Not looking good for smart is it?

[madDan]

Current best top 10 city cars in AutoExpress

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-reviews/65220/best-city-cars

Considering the smart is designed primarily as a city car, it doesn't seem to be working.

Will the next iteration attract people or have them running to the hills?

[problemchild1976]

Re: Not looking good for smart is it?

Because its quite expensive, unrealiable, crappy customer services, only 2 seats, expensive to run and no longer quirky

JJ

[Thrumbleux]

Re: Not looking good for smart is it?

Because its quite expensive, unrealiable, crappy customer services, only 2 seats, expensive to run and no longer quirky

JJ

I think you just did define them as quirky. Unless 'quite expensive, unrealiable, crappy customer services, only 2 seats, expensive to run' are virtues not quirks.

[J500ANT]

Re: Not looking good for smart is it?

It's Auto Express, the Beano of car journals.

(Off topic I know, but a few weeks ago they tested a £40k Vauxhall Cascada with something else £40k [BMW?] and an £80k Audi RS5 cabrio. £80k!!! And of course the Audi won, but why not test against a base Audi?)

[putzie]

Re: Not looking good for smart is it?

well since you own a roadster i guess that means your better than everyone else lol

[madDan]

Re: Not looking good for smart is it?

well since you own a roadster i guess that means your better than everyone else lol

Paul what on earth are you on about?

Apart from you having a cheap petty shot at me that is?

I actually do take an interest in smarts, and just because I don't own every model it doesn't mean I don't wonder about what is happening to the make of car!

It just seems a shame that since the downsized back to one model to concentrate on what they were supposedly good at, and that they seem to losing out to other makes of car who let's face it in its class are hardly inspiring.

[RacingSnake]

Re: Not looking good for smart is it?

well since you own a roadster i guess that means your better than everyone else lol

Steady on chap.
Don't you own a roadster? you had that all-silver jap import?

[RacingSnake]

Re: Not looking good for smart is it?

The current model 451 is now 6 years ish old.
It's due a replacement to just keep up with the times (IMO). My mother-in-law was looking for a new city car - she didn't like the fact the smart was 'unsafe', and wanted a 107 because that's what her friend has!!.
I tried to get her to pick up a new picanto, but in the end she has just bought an i10.

fwiw, I still think our 2001 450 is pretty much the perfect city car (if it hadn't just dropped a cylinder).

[Thrumbleux]

Re: Not looking good for smart is it?

Just for starters three of the cars in the top four are one car - from VAG. (You either believe in the whole VAG is best myth - or don't).The IQ wouldn't have happened without the fortwo. The 500 is more style over substance. Kia and Hyundai have sussed the way to sell cars to a family is to advertise to the family - unlike the usual and fast becoming outmoded 'aim the ad at the male breadwinner'. The Twingo is about to become a smart and the Aygo is as ugly as sin and as desirable as a Jim'l Fix It badge.
Fortwo and the Panda are strong contenders still. But smart have to address the MHD problems - pronto.
Smart with the fortwo created this segment.

[MrPoo]

Re: Not looking good for smart is it?

I've been saying for a while that smart seem intent on destroying their own brand. They've 'dumbed down' all the fun in the car, boring interior, silly money for anything other than flat black, white, silver or red panels, endless reems of identical cars coming off the production line etc etc. It's lost what set it aside from the rest of the cars on the road. Not to mention, they've lost all interest in The Smart Festival, insist on still selling MHD's which is the new catastrophic failure to carry smart's name (unbelievably, it seems worse than the 450 premature rebuild problem), took forever to fix the fault on the 54bhp CDI's. I could go on all day.

It's due a replacement to just keep up with the times (IMO). My mother-in-law was looking for a new city car - she didn't like the fact the smart was 'unsafe', and wanted a 107 because that's what her friend has!!.

I think that's another problem, people still perceive 4 seater cars as safer, regardless of whether they're putting their passengers/children in the crumple zone of a car not ncap tested for rear impact.

[Thrumbleux]

Re: Not looking good for smart is it?

I've been saying for a while that smart seem intent on destroying their own brand. They've 'dumbed down' all the fun in the car, boring interior, silly money for anything other than flat black, white, silver or red panels, endless reems of identical cars coming off the production line etc etc. It's lost what set it aside from the rest of the cars on the road.

Victims of their own success to some extent. Having created the segment (by making a very small car desirable and with the safety features which would have kept many away from a small car) the burgeoning sector now demands that the cars be more like larger cars. Offering high end expensive options is fine - but there must always be an affordable bare bones entry level model as at least part of the appeal of small cars for some is rooted in minimalism. Referring to Pure as ''poverty spec'' (when the 450 Pure even had electric windows and the full panoply of electronic safety aids) hasn't helped.

I think that's another problem, people still perceive 4 seater cars as safer, regardless of whether they're putting their passengers/children in the crumple zone of a car not ncap tested for rear impact.

Two particularly British myths are that a car must be manual (rubbish - manuals are for control freaks unwilling to try anything new) and that more is, well, more. Hence for the same money the tendency to veer toward a four seater even though the rear seats aren't required. This despite the inevitable compromises inherent in building a light four seater (particularly in regard to ride comfort over the whole - now extended - load capacity range). The genius of smart was to focus everything around only two occupants.
That smart are losing their way is undeniable though. AMG versions of a FWD A-Class (and the likes) is where MB's attention appear to be targeted currently. Taking the A-Class as far from its roots as they are taking the fortwo from its.

[problemchild1976]

Re: Not looking good for smart is it?

The AMG A-class is 4WD

And any car that has a bonnet and boot is easier to make safer than a safety cell with very little area to crush.

I see autos as taking half the fun out of driving

JJ

[Thrumbleux]

Re: Not looking good for smart is it?

The AMG A-class is 4WD

Yes, even further from its roots than merely its packaging.

And any car that has a bonnet and boot is easier to make safer than a safety cell with very little area to crush.

And harder to find a parking space for. So far from the original A-Class MB only have fortwos to fulfil that role now.

I see autos as taking half the fun out of driving

JJ

Yes, reinstate a gated stick change with clutch pedal in all F1 cars right now! It's what all the drivers are screaming out for.

The same clutch pedal that denies left foot braking. You can never be as quick over an unknown (sometimes even a known) road using your right foot for braking as using your left. Which is why the ancient concept of a manual box is better binned. It's only a matter of time anyway. Only Luddites delaying the inevitable...

[putzie]

Re: Not looking good for smart is it?

Paul what on earth are you on about?

Apart from you having a cheap petty shot at me that is?

I actually do take an interest in smarts, and just because I don't own every model it doesn't mean I don't wonder about what is happening to the make of car!

It just seems a shame that since the downsized back to one model to concentrate on what they were supposedly good at, and that they seem to losing out to other makes of car who let's face it in its class are hardly inspiring.

maybe it is a cheap shot but its not like you never tell anyone there faults or how rubbish their car is now while looking down at them !

[madDan]

Re: Not looking good for smart is it?

maybe it is a cheap shot but its not like you never tell anyone there faults or how rubbish their car is now while looking down at them !

I guess that's your opinion, there was me thinking I actually try to help people where I can, I occasionally have a joke but hey ho!