I am in high hopes they will give the MBUSA warranty, but at the same time I am not naive (just very hopeful).I think some would say the MINI is not a micro car (hence the name MINI) but most U.S. buyers see all "small" cars as the same so smart might as well face up to that. The Scion IQ and the Fiat 500 are definitely smart competitors (even though the IQ isn't on sale here yet) and as your chart shows the 500 throws in 3 years of free routine maintenance. smart USA/DVI has already seen this suggestion; it would go nicely with the 3/36 warranty extension on the 2012 models.
One of the cars in your chart is sticking out like a "Sore Thumb"...hmmmmmmmmmm
yes. One reason I used the color blue
. Its kinda sad when you see it side by side. Hoping Mercedes will have good news come October...
You are probably correct there. I just hope they can beef it up enough to make it enticing for us to upgrade at some point...
I got that info from a reliable source.........someone from the Mothership
Congrats on joining the "third smart" club!
bad-mouthing the competition is no way to sell your product. It also must be that people prefer their 500s loaded up since they are, so far, selling the dog out of them compared to the smart
Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian autos made in Torino)
yeah I drove a FIAT Punto for 6 months while over in Israel working. It was a great little car -- peppy, good MPG and I never had a lick of trouble with it.Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian autos made in Torino)
I owned two Fiats in the past ...an X 1/9 and a 2000 Spider. My wife owned a Brava. The combined time of ownership of all three cars was over 35 year. They are like any other car...YOU HAVE TO KEEP UP WITH MAINTENANCE!! If more than the 500 were come over this way, I'd probably buy it in a heartbeat. They ARE good cars.
Of course I bought my brand new "value" Pure for the smart official MSRP of $10,990 in May 2011 so the lowest cost of a smart seems be lower than that on the comparison table...Congrats on joining the "third smart" club!
Barry Prosser and I spent the day car shopping yesterday and drove another FIAT 500; it was not bad but you're right, most of the ones in the showroom (and they had a huge inventory) were between $17.5K and $20K. For that, though, you get some zippy stuff like digital A/C, satellite radio, Bose stereo, the rear disc brakes and of course, a "real" manual transmission complete with clutch pedal.
Thanks for putting this together! I must say, if you do the math, it really tells one story and if you look at it only on the surface, it tells the opposite.
that was, it wold appear, heavily discounted and perhaps no A/C? You have to discount something when you can't sell it. Evidently FIAT isn't having that issue with the 500. You might have saved a couple thousand bucks over a Pop, but got a lesser equipped car, as well as less utility. IF you got what you wanted, that's the important thing. The utility is remembered long after the price is forgotten in either case.Of course I bought my brand new "value" Pure for the smart official MSRP of $10,990 in May 2011 so the lowest cost of a smart seems be lower than that on the comparison table...
Doug
The "value" Pure model included A/C and each dealer would get perhaps one car each month. I assume the idea was to be able to say the entry price for a 2011 smart was $10,990 which made it pretty much the least expensive new car in the USA. It appears the moment Mercedes took over they eliminated the "value" models. It's a bit of a shame, since the ability to say "the MSRP starts at $10K" could be helpful to salesmen. Yet now Mercedes set up a nice inexpensive lease program that is very attractive too.
