My aunt and uncle got a new car. The merc benz smart car. They drove all the way from Toronto, Canada to Apex, NC. This car is damn small! It's got a little peppy 800cc 3 cylinder diesel, mid-engine, rwd. I still can't believe they drove all the way from Canada and it only costed them 35 bucks in fuel.

Its a 2 seater with a convertible top. The space inside is very very roomy and relaxing, just that its lacking truck space, power, and speed. What you get is a nice city car with 71mpg.

My only beef with the car is its clunky auto transmission, other then that, it seems be nice enough to get to point A-B. Btw, this is not sold in the states at the moment.





[Edited on April 15, 2006 at 5:39 PM. Reason : pics]

4/15/2006 5:23:11 PM

links broken....

4/15/2006 5:32:59 PM

fixed

4/15/2006 5:39:06 PM

wait, they're autos?

Quote :

"I still can't believe they drove all the way from Canada and it only costed them 35 bucks in fuel."

thats absurd

how long did it take them?

[Edited on April 15, 2006 at 5:50 PM. Reason : 35 bucks to canada...crazy]

4/15/2006 5:49:56 PM

smart vs typical SUV or van == dead everybody in smart car

ps I could see this as the Steve Urkiel car where the front end is the door

4/15/2006 5:50:58 PM

They stopped somewhere in PA for some sight seeing. So it took them a nice 2 days worth of low speed crusing. Its a 5 gear auto transmission. It seems like a clutchless auto then a full auto since you can select which gear to be in or be set in auto mode. That and it takes a few seconds for it to switch gears.

Let me tell you, that car had one hell of a time to get up my steep drive way. My uncle had to get some speed on the 2nd attempt. His first attempt failed after he hits the max angle and the car starts to roll backwards while the rear tires were still spinning forward. No traction what so ever.

And everywhere they go, people always smile at the car. You can't help to smile cause its such a funny toy car.

[Edited on April 15, 2006 at 5:58 PM. Reason : ]

4/15/2006 5:57:42 PM

actually smart cars are soon to be for sale in the US! I think they do offer a clutchless manual transmission.

http://thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=395413

4/15/2006 6:00:33 PM

There are one or two of them out at European Performance right now.

4/15/2006 6:22:02 PM

Quote :

"smart vs typical SUV or van == dead everybody in smart car "

Pretty much what I though when i saw the first one. I would deff be stayin off the highway in that thing. I think my lawn mower is bigger than that.

4/15/2006 6:29:09 PM

The speedo on the car only goes up to like 140-160 km/h and I doubt it could even reach those speeds with 2 people.

I took a pic of the car with my bike to compare the size. Damn, my bike is the same size just about.

4/15/2006 6:37:07 PM

JBaz Bring it out somewhere this weekend, Im sure a couple of people would love to check it out.

4/15/2006 6:38:56 PM

Can't, not mine. Its my Uncle's car.

4/15/2006 6:42:22 PM

Bummer....where is European Performance? Is that the place on Hillsboro/Chapel hill Rd

4/15/2006 6:48:07 PM

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=european+performance,+raleigh,+nc&ll=35.78607,-78.725377&spn=0.004143,0.006995&t=h

i'm not sure if they were customer cars or not, but i definately saw 2 out there yesterday

4/15/2006 7:19:28 PM

^^yes. European Performance/Motorcar Investments

Quote :

" I think they do offer a clutchless manual transmission."

Now is this an automatically clutched manual (with or without automatic/paddle shifting), or a manu-matic with a torque converter?

and I hope they built that Smart Roadster with the Biturbo V6 that Brabus cooked up. if they do, and it has a real manual transmission and a decent chassis/suspension, I might be in the market for one.

4/15/2006 7:33:08 PM

These are nothing new... i saw them while i was over in France in the 8th grade.

4/15/2006 8:05:00 PM

I read about this a while ago so I don't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure the clutch is engaged automatically, and there's a shifter stick with manual gearbox. Also if the engine reaches a certain high or low rpm, it will shift automatically up or down. I don't know what the sporty one is like.

4/15/2006 8:15:11 PM

I saw one of these in front of the food lion on avent ferry. pic in gallery

4/15/2006 8:54:47 PM

I saw one tonight on Witiker Mill Rd with NC plates on it.

4/15/2006 10:32:31 PM

ok BragginGerb

4/16/2006 1:02:59 AM

i saw one off hillsborough st over the wknd parked at an office.

5/3/2006 12:34:26 PM

glorified go-karts, i say!

5/3/2006 1:16:23 PM

i don't give a fuck if that car got 1000000000 mpg, you ain't gonna catch me driving that shit.

5/3/2006 1:45:59 PM

someone working in Nelson hall has a silver one and has been parking it there lately

71 mpg is mighty impressive...I wonder how much they'll cost in America?

5/3/2006 1:55:41 PM

~24-25k for full package. Prolly start around 17-19k

5/3/2006 2:27:32 PM

i bet you they catch up in large motropolian areas more than anything with parking being shitty and all.

scooters been getin popular in the last couple years, i remeber back freshmen year i'd see a couple a month, now i see 10-20 a day.

5/3/2006 2:47:15 PM

That is freaking awesome

5/3/2006 3:35:01 PM

i'm laughing at all the bike guys saying how they wouldn't be caught dead in a smart car and how unsafe they are...HAHAHAHA

5/3/2006 4:10:07 PM

they saved money on lug nuts

5/3/2006 6:28:34 PM

You know there's at least a 12-15k surcharge on that car just because it's "completely new" and gets 71mpg.

It's not even a Geo Metro of a car, yet costs tons more. If they want folks to start saving the environment, make the thing affordable to the masses.

5/3/2006 6:33:25 PM

hyndai makes things affordable to masses

this is m-b

5/3/2006 6:42:42 PM

they're made by mercedes-benz. affordable isn't in their vocabulary.

5/3/2006 7:21:04 PM

Quote :

"i'm laughing at all the bike guys saying how they wouldn't be caught dead in a smart car and how unsafe they are...HAHAHAHA"

what bike guys? unsafe? huh?

I wouldn't mind having a smart car if I lived in large city as a daily driver, but I don't want to dish out 24k for one either. Remember, reason why camry's are safe is because they are light and bounce. Well most of the time they are, but SUV's run them over so they can't bounce...

5/3/2006 7:52:05 PM

complain complain complain hey that looks nice complain complain

5/5/2006 1:54:15 AM

they are actually suprisingly safe. there is a 5th gear episode where they crash one into a barrier at 70 mph and the doors still open. im sure if you look you can find a torrent of the episode. may even be on google video. dunno.

5/5/2006 2:18:09 AM

so i guess there is not much of crumple zone to help decelerate then, because the frame doesn't take it? doesn't sound that safe.

5/5/2006 4:19:07 AM

The rims act as a crumple zone.

5/5/2006 10:49:28 AM

Quote :

"Remember, reason why camry's are safe is because they are light and bounce."

What? Not only does it not make sense, but I wouldn't call Camrys light either. At least not the newer ones (current generation is around 3300 lbs, previous ones around 3000...)

5/5/2006 11:49:09 AM

^ jbaz typed that.. of course it doesnt make sense.

5/5/2006 11:53:27 AM

wtf

5/5/2006 9:56:24 PM

3 lug wheels are tight. I wonder if they make fno1rc's in 3 lug

5/5/2006 11:18:53 PM