smart: The good, the bad, and the ugly...

[moni_a]

pabille .. do you ever wonder if other states have signs to that effect?

[rfernatt]

Originally Posted by Dave Van

Where are you??? You must be here in wonderful West Virginia by your location.

Yep. I live in Clay Co., but work in Charleston. By the way, I stopped by Smith Motors MB earlier this week and was told that there were no immediate plans to support smart. I'm not sure whether to believe it or not, but the guy I was talking with indicated that smart wanted them to build a whole new building to house the smart center which would be prohibitively expensive. I asked them to inquire about the possibility of becoming an authorized service center even if they can't sell the cars. I've been to Columbus, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta dealers and all of them just use a portion of the space allocated to the MB showroom and do not have separate facilities, so I can't understand a smaller location like Charleston getting a separate showroom.

I also sent a note to smartUSA along the same lines: allow MB (or other) dealers who volunteer to spend the money to buy the equipment and train staff to become authorized to perform warranty service. That would make it much better for owners that live hours away from the nearest service center.

[pabille]

Originally Posted by moni_a

pabille .. do you ever wonder if other states have signs to that effect?

The sign was conceived and posted by Caltrans in 1990 because of the rash of people frantically darting across lanes of traffic as they tried to evade border security in San Diego County between the mid 80's to the early 90's. The incidents have lessened but the signs remain up. I'm not sure if other states are posting it.

Back to rfernatt's post. Keep us updated with your tally of good, bad and ugly. Also, what is you tally of inquiring people? How many good, bad and ugly minds want to know?

[rfernatt]

Originally Posted by pabille

Back to rfernatt's post. Keep us updated with your tally of good, bad and ugly. Also, what is you tally of inquiring people? How many good, bad and ugly minds want to know?

In the short time before the unfortunate fauna encounter: I had an older gentleman in a restaurant ask about it and ask for permission to look at it; a couple in a McDonald's drive through were holding up the line until they were honked at while trying to take pictures of both cars sitting in the McD's parking lot; a couple on a motorcycle were checking it out in a parking lot and asked a few questions; several people who attend our church had dozens of questions and comments; lots and lots of head turns in traffic and people slowing down to check it out. Those are the incidents that I know about in about 6 hours of having it out.

[rfernatt]

One other very good thing: my insurance decreased by $300/year versus the 07 Honda Civic. A very nice surprise...

[Dave Van]

My daughter lives in St Albans and I have a son at Marshall so I am down that way often. Most times in my Smart. We will be there this weekend but sadly Smart'less as we are taking some furniture to the kids....Maybe we can have a Smart day in Charleston soon!

[rfernatt]

Originally Posted by Dave Van

My daughter lives in St Albans and I have a son at Marshall so I am down that way often. Most times in my Smart. We will be there this weekend but sadly Smart'less as we are taking some furniture to the kids....Maybe we can have a Smart day in Charleston soon!

Hey, sounds like a plan! SEEBURG200 also lives down this way and just picked up a smart as well.

[rfernatt]

The headlight arrived yesterday from smart center Round Rock who had the part in stock (thanks Paul!). I epoxied the broken piece of the radiator support back to the car Friday night and after curing it seems to be very strong. So, I installed the new headlight this afternoon (piece of cake) and checked all the lights (working normally). Then, my wife and I followed Evilution's instructions in reverse to remount the front bumper/fenders, hood, and side skirts. We learned a couple of tricks along the way and the whole process took about an hour including multiple checks to make sure it was going back together correctly. It's nice to have another smart as a reference when you think something doesn't look quite right! Again, I was surprised at the ease of putting it back together. My white smartie is whole again and hopefully has earned its one and only deer badge.

Special kudos to my wife for keeping all the parts labeled and separated for easy reinstallation! She's the best!