Rain Driving?

[Teresa]

Has anyone got any driving in the the rain experience?

[Dave Van]

Yep....on the way home from pick up in Pittsburgh......at night to boot! Pretty pleased...Wiper system seems very M-B like. GREAT headlight system helps also.

[Aerotaz]

Living in western Washington? Rain? EVERY DAY (almost). No problem, at first the wiper system bothered me a bit, but I guess I am used to it now, everything is fine. The car does handle well in the rain.

[SnakeFarm]

I'm actaully goint to take mine out for a rain drive today.

[pluto]

I picked up my orphan from Jacksonville yesterday and drove it home to Macon (about four hours of interstate). It rained about 2/3 of the way, occasionally hard rain. The wipers are great, the headlights are really bright, even on dim, and the car really felt like it held to the road very well** absolutely none of that light-weight-feel-like-you're-almost-hydroplaning behavior you get from some small cars. Wind was noticeable but manageable. We maintained 65 – 80 just about the entire way.
BTW, first fillup: 43 mpg. Really a blast to drive.

[randyzimmer]

Drove thru a front yesterday, temp dropped from 80+ to 52 and cars were pulling over and stopping. I drove by them all with no worries.
Credit the narrow tires.

[BandSofC]

RainX helps. Without it, the downward sweep of the blade seemed to "suck" some of the water back onto the windshield. The low pressure area above and to the left of the blade (as it starts back down) draws the pooled water behind the blade. The RainX keeps it moving off the edge

[skyRLatl]

What about traction in the wet?

[SmartJJ]

I drove from Longview, Texas, to Dallas this morning. Rain the first 45 minutes or so, somewhat heavy at times. Smart did very well. I did slow down on I-20 a bit in the heavy rain to avoid hydroplaning. After it stopped raining, it was quite windy, with the wind from the north as I was heading west.

Can't say it was a relaxing drive, but I was pleased with the way the smart handled.

Yesterday I drove it at the East Texas Police Academy's driving range for the second weekend (advanced civilian driving course) and it handled well on the twisties there. Tires seemed a little soft, and without better pickup it would never rule the course like my MINI Cooper S and my Audi TT do. But with those cars, I never intended the smart to rule the twisties. It was good to know how well it did on the course (about 10 percent more time needed than either of the other two) and I am more confident in my ability to drive the smart now.

Now I will focus the smart on the around town driving, striving to break the lead foot habit and get the best mileage possible out of it.

[timhood]

I have the comfort package and have been pretty impressed with how the rain-sensing wipers work. They seem to wipe just when I would want them to. The only thing I have noticed is that they aren't as effective with the little hail balls, since they tend to not always stick to the window.

I haven't noticed any difference in traction, though the rains I've driven in thus far weren't exactly torrential. The worst part about the rain is it seems to come a day or two after I cleaned the car! :-(