New Passion and observations

[dlomshek]

Finally after a 13 month wait my Red over Silver with Red interior smarty is mine. Picked it up yesterday at Aristocrat Motors in Kansas City. Very pleasant experience at Aristocrat; thanks Joe, Melinda, Amanda and Wendy; what a great crew!

Observations about the smart:

Love the auto-manual transmission. Shifts are smooth, especially downshifts where the computer does rev matching. I also have an M3 BMW with the SMG tranny so was already familiar with the type.

In automatic mode the transmission upshifts into 4th and 5th gear a bit early for me, especially in hilly country. Sometimes I find myself moving into manual mode to prevent premature (in my opinion) shifting when approaching hills.

Ride is stiff and solid but, for me, not objectionally so. The many crappy roads in America are the real problem.

Love the optional pods I ordered (clock and tach.) especially the tach as I use it as a reference for when to shift when in manual mode.

Great amount of driver/passenger room for a small car. At no time do I feel cramped and in need of more space.

Brakes need more foot pressure for stopping than I am used to but I'll adapt. My BMW has fantastic/touchy binders so it has spoiled me.

Great lights when driving at night.

The Radio 10 that I ordered is adequate but not fantastic. I plan to replace the head unit with a Kenwood DNX9140 soon. Crutchfield has developed a "plug and play" kit for the smart now that greatly simplifies this customization. The Garmin GPS built into this unit is a great plus.

All in all the smart is a great little auto and a fantastic bit of German engineering. No wonder I see so many of them in Europe when I visit there every summer.

I am a very pleased owner.

Dave Lomshek
Pittsburg, Kansas

[jimvw57]

Wow!! someone who apreciates their car for what it is!!Glad you love your car and glad you're here!!

[fpage77]

Congratulations on your "smart" acquisition. Nice mini review.

[forestacademy]

Originally Posted by dlomshek

Observations about the smart:

..

In automatic mode the transmission upshifts into 4th and 5th gear a bit early for me, especially in hilly country. Sometimes I find myself moving into manual mode to prevent premature (in my opinion) shifting when approaching hills.

Dave Lomshek
Pittsburg, Kansas

Hills? You have got to be going out of your way to find Hills

Yep, Putting it in Manual will take care of this issue, but so will hitting the gas a little harder. The car is optomized for MPG not power, but overrides are available Try hitting the pedal all the way down sometime in that situation and you will find your self in 3rd rather than 5th

[SmartChip]

dlomshek, Congrats on your new Smart. One of the best upgrades is the MDC cruise control. It has a built in smartchip that allows you to adjust the cars acceleration level. Go to www.smartmadness.com ,enter cruise control in the search box and look forthe coupe version. If you want any further instructions call them at the listed phone number,they are VERY helpful. It's one of the best and most useful upgrades I've made to my Sporty Shorty. Cheerz, Smart Chip

[jwight]

...prevent premature (in my opinion) shifting ...

Nothing to be ashamed of; happens to us all at some point.

As forest said, pressure on the gas pedal tells the car you want to go faster and it will downshift accordingly. No need to floor it, just add some gas. Once you get used to it you won't even notice you're doing it.

Congrats on the new car!

[JD10367]

You know, I never remember to mention the headlights. The headlights ARE awesome. Bright, great distribution from side to side, nice cutoff line.

As for the brakes: at first you'll be alarmed, feeling like you need to stand up on them to get the car to stop. But what you'll notice after a while is that, when you DO step on the pedal, the car DOES stop, nicely and quickly. Whether this is due to the design or simply the lightness of the car, I don't know; but I do know that, when I go back to driving our "normal" cars (99 Saturn and 03 Hyundai Elantra) the brakes feel horribly "squishy" and I don't feel like the car is stopping quickly enough. I now LOVE the brakes in the Smart!

As for the gas pedal and shifting: I haven't stepped hard on the gas once yet. When I need a little "oomph" I just hit that "-" paddle to downshift. Love that option, and the ability to go in and out of "D" by holding the "+" paddle.