Smart Passion - 6 years On (Smart & Passion)

Member Name: Nibelung

Product:	Smart & Passion
Date:	16/07/01 (443 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to drive

Disadvantages: Only for one with luggage of two without

MARCH 2007 REVISION.

I haven't made any major revisions to what I had previously written, as my wife and I are still much in love with our dear little Smarty, but I have added a few afterthoughts as a last paragraph, based on what is now more than 5 years ownership. The good news is that there’s little to report that’s negative.

Meanwhile, back at the plot......

JANUARY 2002

I wrote this as an owner of one of the first official right-hand-drive versions of the Smart to be seen on the roads of Britain. So there it stood on our driveway, a Swatch*-Mercedes “Art” Car (SMArt, geddit?), all metallic blue and silver, smiling at me, saying, "aaah go-on, go-on, go-on, take us for a drive. Aaaah, y’will, y’will, y’will!"

I did, and still spend my weekends looking for excuses to do it some more!

*Swatch are no longer part of the consortium, having withdrawn after the design stage. Mind you, you can tell from the dashboard and interchangeable body panels that they just MIGHT have had something to do with it!

Surprise, surprise, prices were up about 10% on the new RHD version, although as a small sop to us Brits, more equipment, like the tachometer, clock and basic stereo were standard. Apparently, the floor pan needed a major reworking, as the seat runners are staggered to put the driver ahead of the passenger. Ours, which just so happened to be available from existing stock, came to £8600 with the existing extras, like metallic paint, side-airbags, upgraded speaker system and electric mirrors. A quick peruse of the current price list reveals that it doesn’t seem to have gone up in price.

I always did like the slightly oddball things in life, as long as they are not too expensive. The exception being my wife who tends to be both.

The Smart (+Passion version) however, seemed to fulfil BOTH these criteria with a will.

They have been described as Marmite – you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. The salesman at Smart Chiswick claims he originated that phrase, mentioned it to some "journo" from a lifestyle magazine and the rest, as they say, is history....

These are my impressions of what ownership is like.

GETTING IN

I’m a six-footer (that’s my height, dummy) but I had no problem getting comfortable. The two doors it does have are enormous, the legroom is, well, roomy, requiring me to move the seat quite a way forwards, and the high-back seats are very reassuring. In fact, I’ll stick my neck out here and say it’s the largest two-seater I’ve ever been in. Not bad for something that’s about 2.5 metres long. All you have to remember is, that there’s b****r-all car behind you, and not a lot of it in front either! Mind you, my previous experience had been with MG Midgets and B’s. Even so, the Cabriolet version is still arguably the cheapest new open 2-seater by a l-o-o-o-n-g way. With its huge windscreen and all-glass sunroof; it's like the cockpit of a two-seater helicopter without quite so much the glass. It’s amazing how much this improves a dull day, like the one on which I took my RHD test drive.

GETTING GOING

The substantial ignition key (small car, big key!) inserts down by the hand brake and gear stick. The gear stick has very little movement to it, being electronic. There is no “H-gate” to shift through, you merely press on the stick forwards for an “up-change” and, yes, you guessed it, back for a “down-change”. Neutral and reverse are accessed by a click to the right and rearwards respectively. When driving in manual (you need to if you’re going to get anywhere near to top acceleration) you get a reminder on the dash of which gear you’re in, thank God, as with SIX of the little blighters, it would be easy to lose count. There's even an indicator to show when an up/down change is needed! Even in manual, the little engine protects itself from being laboured in too high a gear by forcing a downchange. Thus if you brake to a complete halt, you’ll be in 1st gear to pull away again

This all seems very similar to the “Tiptronic” system available in Porsches, including the lack of a clutch pedal, and the fact that you can leave the thing in “auto”, although this does make a nonsense of having a tachometer fitted – still it looks nice!

Unlike conventional fluid-coupled automatics, there is no low speed “creep”, which, ironically, some find useful in traffic jams. These cars retain a friction clutch, with a “little man in the gearbox” doing all of the clutch pedal work for you. As a result of using a conventional straight-through drive with no slippage, there is no efficiency (or m.p.g.) penalty to having an automatic here (unfortunately, DVLA don’t seem to know this and charge more VED for it). Even in automatic, it pays to anticipate the gear change and ease off on the accelerator, so as to effect a smoother change like you would if you were “stirring the pudding” yourself, otherwise there’s a sort of surge forward like you get with learners who haven’t got the knack of matching revs to road speed.

