I’m not sure how “classic” a Smart is just yet, but you don’t see Brabus-tuned variants very often. But yes, you can indeed get your Smart ForTwo with big seventeen inch wheels and a turbocharged 1.0 three-cyl, good for sixty in about nine seconds (actually the US didn’t even get the turbo). Something you do see rather often, however, is shameless advertising and these days, that includes this rolling banner for an estate attorney. These are fast times; too fast for either discretion or such sluggish-looking Smart. Too bad business isn’t healthy enough for a Brabus-tuned E-class convertible.
Yes, that twelve-cylinder monster will kick ass and take names, making whichever stiff who stiffed you in planning their estate will regret their negligence. This Smart doesn’t quite have the same effect, does it? A shame; I think a rear-engined car with a turbo three-pot would be a lot of fun, but only if the packaging weren’t so dorky. Longer and lower, please.
Yes, if it’s efficient packaging you’re after, it can be done with a lot more character. For those who can read Katakana (more Japanese car nerds than you might guess), that mudflap reveals this to be a Toyota HiAce; nice find, and is that a Previa I spy ahead of it? Distant relatives reunited–perfect.
Yes, a Canadian landscaper is enjoying this trusty beast thanks to more accommodating customs regulations concerning automobiles up north. If the vehicle your business chooses says anything about the quality of your work, this cabover cutie tells customers they might expect a dash of creativity and resourcefulness. At any rate, it gives a better impression than the vulgar Smart, which alerts all your neighbors that you don’t get along with your family.
Thanks to robadr1 for capturing these uncommon cars.
That Smart is a LAWYER’S car. And we all know that lawyers don’t get along with ANYBODY.
Except in Philadelphia, where there are both lawyers and piles of brown flakes that never made it to Curbside Classic status.
They rusted in the Mid-atlantic? Did not know that.
Lawyers like these haven’t heeded Lincoln’s advice: “Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser — in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.
Never stir up litigation. A worse man can scarcely be found than one who does this. Who can be more nearly a fiend than he who habitually overhauls the register of deeds in search of defects in titles, whereon to stir up strife, and put money in his pocket? A moral tone ought to be infused into the profession which should drive such men out of it.”
Funnily enough, there has been a Smart advertising ‘no win, no fee’ accident compensation around my local railway station here in the UK, so it goes on all around the world on the same type of car.
That first picture made me think of a bumper sticker I saw around 25 years ago, that even as a young lad I remembered – ‘Keep death off the road, drive on the pavement’.
Hmmm, that Smart just opens a whole lot of promotional opportunities, doesn’t it.
waddyameantheaccidentisntyourfault.com? 🙂
or . . . bringmeadecentcaseandicangetabettercar.com.
There are smart cars all over Portland and Vancouver. I almost always see one everytime I go over the bridge to Portland. As an easy to park four wheeled motorcycle with a trunk and protection from the weather they’re great, but I suspect they’d be hell on a long interstate trip. Their mileage (34 city 38 highway) isn’t that much better than the larger, quieter, less expensive, and more comfortable offerings from elsewhere. Perhaps if they were fully equipped for $10,000 I’d get one and use the money I save for air fare. But for the $14,000 they want, I can get a Versa or Fiesta with manual shifter.
I saw my first all electric Smart out in Vancouver recently. It is a shame the transmission is so awful in the regular Smart. Kills the appeal for me. If I was in a province that gave large handouts for electric car purchases I’d consider an electric Smart for commuting duty. A wreaked one in a few years would make for a neat drive train to swap into say a Fiat 850 Spider.
Yeah, I don’t get these cars at all. I would be the perfect potential customer for something like this–live in Brooklyn, no kids, just looking for something to tool around in on the weekends. Problem is, you can buy a decent small car, something that you can take on the New Jersey Turnpike without fearing for your life, that will fit four people and a couple of suitcases in a pinch, AND that comes with a stick–something like an Accent, Rio, or Versa–that gets the same mileage and costs less. Who is something like the Smart for? The only appeal seems to be that you can park them anywhere, which I must admit, sounds good to me when I’m circling the neighborhood looking for a spot. Otherwise, it just seems like an enclosed roller skate at a premium price.
Believe it or not the type vehicle you have for your business can either bring in customers or drive them away. I owed an engine shop for about 15 years after I retired from the Air Force. We did the usual bread and butter rebuilding for stores and garages but our gravy was race engines. I had an old Chevy that came with the place when I bought it. I had folks that raced all kinds of cars coming in. Then I built a 53 Dodge. The Chevy guys quit coming in. I still did Chevy engines but I didn’t have a Chevy so they wouldn’t come in. But I started getting a lot more Mopar guys.
I recently got the chance to drive a Smart for the first time ever, and they do have a certain whimsy that I would equate with driving a Isetta or Gogomobil back in 1950’s-60’s America, they have the same “fish out of water” feeling, and even though the Smart has been sold here for a while now, you still do get stares.
As for the drive, its pretty odd, the transmission is fairly awful, it drives like a manual car being driven by someone who is driving a manual for the first time ever, the engine is buzzy under boil, though they aren’t as slow as I thought it would be, 50mph was attained with little drama, though I imagine that stepping on it at 70mph would put it under strain, the brake pedal is hinged at the floor, like an old Beetle, which I thought was funny.
