[Smart Car 1]

I am considering buy a slightly used Smart Car to commute from Oakland to San Francisco where I teach. I cannot find any information about how reliable these cars are as to repair / breaking down. Are they equal to a Toyota? Or more like a Mercedes with a high incidence of repair?

Thanks for your help!

 

[10632]

Try www.truedelta.com. Michael Karesh has been gathering data for quite a while now, and that may be a good, unbiased look at maintenance information. For my part, maintenance has been quite infrequent.

 

[Smart Car 1]

Thank you!

Thanks for the link. Looks like Smart Cars have decent but not great frequency-of-repair issues.

 

[GetSmrt28277]

My smart has not been 100% free of issues. I have no complaints and all is well. One has to consider the smart has only been in the USA for 2 1/2+ years and around 40K are on the roads when reviewing the data and comparing it to another national brand vehicle.

Which smart are you shopping for?
year?
model?
upgrades?

 

[rfernatt]

Two problems in 42K miles on my first year car (2008): blower fan replaced and AC repaired under warranty. One headlight bulb replaced and just standard maintenance otherwise.

 

[ca smartone]

Hope you get it, another Bay Area Member ...

7 months, 6,400 miles

Running like a well oiled machine...

 

[GeekGirl]

30K no issues just a replaced clutch under warranty.

 

[SuperGeek]

I had the same concerns when I was looking at buying, and in 2.5 years I've not needed a single repair. Maintenance only. My stats are included in TrueDelta. I've watched those stats go from high occurrence to average to slightly below average, so the repair issues appear to be on the early builds and are for the most part resolved. If you buy a 2009 or later, you can expect very good quality out of the machine.

 

[ArthurRW]

Lost the lower passenger side panel due to a flooded road and too much speed when I hit the water (I was doing the speed limit) but other than that just regular maintenance in over 16,000 miles. As long as you stick to the maintenance schedual I see no problems.

 

[Smart Car 1]

These reports are encouraging. I need a car I can rely on getting me to SF to teach my 8:30 am classes, rain and shine, no breaking down. My trusty old 88 Volvo does that, but parking is a bear and it uses up gas at about 18 miles/gallon.

 

[forestacademy]

This car will usually allow you to find that odd parking spot no one else can use. It's a real time saver when your get to a crowded destination.

I can't tell you how many times I'm with the family in out great big Versa thinking "we could have fit there with the smart"

 

[Smart Enuf]

This car will usually allow you to find that odd parking spot no one else can use. It's a real time saver when your get to a crowded destination.

I can't tell you how many times I'm with the family in out great big Versa thinking "we could have fit there with the smart"

This is one of the key reasons I like to drive my smart to S.F. It's great to park between driveways in that little spot only smarts, motorcycles, and scooters can fit in.

 

[GeekGirl]

Bump

 

[mdsbrain]

The posted you pointed to TrueDelta is great. The Smart keeps popping up in "Worst cars... list everywhere but they don't say why. This site shows good solid data that the car is not crap.