Roadster - The Little Car with the Big Attitude (Smart Car)

Member Name: angeelu

Product:	Smart Car
Date:	01/09/04 (7130 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun to drive, They look different, Great fuel consumption

Disadvantages: Not as cheap as I'd like!

SMART ROADSTER

This time last year I would never have thought I'd have enjoyed driving a Smart car... I'd seen them about - the little standard 'eggcup' style ones (dunno why I ended up likening them to an egg cup, but I did, and now I always call them eggcups), and although I don't really remember having seen them on the road, I'd passed the Smart Roadsters at the local Merc garage many a time. (Incidentally, the original Smart cars are now known as ForTwo's... the new four seater version is known as a ForFour, there's an off-roader type vehicle coming out in the not so distant future that'll be known as the ForMore).

In January this year, my boyfriend got a job as a Sales Executive at Smart. Both of us were dubious about the cars just before he started the job, but now I can do nothing but recommend them!

THE LOOKS
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The Smart Roadster looks nothing like the original Smart car. It's low... very low... stylish, and fun looking. Despite thinking of Smart cars as being small it's actually wider than you'd imagine, slightly wider than a lot of small cars (e.g. Fiesta, 206). It's almost got the curves of an Elise, but it's different from any other car on the road. From the front, it's almost as though it has frog eye like headlights, and the contrasting colours make it eye catching.

As with all Smart cars, the Smart Roadster can have either a black or a silver tridion. The tridion is the safety cell surrounding the vehicle that looks more like added styling than added protection. The other panels come in about six different colours - coupled with the fact there are two tridion colours to choose form this makes 12 colour combinations. The Roadster comes in two body shapes - either the standard Roadster shape, or a Roadster-Coupe version, the difference between the two being that the Coupe has a sloped glass rear window at the back which is not remo

ved when the roof is taken off. (Have a look at the website www.thesmart.co.uk to see what I mean).

Both the Roadster and the Roadster-Coupe are very similar inside and outside bar the look of the back end. At first it seems a little difficult sliding into the seat of a Roadster - this is more due to it being lower than a 'normal' car than it being too small. It doesn't take long ot get the hang of getting in and out gracefully rather than legs all over the place! Once sat inside it's surprisingly roomy. There's plenty of leg room even for the taller driver - my boyfriend is about 6' 2" and has no problem with leg space or head room. The driving position is comfortable and feels sporty even with the engine off. Visibility is pretty good, though it takes a bit of getting used to looking over your shoulder. As a driver, looking over your right shoulder you may at first find yourself looking at the tridion, but you can see over your right shoulder - the windows are obviously small, which therefore means you don't have all that much of an opening to look out of. Looking over your left shoulder out of the rear window gives a good view - with the Roadster you are looking out of a straight piece of glass almost right behind you, but with the Radster-Coupe the glass slopes towards the rear of the car, and part of what you'll be looking out of is the slope of the rear section of the roof (which is glass). This doesn't cause a problem, but it took me a while to get used to it.

The inside of the Roadster can be kitted out in a choice of fabrics, or you can go for a leather package that includes heated seats! The heated seats are great in cold weather keeping you bum nice and warm, but the pack costs about £525.

The dash is quite plastic looking, but doesn't look cheap and tacky. The dash is predominantly black, but trimmed with silver, for example around the edge of the dials, on the gear stick, and t
he sp
okes of the steering wheel.

The Roadster and Roadster-Coupe are convertible cars. Both now come with a soft-top as standard, though hard top can be purchased. Some older models came with the option of just a hard top (our 04 reg Coupe has only a hard top). The soft top roof is electric and easy to use. The hard top options are also easy to remove, but are not electric. It's a case of flipping a couple of levers to unlock the panels, then lifting them out. With the Coupe, the hardtop panels (it comes off in two parts) can be safely stored in the rear storage compartment - polystyrene mounts are provided so you can securely fasten the panels on top of each other without them rubbing or sliding about. Both types of Roadster look great with the roof down, though the Coupe certainly looks better when you wind both windows down too.

THE DRIVE
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The Roadsters are 80bhp cars, which is a fair bit for such a small car. Bear in mind that something heavier and larger like a Peugeot 206 (1.4l) is about 75bhp. The car is very nippy and will happily pull away quickly. Being semi automatic can take a while to get used to the gear changes, but once you're comfortable with what the car is capable of it really can give you a fun driving experience.

