Here's A Story About A Satisfied Non-csc Owner

[smart65 28]

Over the years, CsC has attracted at lot of negative posts about the smart. Probably more than 90% of smart owners do not frequent the site. Perhaps there are a lot more satisfied owners out there than we've been led to believe. This is the story of one and a great recommendation of smart Centre Burlington. I consider myself a satisfied owner, and thought it's time to get a really positive post onto the site.

I came across a lady who has 150,000 km on her early 2006 cdi with all servicing done at the same dealership. She had very few negative things to say about her ownership experience, and figures that she has saved many thousands in fuel costs. Her dealership must have been doing first class maintenance to have achieved this level of satisfaction. All decisions about maintenance, I assume, were made by the dealership personnel. They deserve recognition.

I sent her a draft of the article that I was planning, for her approval and/or suggestions. There are some questions at the end which I asked her to consider answering. I only dealt with her through her employer. She answered my original questions over the phone from work. The draft was sent via email to her manager, who said he'd print it out and give it to her. A few days later, having received no reply, I phoned him again, and he assured me that she had received it. A week later, I have concluded that she doesn't feel comfortable revealing any more to me. I don't want to hound her, so have decided to post the draft, with the questions at the end. You can guess what the answers to most would have been, since she is probably a very conservative driver.

The draft follows:

Not long after taking delivery of my car in June 2005, I was approached by a lady who wanted to know what I thought of my smart. I was very upbeat about it, and must have impressed her, because in October she became the owner of 2006 model of her own. About a year later, I met her and told her about ClubsmartCar. I guess she’s not into the car for social reasons, so I don’t think she ever joined our little community. Perhaps she’s not into computers at all. She estimated that she was spending $100/month on fuel as opposed to her other vehicle which had been costing her $1000/month. She works for a drug store delivering prescriptions, among other things. Recently, I discovered that she was still driving the car, so I contacted her to see how it was working out. She sticks with her original estimate of the fuel savings. She’s now got 150,000 km on the odometer, averaging 37,500 km/year. In her 4 years of ownership, at $100/month she’s paid $4,800 for fuel, as opposed to $48,000 she would have spent fueling her Dodge minivan to do the same job. That’s a saving of $43,200.The car was purchased from Garden Motors in Burlington (now known as smart Centre Burlington, according to www.thesmart.ca). It has been exclusively serviced at that facility, and she is very happy with the work they’ve done.

In order to get a feel for the kind of service she’s received from her car, I asked specific questions about common complaints that I’ve seen in posts on CsC. She is not into details like us fanatics. For instance, when I asked her to verify that she had a pure, she “no, it’s a fortwo”. I explained about the trim levels (pure/pulse/passion), but it meant nothing to her. I’m sure it’s a pure, since I remember that it came with steel wheels and a solid roof. When I asked about options, she said that it had none. However, when I mentioned a/c, she said that it has a/c. She also said it has the clock and tach pods. I didn’t go any further with that line of questions.

When the winter tires were installed this year, the technician went over the car and pronounced it a-o/k. She was thinking of getting rid of it, but this made her reconsider. The car is still using the original winter tires, and is on the second set of summers. An alignment was done when the replacement summers were installed. The a/c performed o/k until this year, when it needed a recharge. Not surprisingly, headlights have been a problem, and the lower ball joints were replaced. It’s worth noting that other common complaints were not experienced … for example: door latches, battery (still going strong), winter starting, intercooler, EGR valve, turbo, injectors, glow plugs, wheel bearings, radio aerial, even the brakes are original! She, and I, found it hard to believe that the brakes had not been replaced yet.

Her driving consists of approximately 75% city and 25% highway. Last year she was T-boned in the passenger side by a garbage truck. She was transporting someone to a hospital appointment. Her passenger was unhurt. It is kept in a garage when not on the road.

Questions to be answered in order to flesh out the article:

1. Alternator and a/c belts; ball joints – how many replacements? In our phone conversation you said NO to belts. You probably thought I meant the seat belts. The engine belts are supposed to be replaced every 30,000 km. I opted to have the technician check mine at each regular service. He changed them at my last service at about 75,000 km.

2. Is garage heated?

3. Is an engine heater used to ease starting in the wintertime?

4. Driving speeds - city/highway?

5. Acceleration – fast, slow moderate?

6. What rpm do you shift at?

7. I assume that you don’t have smarttouch (the automatic option). Correct?

8. What comments do you have on the upholstery? The pure was well known for easily staining seats. Did you get seatcovers?

9. Could you give a description of your stopping practices? Do you anticipate stops and let the engine slow the car? Do you avoid sudden stops? My front brake pads were delaminating (becoming detached from the backing plate) and were replaced along with the rotors at my last service.

10. Can you give an estimate of your average fuel economy? Use mpg imperial, km/litre, or litres/100km, or whatever units you want.

11. Do you buy any particular brand of fuel?

12. How long is your shortest trip in the car? The diesel doesn't like short runs. I presume that your drives are usually long enough to warm it up well before the engine is turned off.