I could see the appeal if it was cheaper, bridging the gap between scooter and a “real” car, maybe as something sold under $10,000, but at the prices that they go for, there are better and more practical alternatives, still, it does have some character, and for some people, thats enough.
I think they’re pretty cool from an engineering standpoint, and the switchgear and stuff is fairly substantial, as is the structure. I just would prefer all that character in a somewhat less dorky shell; doesn’t need to be sexy, but maybe a stretched version with four doors OR a three-door liftback would be preferable.
Either way, though, they seem to give off a cheap vibe to people who can’t appreciate their engineering or who can’t get past the image enough to do so. Not the best car for a lawyer…?
The new model coming out next year will be available as a four-door – and apparently they’ve also fixed the transmission.
For some reason, a co-worker bought a new one in the past 6 months. Haven’t ridden in it, but did sit in it and looked it over. I guess he’s happy with it. Personally, for what it costs, there are at least a dozen late model cars I’d have chosen over that, and most of them would come close to the same highway MPG. As a matter of fact, a 2013 or 14 Dodge Dart with a 6-speed stick could get better fuel mileage, as well as carry more people and stuff. And, likely also true for a stick Focus, Cruze or Civic.
Being a Manhattan resident, like Leatherstocking, I guess I would in theory at least be the target buyer for something like this—“you can park it anywhere”. In fact, some people have asked why I don’t buy a little car.
But, it’s almost as though the only people who would really need something like this…don’t really need it. This is not a Smart-bash, but rather, a perplexed musing on the purpose of such a car.
What I mean is, in the city itself, going from place to place I don’t really need a car at all. If you live in the kind of place where actually parking requires something so go-karty, you walk, you take the subway, the bus, a cab, car service. You don’t drive from place to place on your own. If I want to go out downtown, I don’t hop in my car and drive downtown.
There are two occasions on which I use a car in which it is absolutely necessary. (1) leaving the city for the weekend. (2) leaving the city for court in a non-train accessible location.
The most times I have ever actually needed to use a car was twice in one week, when I had to go to Connecticut for two court appearances. I have chosen to use it more (e.g., choosing to take a road trip) but that was my choice.
Now, admittedly, I do have a car. A big boat of a car, in fact. That I keep in Queens, and would, if I felt like paying 4 times that price, keep in the garage across the street. But if I were really being honest, I could survive just fine by renting cars, maybe being part of Zipcar. The big boat is mine because I didn’t like my options for rental cars (basically because the Panthers were no longer available), and because I always wanted a car whenever I felt like it without having to plan reservations in advance (e.g. I suddenly have plans for Labor Day weekend and don’t have to worry about not being able to get a car, last minute) . It was definitely NOT because there isn’t at least one rental car place every 5 blocks here…there is.
Nor would a Smart car benefit a suburb>Manhattan commuter. First of all, that’s the worst way to get here and leave here during rush hour. In fact until they eliminated the bar cars on the New Haven, it would be hard to argue for a car under any circumstances. But even if you did drive in, the likelihood of parking on the street is not high. That’s not because there’s no space, but rather because almost all of the spaces where businesses are (midtown, downtown) are off limits or 1-hour meter during the day. So it’s not as though you drive in, slip your Smart car into a tiny space, and come back at 7 PM. The Smart will have been towed by then. No, if you drive in, you’ll put the car in a garage, in which case, there’s no point in having a Smart for small parking spaces because, if you want to, you can put a whole Cadillac Fleetwood into a garage, not to mention a Corolla or Focus or other small car.
For those who do use the car to go out of town for work or play, why buy the Smart? You have no practical reason to pick a little tiny car to drive out of the city, as noted you can fit many more people and luggage in even a slightly bigger model like a Focus. Nor do you really derive any benefit from mileage since, using it only for out of town trips, it will not be daily driven. That was actually what led me to get my old Buick initially. I knew it was the kind of car I wished I could rent, and I knew the mileage didn’t matter–seriously, I would not have hesitated to buy a ’71 Electra with the unsmogged 455–because who cares if you get 10 mpg when you drive once a week.
I guess the only place I can see them as being useful is in a city where there is (a) tight parking and (b) implausibly to me, you also HAVE to drive to do anything.
Thus to me (unlike the Prius, which, while I’m not a fan, at least makes sense for long distance commuters and taxis alike), the Smart serves 0 useful purpose.
So why do people here buy Smart cars?
Easy answer: they are cute.
My friends mom has one and she’s like 70, and she bought it for just the reason, they have another regular car, but she likes driving that.
I always thought of a Beetle convertible or Mini Cooper as cute. For whatever reason, I don’t see a Smart in the same category.
Also, the only drivers I’ve seen are men. (proves nothing, just an observation).
Maybe I will buy a Crew Cab Stick Shift Crank Window 4X4 HiAce instead of a Regular Cab (or Extended Cab) Stick Shift Crank Window 4X4 T100 later this decade. Thank you so much for the great idea!
Buy the T100- driven lots of HiAces professionally and while they are rugged and durable, they are bloody uncomfortable and slow. Especially on the open road- they wander badly in the backwash wind from semi-trailers!
In Asian, trucks are trucks, not leather lined privacy chambers. I’ve been in a lot of HiAce’s and they are not the fastest or most comfortable thing. It’s all about ruggedness on these things, not any form of luxury.
Yep No luxury or comfort implied but they will run pretty much for ever given basic maintenance.