Daimler is the parent corporation of smart now that Chrysler has been flushed. The other Daimpler brands are M-B, AMG & Maybach. Our smarts are not M-B cars, however, M-B did engineer the car. That is NOT a minor issue for most of us that have driven German made and engineered cars for years. I would not have bought a smart if it had been engineered by an Italian (Fiat, etc.), French (Renault, etc), or British (uhg...) car manufacturers. However, I do belive that the Japanese make very good micro cars. When I was on active duty I spent quite a lot of time in Tokyo and was able to see thier little 1 ltr cars up close. With $4+ gas prices, it will not be long before the Japanese mfgs enter the US Micro Car market agressively.
my point wasn't who the parent company is, it is you are buying a $12,000 car any way you look at it, even if you are buying the cabrio you are buying a $12,000 car, your just paying too much for it. As for Euro cars I hope its built better than my old Audi, that thing was a nitemare, the odometer literally got stuck on 66, 600 mles until the day it died.
I'm not sure why the Yaris recieves as much attention as it does. Frankly, TO ME, it pales significantly to the smart. I'm not sure in this globalized economy that its only the Japanese makers that automatically reign supreme in terms of quality cars. Its styling really leaves much to be desired. A melted Jellybean comes to mine. The interior is bland, and really in terms of quality, it tries hard to hide it. The acres of plastic where the instrument panel isn't, doesnt help that feelling. The driving position was HORRIBLE, the steering wheels ability to move belied the fact that in whatever position it was in, it wasnt right for me. It was an unimpresive econobox.
Toyota turned the nicley proportioned xA into a bloatbox that finished 7th in a recent 10 car econo-test. The xA is a great car, but the ridiculously low depreciation that Honda and Toyota keep, kills any value status they have with me. A car that was $14k new, SHOULDN't be $12.5K with 50,000 miles on it.
Overall though the smart, while may be built to a price point, tries really hard with quality, and I must say it shows. It impressed C&D enough to be a high point of the car.
I wonder if anyone actually reads everything in the forums. Mercedes announced on April 1st that they had passed 100,000 sales of the 451 model since launch, this is equal to an 80% increase over the 450's sales; with the biggest sales in Germany and Italy they are getting the cars. I was very dissapointed with the DDE but last night my car was reposted as only being 0-3 months later than expected and I'm a 1229 in Chicago.
When they announced smart was coming to the states it co-insided with my timing for the purchase of a new car. Other than disapointment with lack of communication and the first postings on the DDE I'm fine and looking forward to the car arriving. I also wonder why people keep thinking that anything that has an out the door price of $14-21k is cheap, I haven't lost sight of the value of money. I can afford a Mercedes or BMW but my family car is a Hyundai Sonata which is a great car. High price doesn't mean quality.
hahaha, I just looked at that joke SmartUSA call the DDE and it has me waiting 5 more days than on the March 31st when it was put in place!
Despite the 5 day change in the wrong direction, maybe the DDE is not the joke as you make it out as. If the DDE gets updated even just weekly, it may indeed be the closest thing we have to "real time" info from Smartusa!
While I agree with most of what jose said in his initial post, I do think you can still walk into any dealership and order a car from the factory, exactly as you want it, and with a much shorter wait. Just expect to pay exactly MSRP on it as well. (no off the lot discounts here).
Jose, great points. Thanks for an insightful new counterpoint. The smart has really pioneered a bold new future for how to order and purchase a new car!
For just one moment the voices of reason surfaced....... then their was Curtis. Old saying, Curtis, "life ain't fair". Get over it. And I don't know about anyone else here, but I ordered in early March 'cause I didn't want to be at the end of a long line. We Americans just HATE to WAIT. Jose, you da man..........
wow, say a few critical things about the car and everyone piles on... and xcrew I guess Europeans like to wait...? anyway I think 1 year and 5 days is waiting, I didn't start getting pisssed until the stupid DDE and seeing all the kooks at my SmartCenter looking to save on gas..If you are buying the smart for the sole reason to save gas you are buying the wrong car.
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