A Skateboard With An Engine (Smart Car)

Member Name: kenjohn

Product:	Smart Car
Date:	03/05/04 (4744 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great fun to drive

Disadvantages: Totally impractical

SMART ROADSTER
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~ ~ Cars often reflect their owner?s personalities. If you don?t believe me, then take a good look around you the next time you?re stuck in a traffic jam or at a red light.

~ ~ A quick glance at the range of modern cars shows that those with introverted personalities are well catered for, with a plethora of similar, bland models, with about as much style and personality as their similarly bland and boring owners.
For extroverts the choice can become a little more difficult. There are plenty ?extrovert?s? cars on the market, the only problem being that while you may see yourself driving a McLaren SLR or Ferrari, your bank manager may be of the opinion that you are more suited to a 1980 Ford Cortina!
So when a car like the new Smart Roadster comes along, priced at an affordable ?26,995, (well, fairly affordable) then it?s time for all extroverts to sit up and take notice.

~ ~ Smart cars (by Mercedes) are relative newcomers to the Irish market, although they have long been the small car of choice for fashion conscious yuppies in Europe, as a stroll along any Rome or Paris boulevard will quickly reveal.
The problem with the Smart ?Four-Two? city car is basically just that; it?s a car designed primarily for use on city streets, and few would consider using it for a two-week motoring holiday, or indeed even for a wee trip down the country.
So the clever (smart?) people at Smart have been busily beavering away to expand their model range, and late last year the new Smart Roadster made its first appearance on Irish roads. The design influence of Mercedes cohorts in building the Smart range, the watch designers ?Swatch?, is again apparent as soon as you look at the Roadster. It?s a fashion statement ?ext
raordanaire?!
I first noticed one when it flashed past my taxi on the motorway to the airport, and when I later spotted it sitting outside one of the city?s main Mercedes dealerships, well, I could hardly resist, now could I?
I tried to get my hands on it for a whole weekend, but the dealership was having none of it, as the demand for test drives was far outstripping the number of cars they had available. So the best I could manage was to borrow it from the late Saturday afternoon to early Monday morning. More than long enough to put it through its paces though.

~ ~ So what does the Smart Roadster look like?
Let?s just say that it?s every bit as distinctive in appearance as its little brother, the Four-Two. If the Four-Two is a ?shoebox on wheels? (as I described it in my review) then the Smart Roadster is a ?motorised skateboard?.
It reminded me of a sort of retro-style, somewhat shrunken sports car, with overtones of the old Austin Healey ?frog-eye? Sprite, and just a dash of the old Triumph TR7 thrown in for good measure. Whatever, it certainly fits well into the old two-seater tradition of providing a fun motoring experience, with the absolute minimum of practicality!
The tiny 698cc engine practically hangs off the back of the car, leaving just the smallest of parcel shelves behind the two seats. With a bit of luck you might just about manage to fit in a couple of magazines and your morning paper, but even then it will probably be a wee bit of a squeeze! There?s an equally small, shallow space beneath the front bonnet, which will accommodate one (soft) sports bag and little else. So if you?re going away anywhere for a short (or long) break, then you?d be wise to travel VERY light, or else make some alternate arrangement to send on your luggage! If I were going for a game o
f my beloved golf (as I?ve been known to do on the odd occasion, heh, heh) I reckon I?d have to fit it with a tow bar and trailer to take along my clubs and electric caddycart!

~ ~ Inside is a bit of a revelation.
You would expect looking at the car that you would need to wedge yourself into the driver?s seat with a shoehorn, but there?s actually a surprising amount of space once you settle in on the somewhat hard sports seats. The other surprising thing is that the seats are really rather comfortable, despite their hardness, and don?t leave you feeling like a half shut knife after you?ve been behind the wheel for a while.
One little crib that I have is that the pedals seem to be a bit out of synch, with a definite bias to the left-hand side of the foot well, which left me feeling just slightly uncomfortable all the time I was driving it. I suppose you?d get accustomed to it in time, but it is a fault, and one that Smart would do well to address.

~ ~ It has the usual hard plastic facia and dashboard, but the nice retro-style dials and instruments stop it looking bland, as does the aluminium trim they use extensively throughout the cabin.
The roof system is clever, consisting of both a hard and a soft top, which can be used either separately or together. What?s nice about the soft top is that you can be fully opened or closed simply at the flick of a switch, even while you are moving, so you don?t have to pull in and go through a whole complicated rigmarole involving switches and clips as you had to do on old-fashioned sports cars. (My own old Triumph Spitfire jumps immediately to mind!)

