We left home the day after Christmas, and loaded the Cabrio into the back of our motorcoach garage. We spent time in Texas, then Tucson and then a long period in the Superstition foothills near Apache Junction, AZ then some time in Santa Fe, NM and a leasurely ride home.
The Cabrio rode in back just fine again. We got home yesterday afternoon. The coach logged about 6000 miles and the Smart put on another 3000 miles of touristy day trips. I used the car several times to carry me and my fishing gear to nearby lakes early in the morning, like Canyon Lake on the Apache Trail. A more beauteous dawn drive would be difficult to find. The little Cabrio drove very nicely on the winding mountain roads. Fun.
We had the 2.0 mods done whilst we were near Chandler Smart Center. They did that job, and did the oil/ filter change. I had the rear body panel replaced cuz it had a deep gash on the back of the trunk lid. I also had the shifter pulled and lubed by the dealer. I had to do this once during the trip myself which was easy enough and did resolve the slight difficulty sometimes getting into park mode. No big deal.
I do like the change to allow the paddles to control drive/manual mode switching. This is WAY good as an upgrade. The slight change in shift points seems fine to me. No great change, but it was an improvement and not a problem. The battery was replaced also at the time of the software update.
The Chandler dealer gave us a Smart Cabrio as a loaner so we could do a bit of shopping while awaiting the car being finished. No overnite was required.
I did note the dealer in Chandler, AZ had MANY Smarts on his lot. No waiting at THAT dealer I suspect....
Anyways, we had a real nice winter out in the sun and the Cabrio made the trip more enjoyable. Having a drop-top little sporty car hidden up the butt of yer motorcoach is a fine thing. I sure do like bein of the chronic-unemployed group....
Life is GOOD.
:-)
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