The cars have a softouch automatic gear programme with kickdown function. You can use the car as a fully automatic, or you can flick the gear lever or paddle shifts up and down your self. The car will still change up or down automatically if you reach rev limits within a gear, but the paddles/lever allow you to change gear earlier etc. The soft touch can be turned on at the press of a button on the side of the gear stick, enabling the kickdown funcation for shifting gear using the accelerator.

The drive is smooth and the engine sounds sporty though not overloud. At higher speeds you can get some wind noise as though the window's not quite done up all the w
ay, but it
's not exactly a problem. Maximum speed is quoted at 112 mph which is plenty fast in such a small car, and it'll do 0-62.5 mph in 10.9 seconds so acceleration is pretty quick too.

Handling is great, and being so low the cars feels like it's really gripping to the road when you take a fast corner. It feels safe to drive at the same time as being a really fun drive. Pulling away at traffic lights and junctions is no problem, as the car will quickly respond.

Air conditioning fitted as standard means you can keep cool even with the roof on. There are two levels of aircon that are activated by the touch of a button on the dash.

PRACTICAL?
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I'm taken with the Roadster - to me it's certainly practical enough. The Coupe certainly offers exceptional storage for the size of the car. The sloped area at the rear of the car is ample sized to fit a large suitcase with room to spare (I have personal experience of this when using the Roadster-Coupe to get to the airport for our recent holiday - there was ample room for a large suitcase and our hand luggage in the rear area of the car). As another example in the back of the Coupe you'll have little problem fitting in a week's grocery shop. There's also a storage area at the front - if you lift the bonnet it'll not reveal the engine, but another storage area.

The Roadster has slightly less storage space than the Roadster Coupe, though that's obvious from the shape. In figures, the Roadster gives you 86 litres in the rear storage area and 59 litres at the front. The Roadster-Coupe gives you 189 litres in the rear area plus the 59 litres at the front.

Being only a two-seater vehicle it's obviously not practical if you're looking for a family car, but then, if you're looking for a family car you wouldn't even be considering this! Customers for the Smart Roadsters range from loaded teenagers (
or those with f
riendly bank managers or parents) who've not long passed their test right up to pensioners! You'd be surprised! If you don't like being looked at it's not a car for you, as it often attracts stares from passing motorists and those walking by.

Fuel consumption is excellent, especially for such a sporty styled car and is approximately 55.4 mpg for combined driving. The Roadsters are compliant with the EU4 exhaust gas standard, which means you pay lower car tax.

PRICES
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The bit you're probably most interested in! The basic price of a brand new Roadster-Coupe is £14,520.00. For the Roadster it's £13,520.00. You can always negotiate a bit with salesmen though! Second-hand Roadsters purchased through Smart can be great value for money, as you get the backing of a Mercedes dealership warranty and the likes when you buy the car.

Roadsters are about an insurance group 8, which is relatively low for a sporty car like this. (Definitely a lot lower than my current group 20 car)!

CUSTOMER SERVICE & AFTERSALES
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Maybe this is the only bit I'll be biased with! Knowing the salesmen at our local Smart dealership I know them to be very polite and helpful. There's always horror stories when car buying is concerned though, so no doubt there'll be someone out there who'll slate the service they've received. As Smart is part of Mercedes all the cars are backed up with a good warranty and aftersales service as standard, and all the cars are thoroughly checked before being handed over.

MY VERDICT
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There are so many things you can mention when writing about or talking about a car that I know I haven't mentioned everything - to do so I'd sound more like a car manual, and for more detailed specs you're better off reading a brochure or visiting the Smart website (www.thesmart.co.uk).
<
br>I love driving th
e Roadster, and if money were no object I'd have one of my own. As our Roadster is my boyfriend's company car it's not ours to keep forever, and I'm not looking forward to his company car being swapped for anything else! Fuel consumption with the Roadsters is great, making them an economical drive, and their size makes them easy to manouevre. They're not so common as the ugly Street Ka or similar small 2 seaters, so owning a Smart Roadster makes you more conspicuous - great if you are proud of your car.

(By the way - if you like the Roadster, but want even more fun out of it, there's a Brabus version which is tuned up more giving it better acceleration and top speeds and the likes!)

My rating - four out of five * * * *

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