~ ~ I know what your next question is. What?s it like to drive then?
The first thing you notice when you turn on the ignition (located beside the gearbox) is the throaty roar that emanates from the exhaust. In true sports car tradition it fairly spits and gur
gles at you, and produces far more noise than a small engine decently should!
Like it?s little brother the Four-Two, the six-speed, semi-automatic gearbox is a mixture of both manual and automatic. It doesn?t have a clutch, and you can either change gears manually using the gear lever, or use the fully automatic mode. It also has little paddles on the steering wheel, the same as they use on modern Formula One cars, that you can use when you want to make a speedy gear change. Unfortunately, also like its little brother, the gear changes are a bit lumpy and jumpy, especially in the lower gears, and you have to really watch yourself in traffic, or you could be up the backside of the car in front of you before you knew it!
It comes with all the ?bells and whistles? we?ve come to expect on modern cars these days. There?s anti-lock braking (ABS) so you won?t get into any nasty skids by locking up your wheels. Power steering so you don?t have to grow extra arm muscles to steer it. (Although the car is so light you probably wouldn?t even need it, to be honest) A very attractive set of 15? alloy wheels and tyres to help keep you on the road, and a pair of airbags just in case you DO manage to lose control somehow or other!

~ ~ Performance wise it?s no slouch, especially considering that it has a 3-cylinder petrol 698cc engine that?s smaller than you would expect to find on the average motorbike! It will reach 60mph in just a tad over 10 seconds, and go on to take you to a top speed of 109mph. But to get the best performance out of the car you have to be prepared to work the gearbox very hard, and make full use of the 80bhp at your disposal.
But you are SO close to the tarmac you feel as though you?re sitting on a skateboard, which gives you the impression you?re travelling FAR faster than you are in reality. It?s very deceptive. At one poin
t I felt like I was topping 70mph on a country lane, but when I glanced down at the speedometer it was barely nudging 50mph!
This can be a wee bit dodgy in overtaking situations. You feel like you can blast your way past practically anything on the road, when in fact the engine ?tops out? fairly quickly, which could easily leave you hanging out to dry with no more acceleration to get you out of a potentially dangerous situation.
The good acceleration and handling are down to the plastic body panels that Smart use in the construction, which means the car is very light, and so the engine doesn?t have to work so hard. These plastic body panels also mean that it?s relatively inexpensive to repair any bumps or scratches you might happen to pick up along the way. You can even buy different coloured ones if you fancy a complete change of image at some stage in the future!

~ ~ On a straight road or motorway you feel as though you?re fairly belting along, and the car handles beautifully. But once you get off the beaten track onto some of the country lanes and side roads that abound here in Ireland, the Roadster gets decidedly ?twitchy? at the rear. Thankfully, it has an Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) fitted as standard, which will cover up all but the most drastic driver?s errors. If you feel like having a ?real? driving experience, then this ESP system can be turned off, but I wouldn?t really advise it unless you have some rallying experience, as you could very easily end up in the nearest ditch, even at relatively slow speeds.
The suspension and springs are grand, and it dealt admirably with the many potholes that abound on Irish roads. (Especially the ?B? roads)

~ ~ Economy wise it won?t stretch your motoring budget.
Around town the quoted consumption figures are a frugal 45mpg, and you?ll easily achieve over 6
5mpg on a long run. This gives a combined fuel economy figure of about 55mpg, which is fantastic for a small sports car.
Obviously, since I only had the car for a couple of days, I can?t comment on its reliability or the cost of servicing. But given that it?s made by Mercedes, I wouldn?t imagine you?d run into too many serious problems.
And because it has such a small engine then you shouldn?t be stung TOO badly on insurance, although I believe there are some insurance companies quoting it as a ?sports car? and loading the cost proportionally. Here in Ireland, AXA Insurance are offering the best insurance quotes for the Roadster. (I can?t comment about the UK though)

~ ~ So would I personally buy one, and who will the car most appeal to?
No is the answer to the first part of the question. While the Smart Roadster is without question an exciting wee car to drive, it?s totally and completely impractical for the average family motorist, unless it is being bought simply as a ?fun? car. Personally, I think it?s a bit too expensive for what you get, especially when you consider you could buy a new Mini Cooper, Mazda MX-5 Roadster, or the likes of a StreetKa or Alfa Romeo 147 for just about the same amount of money.
But it WILL appeal to the young, fashion conscious trendsetter, who will delight in the heads it turns as they drive it down the road, and who will look on it as a fashion accessory as much as a mode of transport.

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Irish Prices

Smart Roadster ?26,995
Smart Roadster (Coupe) ?28,995

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UK Prices (Source ?motorcities.com?)

Smart Roadster £13,495
Smart Roadster (Coupe) £14,495

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© Ken&#
74; May 2004

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