Edited December 15, 2009 by smart65

[cappytanjack 0]

A bit one-sided and incomplete (ie lacking a balanced and thorough report) wrt actual ownership costs but a great story just the same. I was looking for total maintenance costs to date as well. While I understand the fuel cost savings as I am experiencing similar savings it would be nice to know what she is paying for her A and B service at said dealership over the years. A follow-up report should cover this. Cappytanjack ...

[bilgladstone 13]

Seriously? Using 10 percent of the fuel she was using before? So if she gets maybe 60 mpg now (75% city/25% hwy), she was getting 6 mpg in the Dodge minivan?

And following the article, she's paying $100/mo for let's call it 105 litres of fuel. That's like... 23.3 gallons for uh... 1,875 miles per month.. = 80.4mpg

80mpg [ya, ya: 3.5l/100km] @ 75% city driving? Colour me skeptical on this one, my friend. The numbers just don't add up for me I'd have to see some receipts and mileage records on that.

Virtually the only smarts (3 dozen or so out of 3,321) in spritmonitor.de who are showing sub 3.5 lifetime are pre-face-lift (before 2005) European Diesels.

Things that make you go, "Hmm... "

Bil

[smart65 28]

As I stated, the person is non-responsive at this point. I have related all that she told me in the only conversation we had. I will call her dealership to ascertain the standard charges that they levy for A/B services, and post the answer I get. I believe my dealer (Oakville) charges something like $69 and $169 which is reasonable, assuming that they actually carry out all the checks that are called for. She would have had two of each of the services per year on average. The battery must have been well maintained for it to have lasted this long. With so few repairs, her maintenance bill shouldn't have been too high. Regarding her fuel usage: I agree that it sounds fishy, but that was her opinion four years ago, and it remains unchanged today. I am in no position to ferret out any more details from her, but the fact is that she's a very satisfied owner.

[Tardis 3]

It was a pleasant surprise to read somone who not a club member likes her car and it is all she expects it to be. I too am tired of only hearing the negative sides of smart. I know they are in reality the minority and most only come on here to find answers to their problems(which is a good thing btw.) but is is also nice to hear of good stories too.I noticed we used to chat about other things like trips etc but lately it seems we are more into repairs.I miss the old days of fun and frolicok who has had some frolic lately? good report smart65Karen

[gordo.bernard 1]

I assume you only want to know about who has had some frolic recently 'in a smart car'? ...'cause it is pretty cold in the garage right now.

[smart65 28]

Thanks Karen. I was afraid that I let it get a bit wordy, but hoped that I got the point across. I'll try to get out to an event if anyone wants to arrange one. The London ones are a little too far for me at this stage of my recovery. I have been going to band practices in Cambridge lately.

I phoned the Burlington smart Centre (which interestingly still uses "Garden Motors" on its phone introduction). I was quoted $119.40 and $224.20 respectively for A and B services. Two of each per year would cost about $688 for labour.

I then phoned my Oakville dealer, and found that the numbers I quoted from memory were wrong or out-dated. Their quote was $130 and $180 respectively.

I think her maintenance costs for the four years would have been reasonable.

Edited December 16, 2009 by smart65

[MikeT 744]

Yes, nice story, but the FE numbers are whacked, especially for the van.

[Onyx11 0]

Color me skeptical too ! ! I am not a fanatic like some of the members of this forum and I know very little of cars in general, I rely on my brothers for advice HOWEVER . . . I know I have a 2008 Passion model and I know what has be fixed or replaced in my vehicle and knew for my former minivan too (not the Tempo cuz I inherited it from my dying step father about 6 months before it was retired). My FE -- I tell people and I compared for the first about 6 months - I was paying about 40 - 60 a week for fuel in the Ford Tempo ( 4 cylinder) I was driving -- I now pay between 15 - 25 a week for fuel for Onyx so I say about 1/3 as much. Having an owned a minivan myself before that I was not paying 150 - 250 a week to fuel it - which is what I would have been to have comparable FE. My driving is 99.9% city driving.So great she loves her car and has had minimal problems but you were talking to someone who by description is even less "into" her car than I am and quite possibly considered your "50" questions intrusive and unnecessary. Personally I would not want any of you to be asking me all those questions about my car. I come to CSC for ideas and thoughts to ponder (some of you are extremely opinionated about things and when asked the question What color is that building? (translate to a car question) -- The answers would be as diverse as : definitely black, no doubt about how could anybody fathom to think anything elseWhite it is as obvious as the nose on your faceWell color is a subjective thing it depends on your position when viewing it and the angle of the sun at the timeColor who cares about color, how many floors in it and much many rooms inside.Well I am sure you get the idea. So I take all comments / questions / answers with a grain of salt. Mill them over in my own mind for awhile and then speak to my brothers for their thoughts on the matter and then decide on my own what I will or won't do and will or won't believe. Just my 2 cent worth //// IMHO syllables.

[bilgladstone 13]

Regardless of what we believe, thanks for relating this story of someone who believes in her smart car!

B

[Loveyorks 0]

Regardless of what we believe, thanks for relating this story of someone who believes in her smart car!

B

For whatever it's worth- I've had my bug (passion 2008) for over 2 years, have been to the garage twice only for stuff other than reg. inspections, put an average of $25 to $35 of gaz every 1 1/2 week , drive about 55K+ per day (75% highway) and weekends of course, running errands. I love my little car (except when the wind is high)