steveyfrac Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 My 450 required $12k in repairs in the three months I owned it. Conversely, my 451 ED has been a pleasure to drive for about a year and a half now. I'm seriously not seeing the 451 as being more problematic... Less soulful with the lack of diesel, perhaps. The dash isn't as wonky crazy as the 450, which I liked about the 450. But the 451 is actually for more reliable.In fact, TrueDelta.com rates the 451 reliability as being pretty awesome, almost Toyota like, at 31 repairs per 100 cars per year, or, on average, needing one repair every three years ~ish. Toyota is about 25 - 28 repairs per 100 cars per year, on average, for vehicles about this age, and your average GM / Ford is 35 - 40.So, overall, pretty good! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT Posted January 5, 2016 Author Share Posted January 5, 2016 You seriously paid out $12K in three months in repairs on a smart 450? Oy vey! Sorry to say, but that is just frikkin nuts. December 2015: USA: 669 cars (lowest since 2010) Canada: TBA Total Sales for 2015: USA: 7484 (lowest since 2011) Canada: TBA I am starting to wonder if the volume over here is sufficient for Daimler to sustain the model. But, there was a major interruption in vehicle supply in mid-2015. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveyfrac Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 It was under warranty. They replaced the steering wheel, and steering column three times, in an attempt to fix an electric gremlin, in which the traction control system would report that the steering wheel angle was improbable. It's a $3000 part.Then the turbocharger blew. Now, normally, when the turbo blows, the oil seal goes, and you end up with no turbo, and a gutless car.When it happened to me, the exhaust turbine mechanically disintegrated, and then she started pumping bits of flaming turbocharger back through the EGR and into the engine, where it did thousands of dollars of damage to the internals.Then, while the car was in the lot, it was hit by a car, and Mercedes had to pay to fix that all up.The three months I owned my 450, where some of the best months I've ever had driving a loaner B Series, to say the least. But I loved the driving so much, I came back for more. Hopefully this isn't a 'fool me twice' type situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT Posted January 5, 2016 Author Share Posted January 5, 2016 Lemon. Well yeah I hope your present one doesn't grenade too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT Posted January 6, 2016 Author Share Posted January 6, 2016 I got the December and 2015 totals for Canada just now: December 2015: 36 cars sold (lowest sales ever for December) - of which 7 were the 451 ED. So: 29 453s. Total in 2015: 716 cars sold, the worst result since smart came here in 2004, when it was on sale for just over 3 months but sold 199 cars more than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huronlad Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 With only 847 451 and 453 imported last year, it is hard to sell a car when you have next to none available to sell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT Posted January 6, 2016 Author Share Posted January 6, 2016 How many 453s are in the country? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huronlad Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 IIRC 550. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT Posted January 6, 2016 Author Share Posted January 6, 2016 So why are they so slow to import them, I wonder. We should start getting tons of them now if the gap in supply was that bad in 2015 and they expect to be able to sell say 2500-3500 a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huronlad Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 The last shipments were 65 and 95 units which is a huge increase from the previous 10-20 unit shipments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_18 Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 The gas price is not very high, it doesn't web for sale too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoFaster Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 I've seen exactly one 453 out in the wild. The dealer in Brampton has a couple of them out front. I don't think the average person knows they exist as there has been NO advertising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT Posted January 7, 2016 Author Share Posted January 7, 2016 I have seen exactly none. And today on a 5 minute walk in small town Duncan BC I saw 4 450s and 1 451.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoonen Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 I've seen exactly one 453 out in the wild. The dealer in Brampton has a couple of them out front. I don't think the average person knows they exist as there has been NO advertising. Well with less then a 100 coming in a month I'm going to assume there isn't much money in the pot for advertising. I honestly havent seen a single one in my travels which is disappointing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huronlad Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 I see no point in advertising until the full line-up is available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brd Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 I've seen exactly one 453 out in the wild. The dealer in Brampton has a couple of them out front. I don't think the average person knows they exist as there has been NO advertising. I have seen several on the road in the west GTA. One of them was owned by some sort of business [company logo, address & phone # decals the doors]. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brd Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 It was under warranty. They replaced the steering wheel, and steering column three times, in an attempt to fix an electric gremlin, in which the traction control system would report that the steering wheel angle was improbable. It's a $3000 part. Then the turbocharger blew. Now, normally, when the turbo blows, the oil seal goes, and you end up with no turbo, and a gutless car. When it happened to me, the exhaust turbine mechanically disintegrated, and then she started pumping bits of flaming turbocharger back through the EGR and into the engine, where it did thousands of dollars of damage to the internals. Then, while the car was in the lot, it was hit by a car, and Mercedes had to pay to fix that all up. The three months I owned my 450, where some of the best months I've ever had driving a loaner B Series, to say the least. But I loved the driving so much, I came back for more. Hopefully this isn't a 'fool me twice' type situation. Wow that's rough! And I thought that my 2005 pulse cabrio had it bad! I bought it off-lease and it had had its cabrio top & mechanical assembly completely replaced by Toronto Downtown MB a few months before I bought it. No idea how many thousand $ that would have cost. Then, while I owned it for two years, I had the following repairs done under warranty: - The SAM was replaced and both keys had to be reprogrammed. This was after several hours of testing all sorts of engine wiring due to a fuse blowing; turns out that there was also a grounding issue which had to be repaired. I think there was about 7 hours of labour on this. - due to an oil leak the oil filler neck cap was replaced and the entire engine compartment had to be cleaned - due to water leaks into the passenger compartment, deformed rubber roof seals above both doors had to be replaced. This was after the dealership spent two or three hours diagnosing the source of the leaks. - EGR valve replacement, injectors cleaned - due to a/c not working, the refrigerant lines were replaced and the a/c was refilled a couple of times [first time with dye so they could figure out where the leaks were]. Assorted o-rings and underfloor trim had to be replaced too. - Engine intercooler fan replaced - Due to the airbag light being on the wiring harness was repaired. - replacement of front suspension lower ball joints A few months after the warranty expired, we traded the pulse in on a 451 cabrio. We haven't had any issues of note with the 451. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT Posted February 6, 2016 Author Share Posted February 6, 2016 306 of the total of 716 smarts sold during 2015 were the electric drive. That of course leaves 410 gasoline-powered smarts that were sold in this country in 2015. I think, based on the fact that smart 453s weren't on sale until late in the year, and that 75% of all smart sales occurred before the end of September, that a maximum of 70 of the 716 smarts sold during 2015 were the 453. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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