Wheely Good (Smart & Passion)

Member Name: alflavor

Product:	Smart & Passion
Date:	15/09/01 (733 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Economical beyond belief, Powerful 600cc engine, 2 seater city coupe, cheap

Disadvantages: too small for families

The Smart is a 'Micro Car' or 'Road Legal Go-Kart' if you like. It's produced by MCC (the Micro Car Company), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Daimler-Chrysler group. It's a marmite car; you will either love it or hate it!

I personally love it.

I have really liked these for a good while now, and finally took a test drive last weekend. The showroom we visited was in Milton Keynes, and is just down the left hand side of the Xscape Sportscentre. Very busy it was too, with many people in and out, all very interested in this unique car.

Anyway we hung around and queued for a test drive in a Smart & Passion. I could have bought one there and then, I was hooked before I'd even driven one. Currently the vehicles are only available Left-hand drive, this may put some people off, but given the car is just 1.8M wide, all-round visibility really is not compromised at all. RHD drives will become available at the end of the year or early next year. I do not think residual values of the LHD will be affected as I hear that one and two year old smarts on import are losing very little money.

The driving position is quite high in the car, despite its size. I was comfortable quite quickly and put the car to the test for 10 minutes, around a few roundabouts and up a few dual carriageway roads in MK. I was really impressed, the steering was so light, and the engine in the car (just 600cc but turbocharged) was very responsive and certainly much more springier and livelier than my 1.1L Punto! The engine is designed and built by Mercedes Benz, also part of the Daimler group.

The car is really well equipped even from standard so whether you go for the Pure, Pulse, Passion or Passion Cabrio, you really get a lot of car for your money.
On all models expect ABS, EBD (electronic brake distribution), 6 speed semi-automatic gearbox (sequential and clutchless). If you go for the Pulse you get a more powerful
engine, which puts out 65BHP, as opposed to the 45BHP of the Pure.

If you choose the Passion (which I will be doing!) then the engine give you 56BHP, so a little less nippy than the Pulse, but you get air-conditioning and a gearbox which can be moved from semi-automatic to automatic at the mere touch of a button as you drive!

If you feel brave you can go for the top end Passion cabrio which has a fully automatic soft-top, it really looks cool, but I?m not too much of a soft-top fan, given we only get about 3 weeks of soft-top weather per year!

The car is really economical according to the sales staff, and this is backed up by the brochure and the on line brochure at www.thesmart.co.uk. You should expect 50MPG or more. Perfect, given today?s spiralling petrol costs. The continent has a CDI diesel version of the Smart which may appear over here, but if you want 80MPG and more at the moment then you need to go over to France or somewhere and buy one. Check the international version of the Smart website at www.smart.com for more information.

Safety isn't compromised on the Smart, it is clear a lot of money has been invested in the vehicle from the ground up. The car is only 2.5M long and as such is a 2 seater. The seats are reinforced, and the rear of the car has a special safety cell, which looks part of the cars styling, but is in fact helps the car to absorb crash energy in the unfortunate event of a crash. Indeed it's one of the safest small cars around.

Prices of the Smart range from the £6200 mark for the Pure, £7000 for the Passion and £9500 for the Passion Cabrio. There only only six dealers at the moment in the UK, but I have been told this will increase to around 100 in a short while.
All in all I was really impressed the short drive I took, and have booked a longer test drive on this coming weekend. I hope to purchase one (the high spec Passion) in the next few weeks. I will update my opinion accor
dingly after ownership!

For a great independant owners website check www.smart-owner.co.uk

~~~The ratings below do not all apply as I'm reviewing a test drive and my inital findings and thoughts of this car~~~

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