It's snowing out so I took the smart out for a "spin". The little car did great in straight lines with the skinny front tires cutting through about 3-4" of wet snow-ball type snow and the weight in the rear over the wide tires getting good grip. But whoa, watch the turns! This car has huge understeer, especially if you are cornering with brakes. Get out and practice because if you don't know what it's going to do, you will slide right into the corner when braking and turning into a side street.
Here's a great video demonstration of extreme smart understeer ( very funny of course)
I then went over to the local empty corporate center parking lot to throw the smart around and do some donuts. Unfortunately, the ESP nanny kept the fun to a minimum. There really needs to be a way to shut it off. Also, the shortness of the car really keeps you from getting the momentum at the rear to swing it around. Nevertheless, after beating down the snow with many attempts, I was able to hook up and spin. Once I got it going, it just spun like a pinwheel in a very narrow circle. Really fun but short lived because when I hit some fresh snow the nanny figured out what was going on and shut it down. I did a lot of runs and turns to practice finding the break-away point for the understeer. It is very early and you are best to stay off the brakes especially or you will just go straight.
When I got home, I tried to back into the garage. It would not back up against the same snow that it had no problem going forward in. I was quite surprised and I am guessing that the wider rear tires pushing against the wet snow encounter too much resistance for the all-season tread.
Anyway, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
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