I am in the same boat as Bob! I have a 2005 Scion xB which I pay off in 4 months. I live in Miami and rarely see any Smart cars(Miami is a BMWish type of town lol) around but we do have a Smart dealership. I hate to have a car payment again but the Smart is the only car I like out there right now. I do not want to go to a dealership and test drive one and have to deal with sales pressure so this video was a GREAT HELP!!!! Bob which was model was the one you drove and did it have power steering and did you have the air conditioning running too - just curious on the car's performance.
My friend Paul was the one driving in the video and he had 6 months of car payments to go. (It's funny that he told the sales guy he had only 2 weeks to go.)
The model was the Passion Cabriolet and the A/C was ON when Paul did the test drive. (It was a very warm day.) I'm not sure if the car had the power steering or not. I think it did, but I'm not 100% sure. I can always call the dealer and ask if you want me to.
When the camera was turned off, I spoke with my friend Paul at length about the drive of the car. Paul pointed out there was a clear cut change from first to second gear, as well as from second to third, but with each higher shift, the jump seemed less. Once he understood that this is the way the cars shifts, it was no big deal to Paul. Other than the shifting, Paul felt that the ride was smooth and solid. The car was comfortable to ride in; it did NOT bounce all over the road. The car will never "burn rubber", but did a respectable start from a stop. As for a hard stop, the car did very well.
Paul's test ride was about 9 minutes long and I edited out all the bad (as in boring) sections of the video. There are a number of people who have driven the Smart Car for over a year and can go into greater detail as to the feel of the ride under different road conditions.
From the video, it sounded like the A/C was on. With the windows up and the top closed, you'd need the A/C on. It was pretty warm this week. I'd guess that it had power steering. No way Bob would let his friend test a non power steering model.
Thanks guys! I decided to NOT have another car payment after all so I will be not buying a Smart or anything else at the moment. I did find a couple of places here in Miami that rent Smarts so I will try that instead.
If I had that sales guy I would have shot myself what a personality he had, "Boring." Customers always lie to sales people general nature. he seemed really interest great video
I saw a wreck last week where one of these smarts got crushed by a Nissan Armada. It wasn't pretty, that's for sure. I don't know if the smart driver survived or not, but it certainly didn't look good. The Nissan had a dented bumper grill and the hood buckled slightly. Personally, I'll take safety over economy, but that's just me.
This set off my BS meter, because in all the accidents we've seen, the Safety Cell does not get crushed.
My answer was:
Quote:
Your comment is a bit of a mystery to me:
(1) A search of all news reports for the past month does not show any accident between a Smart Car and a Nissan.
(2) The Smart Car was slammed into a solid concrete wall at 70 MPH. It was NOT crushed, in fact other crashes show the Safety Cell area of the Smart Car does not crush in an accident.
The young man in the video is Nick, one of the smartcenter cerritos Brand Specialists. His team mates had a lot of fun kidding him about the video and now want his autograph for making him a star!!
All you You Tube fans, come by smartcenter Cerritos and meet our new star, Nick
The young man in the video is Nick, one of the smartcenter cerritos Brand Specialists. His team mates had a lot of fun kidding him about the video and now want his autograph for making him a star!!
All you You Tube fans, come by smartcenter Cerritos and meet our new star, Nick
Phil
Phil,
Maybe I should come down to your center again and film the other Brand Specialists so they won't feel left out.
I think he gave me the wrong business card, the name on the card was, "Harout Boyadjian". What's Nick's last name?
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