New York Times, tonight !

[a2jack 1]

Smart is getting more and more good press. This is in their business section tonight.

http://nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Da...-Smart-Car.html

[Schmimbo 0]

Wow, Nice article. Sounds good. Also sounds scary for those thinking of reserving now that 2009 is more like your time table.We will see once they start rolling out. Nice article and find.Tim

[Shydog 0]

My Wife and I have had our Smart Pulse for a little over a month now and have driven it for about 700Km. Although we are happy with the car and find it a big improvement over the Mexican-built Opel she had before, I have a few issues. Aside from the transmission, which I’m still not completely comfortable with, I’m not really satisfied with the quality of the car. Although it’s put together OK, I think the material used could be better. The carpet edges are simply cut and not bordered, the plastic on the rear hatch and other trim pieces could be a few mm thicker and the rubber seals feel as if they will give me problems in a few years. I realize the Smart needed to be inexpensive but if Mercedes had constructed a factory in one of the former Eastern European Countries instead of France, where labor is more expensive, the savings could have been put into better materials. Also, the car has several rattles and squeaks when driving the city streets. Granted, there are a lot of roads in Mexico which are pretty bumpy but this isn’t an issue with my VW which is running Bilstein Sport Suspension. I expected the Smart to be as tight as a Mercedes. The set-up of the outside mirrors is a problem for me as well. The C pillars create a bit of a blind spot which could be solved if the mirrors were a little more convex. And I don’t understand why Mercedes didn’t put an aspheric mirror on the driver’s side. Something else which is more of a personal problem is the light switch. I have to make a conscious effort not to turn on the Rear Fog when switching on the lights. Positioning the Rear Fog on the same panel as the Front Fog would be better and more logical but probably more expensive.

[Razorback 0]

Shydog; Now tell us what you really like about the smart?

[yellow bumble bee 3]

There are very few new 451s on the road in Canada as they are having some difficulties with one of the modules on the car. My understanding that they will be released to the owners starting on December 15th. Sorry to hear about your concerns. I dont know what you can do about the quality of materials that have gone into manufacturing the smart. Squeaks and rattles. I keep a small notebook in my smart and if I hear any squeaks and rattles I try to identify where they are, write it down so when I go in for a service I have a record of my concerns. Also in Canada on the first "A" service they are suppose to go around and tighten up all the fasteners (srews/nuts) on the car. If this is part of the first "A" service in Mexico make damn sure it gets done. Hope that gets rid of the squeaks and rattles.Blind spots. I have a little round stick on mirror on each of the pillars. I have positioned them so that I can see any cars that are in my blind spot on each side of the car.BSS can be purchased at a price for the smart. I am sure that someone on the board here that has it can tell you how that has improved their older model smart. In Canada, the old model smart does not have foglights so I can not help you there.Hang in there and I hope this has been of some help.Roy

[deezle 0]

We've had our smart for three years, and have yet to hear any squeaks or rattles. I've been pleasantly surprised in that regard. Maybe Canadian roads are that much better than the Mexican ones that you have driven on, or perhaps it's that six-pack of Corona's in your trunk?

[Shydog 0]

Thanks. The Dealer here thinks small trim rattles and squeaks is normal. The surfaces of a lot of city streets here are pretty bad (in comparison with North America) so I think I'm stuck. On smoother surfaces, the noises go away. If the mirrors had a bit more of a bend to them, the blind spots would be gone. If I move my head forward a few centimeters, I can see into the blind spot. In my Audis, I have a 360°+ vision without having to move because the mirrors seem to be more convex than those of the Smart.What do I like about the car? It's easy to drive, easy to park, fuel consumption is very, very good in comparison to other cars available in Mexico and it suits my Wife and I for almost all of our travel needs. The purchase price was relatively inexpensive, it has ABS, ESP, Airbags, meets all European safety standards and Mercedes Benz profited from our purchase. The biggest problem for Smart owners in Mexico (I don't know about CDN but this is also true for many States in the USA) is taxes and insurance. Car owners here pay taxes and insurance on the book value of the car. Consequently, we are paying the government and insurance company more to drive our Smarts than someone with a Pickup or 5 Liter Chevrolet. I can't see this not being an issue in North America as well. Other than making a statement, why would someone buy an environmentally friendly Smart (as opposed to Toyota Yaris for example) when the Government thanks him by charging him more taxes than if he drove a 5 year old V8 powered SUV?