Smart Roadster/Coupes

Smart Roadster/Coupes

Author
Discussion

classiccooper

Original Poster:

8,835 posts

217 months

Monday 21st May 2007
quotequote all
I have read some hrror storie about the early cars not being seam seald properly & the doors seals & roof seal being a problem. Basically resulting in a car that leaks all the time it's raining.

Are they really as bad as they are made out to be? Test drove a Brabus at the weekend & whilst not that quock, it was a hoot to drive.

SL Boy

60 posts

216 months

Monday 21st May 2007
quotequote all
Yes they do leak big time. We have a Smart Roadster Brabus which leaked through both mirrors and window tops and have just had over £1500 worth of work done under warranty to cure the problems. This was a very thorough job which included checking and resealing all the known problem areas including front and rear bulkheads.

Andrew D

968 posts

247 months

Monday 21st May 2007
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I had an '04 build Roadster Light (which comes with the hard top) for a year. Whilst I've heard stories about leakage problems, mine didn't suffer any leaks due to failed seals.

The only problem I had was due to (what appears to be) a design flaw in the roof drain. The hard top has a central longitudinal seal that drains to the rear through a rubber hose into an outlet receptical under the middle of the roll-over bar. The outlet, however, only seems to drain to one side of the car, and I left mine parked sidelong to a rather steep incline overnight in a heavy storm. As a result rain quickly filled the outfall receptical, which was unable to drain due to the outlet pipe now being uphill, and overtopped into the boot. Right on top of my brand new map, and my ferry tickets for the following day. Unlucky, but could have been avoided if another drain had been fitted.

But other than that, I didn't have any problems. See my garage for a brief review of the car.

markmullen

15,877 posts

241 months

Monday 21st May 2007
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As a general rule if they're going to leak they will from day 1, if you've got one that doesn't leak then generally it never will.

ian_c_uk

1,324 posts

210 months

Thursday 24th May 2007
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Educate yourself about where they leak, or rather where they leak *to*, and check these places.

Mine had a small leak when I purchased it, so gave it back for a week and all sorted, definitely no leaks no.

Great fun tho.