As you would expect, you have to be going quite fast, or driving very gently for 6th gear to kick in at all, especially in an urban environment.

GETTING THERE

The 54 b.h.p. engine (turbo-charged 599 cc 3 cylinder, twin-spark) in this version is surprisingly nippy – well I suppose it ought to be bearing in mind the weight of the car (approx 750 kilos). (The +Pulse version is 60 b.h.p., achieved by increasing the turbo boost a tad). Incidentally, if you really want to impress a techno-freak, show them the engine, which proudly bears the legend “Engineered by Mercedes Benz”. Let me see now: wider wheels at the back, rear engined by Mercedes, 6-speed sequential box – sure it’s not a McClaren?

The adequate power output makes longer journeys a practical proposition for one person, or two as long as long as they take the “minimalist” approach to baggage, on their way to a naturist holiday or the Eurovision Thong Contest, perhaps! Joking apart, I’m sure if you experimented to find the optimum luggage shape, you could get a full holiday’s worth in.Iit wouldn’t be the first car to need tailor-made bags. Stacking crates look favourite to make the most of the floor space. I’m surprised that amongst all the twee little accessories complete with Smart logo, there isn’t a tailored set of bags.

Steering is light and positive, thanks to the weight again, plus the fact that the front tyres are only a 145 cross-section job, so there’s not a great deal of rubber on the road at the front.

It would be unfair to compare "0-60" times with other cars since it is not designed to zoom up to the motorway limit in a trice, more up to the next set of lights and stop again. For this, its acceleration is fine especially thanks to the the point-and-squirt nature of the automatic gearbox. With a town car like this, the ability to KEEP UP is what matters; otherwise you’ll never get into the right lane at Marble Arch!

Fuel-consumption is amazingly low – I seemed to get over 60 to the gallon without trying too hard on long runs. You still visit the petrol station as often though, because like a lot of things on the Smart, the tank is half the usual size (22 litres with a low fuel warning at 5 litres). At least each visit doesn’t cost as much. There’s a diesel version, which does about 85 to the gallon, presumably with a 0-60 time equivalent to "sometime next Wednesday"!

Note: Newer Smarts now have a larger fuel tank

Despite being tall and thin, handling and cornering feel pretty stable, except when the bow-wave from a passing or passed truck hits. The suspension is quite hard in a sporty sort of way, to keep that body roll to a minimum. The seats have a fair degree of sporty side-support to complete the illusion.

The car bristles with the electronics passed down from its big brother, the A-Series Mercedes that helped the latter eventually through the Swedish swerving-round-an-Elk test. Name me a system for limiting skids and wheel-spin, and the Smart’s got it. There’s anti-lock brakes with distribution system – this alters the braking done by each wheel to allow for sporadic grip, there’s a proper traction control that will simply refuse to let the driven wheels spin - very useful on snow. There’s even a sensor that can tell if you suddenly ‘lose the back end’ which then reduces the power.

GETTING SCARED?

Well don’t be, the shortness of the bonnet leads a lot of people to assume that they are death traps in a crash. Far from it, they come almost on a par with the VW Polo in the “NCAP Ratings”. You sit higher up, which helps with side impacts, and being Mercedes designed means that “crumple-zones” have been given a lot of thought and even the front wheels have their part to play in softening the blow of a frontal impact. Those high backed seats are all part of the rear end protection, since their steel shell is continuous right up to the head rest as one complete pan. The mid-engined layout also prevents any penetration into the passenger compartments in the event of a frontal collision.

Combined with all the crash-avoidance gadgetry, they seem pretty safe to me.

GETTING TO LIKE……

...the flat-folding passenger seat for those large parcels that would otherwise cost £5 to have Comet deliver. It would be interesting to see if a pushbike with the saddle down would go in here, or the paraphernalia of a mobile business. (AND it’s got a cup-holder on the back!)

