Smart - Day 1

[Beth in L.A.]

I picked up my car today from Universal Smart in Universal City, CA.

I reserved on 4/1, configured on 11/9, received the 30 day notice on 2/28 and here we are one week early.

It's a red/black/red passion

Paperwork was hassle free, I chose no additional warranty, no tire protection fee, no gap, yada yada........they offered financing, however I am getting 3.99 through my credit union so they can't come close....

The only option I chose was the power steering.

It had 8 miles on it....how cool is that? I drove out of the lot and at the very first red light, a car pulled up next to me and the guy said, "hey, what kind of mileage do you get?".......I said, I'd only had it 5 minutes, so really didn't know yet. The drive home was about 20 minutes. Freeway was jammed and I didn't even notice if people were looking or not, as I was really intent on paying attention to the stop and go traffic......and the weird transmission.

When I changed to another freeway that was less congested, I noticed several cars speeding up behind me and then getting along side to see what the hell this car was.......lots of smiles and waves.

I did notice that at 65mph, the car seemed to do alot of swaying on the freeway. It is grooved, so maybe that was it.

I had it in D and being used to a 5 speed did notice a great deal of lag and early shifting.

Going out later I used the paddle shifters and kept the rev's up before shifting. MUCH BETTER......

So, it's already 8:30PM and I'm going to bed so it can hurry up and be tomorrow so I can go out again.

[CruzinSusan]

Sweet, smart dreams.

................................... ...........................Dreamland

[dennyrex]

>I drove out of the lot and at the very first red light,
>a car pulled up next to me and the guy said, "hey,
>what kind of mileage do you get?".......I said, I'd
>only had it 5 minutes, so really didn't know yet.

judging from the mileage threads here, the answer to that question will depend more on the driver than the car.

[Carnut]

It's not the grooves, but part of its over 65 mph "charm." Congrats and enjoy.

[Learn2relax]

you went to bed ?????

Hope you had some interesting dream

Tell us about Day 2.

[SmartAzz]

Congrats - and check your tire pressure, the dealers often release the cars with it incorrect and fixing it will help the handling (check the door for the pressures).

I found the highway speed feel did depend somewhat on road surface and how windy it was (does require attention though; definitely not a car you can be half asleep, on the cell and driving like some ) - still found myself passing a lot of people and getting away from the usual bad drivers ;)

[eqwalker]

Good advice SmartAzz. Mine was riding what I deemed was very harsh and rough. I checked the tire pressure and wow, they all had about 48 psi in them. I let them down to the proper pressure as stated on the inside of the door sill and boy what a difference that made.

[ex300SRT8]

Congrats Beth, glad to see you finally got your smart!

[JIM VINYARD]

I think all smarts are shipped from the factory with 46 psi so the tires don't develope a flat spot in the rubber on there long trip over and setting after arriving, the dealer is supposed to adjust to the proper pressure before delivery to the customer.

[SmartAzz]

Our tires turned out to be wrong all around - that reminds me, I need to add some air to the rears.