Newbie: just leased a 2016 Smart two days ago
Hi all,
This is a great forum and a necessity if you own or lease a Smart, at least for me.
I have a few questions.
I dove my 2016 Smart lease from out of state to home. Seven hour round trip. I have a quirk about steering wheel position and vibration. Toward the end of the trip home, I noticed some vibration but more a out of line or unbalanced feel. I hope this is alignment problem.
I noticed on the right side, front section where it meets the center section about a quarter to a half inch out of being properly aligned.
This may seem really picky for some and not picky enough for others but it did bother me. I can account for every second of the car's position until I checked the right side after getting home. I saw the either mis-alignment of the body or perhaps an improperly length of finishing material which makes it look that way.
We have bad roads in NYS, mid state, but nothing compared to the pot holes everywhere on NJ, NY 380. They weren't bumps but bangs. I wonder if I have already destroyed my vehicle in less than a few hours.
Also on the right side was what looked to be a scratch, I took it to the spray wash then put some spray wax on because of the temperature, then checked the places I'd parked at 4 in the morning. No white marks on the short list of places I remembered. I had not accidentally hit a rail. However, there was also a colored liquid down this streak, no animal blood, I'm sure. No human on the highways, out of cars and it was too light to determine.
I used a cloth and some spray wax, there was no dent and the mark came off as road dirt.
Due to the roll factor on the Fit I had just turned in NY with a total 3 year mileage of 8180, plus or minus for three years, with the Smart I believe that will change. What a blast. !!!!!
Unfortunately there was a crosswind that slowed truckers which hit the Fit and the Smart causing the pressure to blow out the opposite window with a whistle, three times. it wasn't a pleasant trip at night.
The two cars are drastically different to drive and because of overcorrection for the possibility of roll with the Fit, I was on the rumble strip quite a few times. The Fit was nice to drive and look at scenery, start 1-2-3, eyes back forward, the Smart was like driving a race car, at least for me.
I already reported it to Chris. Does it sound like permanent damage or perhaps a lack of material to make it look like the front and center right panels are not properly aligned, potholes or rumble strips?
The last, their is no new car smell. When I get out of the vehicle, I smell a slight odor of oil smoke or a liquid substance. I smelled my clothes, no smell. I changed my clothes when I went out to wash the stain at spray wash. No smell on them either but I could still smell that smell. Checking the clean clothes, no smell. It was like a waft inside my nose, never happened before, it was like an exhaust, oil, spilled liquid smell.
Thank you and I love that car. I blew it with a local dealer, about 75 miles about three years ago when I could have had an electric for all this time. My fault, completely, an attitude sprung up, which long since passed, 30 years ago and never returned after that short phone incident.
Thank you all. I have never joined a forum before, for a car, not even a Shelby 350, 1965, serial number 484 which I bought for 3200$ and sold for 1600$. Also, long ago, it would have rusted out unless stored by now.
Forgive grammar and spelling. I'm so tired that I'm not going to proofread this three times. Also, I have mild dyslexia.