...the split tailgate – the window swings up, and the lower part swings down to form a smooth loading deck with a considerable weight capacity. It wouldn’t be legal to drive like this as the number plate disappears in the process (remember the first Minis with their hinged number plates? I do, but then I’m old!) Leaving the rear window open would be ideal for carrying planks etc, in combination with the folding seat, but keep the car well ventilated otherwise you’ll suck exhaust in through the back, and be away with the exhaust-poisoning fairies before you know it.

...the tinted glass roof with sliding sunshade for my bald patch. There is a sliding shade, which can be positioned to keep the worst of the heat out.

...the under-seat lockers, one of which had the CD auto-changer in it, in the test car. In fact, all available space seems to have a job. After a while, you get to thinking, “hey, I don’t remember seeing the engine yet!” This is under the boot floor with easy access to the dipstick. The radiator is still at the front. At the time of purchase, they have forgotten to re-work the underseat brackets for the RHD version, so over a period of 5-years I’ve kind of lost interest in bothering with a CD changer – more of why later.

...the quirky but stylish dashboard – the clock and the tachometer look like a cartoon frog peering up above the dash.

...the plastic door panels, which are bound to come off best in a supermarket “duel of the doors”. Some of these are coloured all the way through, so some scratches can just be buffed away. The fancier paint finishes with patterns are sprayed on. You can even give the car a complete makeover with a change of panels.

...the raunchy wide-wheeled stance, at least from the back. The “moped” wheels at the front are a bit wimpy, but if they were the same width as the back, you’d be more likely to want power steering, or a bigger steering wheel.

...the equipment level in this particular Passion version, which included intelligent Air Conditioning, electric windows, electric/heated mirrors, remote control locking/immobilising, decent stereo (the CD changer is an extra).

...the performance, which is surprising. The car has been limited to 84 m.p.h although it would do 110 m.p.h. if left unfettered – the mind boggles.

...the combination of tiny engine size and low-ish CO2 emissions, which means that whatever flavour of “polluter-pays” road tax is in force, the Smart will be down at the bargain basement end. Even the automatic qualifies for the £100 VED although some are as low as £40!

Initially, my insurance may have been slightly marred by the stigma attached to the first wave of UK Smarts being LHD, but even the RHD, at that early stage created a problem for my insurers because they thought it was a “special”, not having heard of the official version yet! It’s not a problem now though.

GETTING TICKED OFF ABOUT….

...the lack of a spare tyre. Yes, I know that the back, and front wheel, are different widths but really...pull over and use your cell-phone? What kind of a solution is that? No wonder the price included one year’s roadside recovery. You can get a roadside repair kit, which includes a gas canister and sealant solution, but this would only work with "nail" type punctures, not a catastrophic "blowout".

Incidentally, don’t buy their Emergency tyre kit at £85, when an aerosol of Tyre Weld and a 12v compressor cost £20 in Halfords! As a further belt and braces, I’m investing in dosing my tyres with Ultraseal at £28 per car, which is a sealant that remains in the tyre at all times, and is capable of sealing a 6mm hole! It still doesn’t embrace the problem of a catastrophic blowout, but in 400,000 miles of motoring, I’ve never had one, so I assume they’re quite rare.

Apparently, Smart are addressing this problem with a narrow spare, which goes behind the driver’s seat (and a jack, presumably) – more of this also later.

...the cost of a bike rack. It’s almost cheaper to buy a folding bike and put it in the boot.

GETTING ONE?

I did. The big question was; did we replace my 2-litre Chrysler saloon or Mrs. N’s Micra? I could forsee see the fights …..”No, me want da Smart, and I’ll thout and scweam until I get it! “.

Still, I did hold the “REMIND me, WHO paid for it?” trump card!

As it happens, we did get rid of the Neon, but partly because of other circumstances, relating more to the buyer’s needs (my uncle) than ours. We now have the Smart and a Yaris T-Sport, which I’ve already featured on u-rate-it.

GETTING IT ALL IN PERSPECTIVE

Seriously though, a week with one of these does lead you to take stock of your existing arrangements.

For example, just how useful was my 5-seat saloon compared to the hatch-back Micra, which has room to take stuff to the dump, whilst the saloon didn’t?

