer I wait the more I think I may pass.
The engine has had or lack of maintenance like regular oil changes and other longevity enhancing practices. Those cars whose engines gave out at 80K miles may have been driven with the pedal on the floor ALL THE TIME, too.
Or it may have been overheated once or twice because the thermostat was never changed ( the major cause of engine failure due to overheating).
I am going to support the idea that MB engineers know how to design for lowest cost and best bang for the buck in the Smarts case and give it due diligence before banking on basically rumor.
It will take some time before we'll find these things out but the truth WILL come out eventually. If the car doesn't turn out the way we think it will in terms of any parameter you want to pick on, then there is ALWAYS the option to trade it in on some other brand as one would do with any other car they were dissatisfied with.
So for now...we really should have due diligence and give the car a chance to show its true colors.
Another point I have to mention is that the other cars that have been compared to the Smart in price and economy, IMHO, have absolutely ZERO curb appeal and are tremendously BORING to look at and drive around in but this is another matter and subject to numerous opinions and we all know what opinions are like....
I live in the middle of the largest petrochemical complex in the known world, thank you.
Every morning I step outside and breathe the fragrant aroma of ketone, acetone, methyl tertiary-butyl ether, butane, benezene, dioxin, kerosene, gasoline, butene, ethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, from DuPont, Mobil, Texaco, Goodyear, Motiva, Huntsman, BASF, Valero, and Chevron Phillips just to list a few.
So, when you crank up your new toy you can thank the hard-working people in my "hellhole" for the fuel, rubber, paints, surfactants, plastics, adhesives, nylons, lubricants, and solvents making possible for you to have so much fun.;)
Secaukis, NJ.? I always thought that was the worst place for all the things you mentioned. When I was a kid in the 50's heading thru Secaukis on our way to Point Pleasant with my family for the weekend, I could not believe a place could stink so bad......and it hasn't changed much, either!!!
I wouldn't buy a smart if I had over an hour drive to get to the service center...at least not until it became clear you could keep the warranty in force if you changed oil or did minor maintainance closer by. Go for the mini
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