My day-time need for a car is largely limited to the need for personal transport and if I can do this in a fun way, with minimal fuel consumption, then so much the better.

We don’t take motoring holidays, unless you include driving to Gatwick, so as long as we have one car that has luggage space for the two of us, what the hell?

And think of the effect on the environment if we all had cars suited to our needs rather than our “status in life” or as a substitute for a short thingy.

AFTERTHOUGHTS 2007 STYLE

Around town fuel consumption a little disappointing at "only" 45 mpg, although under economy run conditions at a near constant 50 mph, we achieved well over 60 mpg - you just need to take official figures with a pinch of salt. Shell V-Power petrol, although dearer, does improve mpg and therefore the range of the minuscule tank. On a VERY frugal run to Norfolk, I achieved 73 mpg (once!)

On delivery, the driver's door hinge was binding on the front wing making a hideous noise. I could have booked it into Smart, Brentford, but choose to loosen a few screws, pull up on the wing and do them up again. Problem solved without losing a day and all that signing for courtesy cars! Up until March 2007 this was the ONLY thing ever to go wrong with the car at which point the electric mirrors both failed to operate. Sensing that this felt like a new switch was needed, I bought one (£30 for a bit of plakky – you’re ‘avin’ a laugh!) but at least it did the trick without letting the workshops loose on it, no doubt with an hour’s labour and ‘diagnostics’ thrown in.

To be fair, other accessories seem very reasonably-priced and some are "user-fittable", like a pair of cassette holders which stack beneath, and match the rubbish bin - £30 the pair including the screws and colour-matched caps for them.

There are plenty of ‘after market’ accessories too. I recently bought a connecting harness for an mp3 player which fools the radio into thinking that the CD changer is installed. It cost £14.99 and lets the iPod sit in the glove box totally hidden – very neat and it only took about 5 minutes to install.

The much-criticised (by the motoring press, not by me) automatic gearbox has somehow smoothened out, and I've got better at meeting it halfway by encouraging it to change with judicious use of the right foot. Driving manually is even better.

The sporty-looking seats are fine, but you need to realise that there is no recline mechanism on the passenger side - it's already back further than the driver's seat by design, so there would be little scope for it to lean anyway. This is a bar to longer journeys if two are travelling.

There are a few tweaks that can improve pulling power without compromising the warranty, one being to buy a new K&N air-filter which is reputed to ease the air flow, and add about 5 bhp to the engine, making 6th gear a more frequent proposition. This alone restores the output of the Passion version up to that of the Pulse. Of course, once the 3 year warranty (now two years) were up, I was free to patronise a whole tweaking industry out there waiting to make it more powerful, but thus far, I never have.

The tyre sealant is working fine – in 24,000 miles I’ve not so much as had one puncture yet, but it also maintains tyre pressures perfectly by keeping the rims better sealed too. That said, I never did like the idea of not having a spare, so thanks to eBay, I’ve just bought a matching alloy front wheel and tyre although I won’t leave it in the car all the time – only on long journeys.

Inevitably many Smarts are ‘doomed’ to be second cars, shopping trolleys what-have-you. As such the tyres look like they could go on for ever – mine seem only half used. However, beware trying to make them last 10 years. They may age in other ways than mere tread wear would dictate. I think I’ll be replacing mine soon for safety reasons

If I had a major gripe, it would be servicing costs which I guess were always going to have ‘Mercedes price tags’ – these range from £200 to nearly £500 once an MOT is added to the more expensive ‘C service’. Now it’s out of warranty, I’ll be looking around. Being a low mileage car, you still end up paying out once a year, which can add as much as 10p a mile to my running costs.

New models are now known as Smart ForTwos (with a 700cc engine) to differentiate from the ForFour (a joint venture between Smart and Mitsubishi and built at Nedcar in the Netherlands using many parts in common with the Mitsubishi Colt) and the Roadster. Ironically, these haven’t sold well enough, and Smart are retrenching to their core business of producing town car two-seaters.

To further economise, they’ve closed the high profile showroom in Chiswick W4, making the nearby Brentford service facility double as a showroom. That’s fair enough – you either know you want a Smart or you don’t.

I just so happens that I do.

Summary: 2-seat micro city car bristling with electronics

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