150 months with what people call a very bad car
Discussion
Yes, its on many lists as a bad car. Makes no money for Mercedes. Slow,primitive transmission, inadequate heating and cooling. not cheap for what it is. Ownership means turning in your PH card.
Now into its thirteenth year, the experience has been interesting.
It is a very spare car, which is used exclusively in dense city traffic. Does not go on highways as it would take a week to get up the ramp. In almost 13 years it has just passed 16,000 miles. In that time it has had a turbo blow up, and a a fairly big job on the front suspension. The clock does not work.The radio may be the worst in any production car.
Yet...you can leave it for weeks at a time and the diesel just starts. It seems to have almost zero drain on the battery. Bodywork is almost as new even though it is parked outside in the Canadian snow and ice in winter.It has amazing legroom but inadequate shoulder room. I have stuffed huge dogs into it, and occasional passengers.The problem is that I struggle to know what to replace it with, so I will probably jus keep it forever because it does one thing brilliantly...
Park.
ging84 said:
i don't live in the arctic circle, but i'd consider any car that you can't leave for at least a week and expect it to start without issues to be broken.
If you live anywhere cold its pretty normal, particularly with an older vehicle. Batteries die, oil gels & often you get very small droplets of ice in the fuel which can cause all sorts of little issues. carinaman said:
Have you had to change any headlamp bulbs?
I changed plenty during my 5 years of Smart ownership. It's faster (and easier) to remove the front end than try to get your hands through the vent grille as shown in the manual. I could get the front off in about 15 minutes.We'd have another ForTwo if circumstances changed, apart from a broken front spring and a few blown front bulbs ours was faultless.
My Dad ran one as a commuter for a few years. Nothing wrong with them other than being awkward to service. Would do 85mph all day long even on hills if you flicked it down a gear. Transmission required more forward thinking than most people are capable of behind the wheel, but you're average PHer would be fine. Ours was a left hooker as it was an early car (51 plate). I liked it. We once transported 5 people in it (private land of course). We were given an "if you see this I've lost my caravan" sticker... wouldn't put it on the tow car so on the smart it went, quite amusing.
RDMcG said:
ging84 said:
i don't live in the arctic circle, but i'd consider any car that you can't leave for at least a week and expect it to start without issues to be broken.
It's sometimes a month or more
RDMcG said:
Yes, its on many lists as a bad car. Makes no money for Mercedes. Slow,primitive transmission, inadequate heating and cooling. not cheap for what it is. Ownership means turning in your PH card.
Now into its thirteenth year, the experience has been interesting.
It is a very spare car, which is used exclusively in dense city traffic. Does not go on highways as it would take a week to get up the ramp. In almost 13 years it has just passed 16,000 miles. In that time it has had a turbo blow up, and a a fairly big job on the front suspension. The clock does not work.The radio may be the worst in any production car.
Yet...you can leave it for weeks at a time and the diesel just starts. It seems to have almost zero drain on the battery. Bodywork is almost as new even though it is parked outside in the Canadian snow and ice in winter.It has amazing legroom but inadequate shoulder room. I have stuffed huge dogs into it, and occasional passengers.The problem is that I struggle to know what to replace it with, so I will probably jus keep it forever because it does one thing brilliantly...
Park.
To be fair to your car, 16,000 miles in 13 years is hard on a car. It must have had a lot of short journeys, or a lot of time not being used, or a combination of that, and that's all bad for a car. Cars on very low mileages can suffer the same problems as cars on high mileages.
I do know that with my Boxster, which gets used infrequently, I get pi**ed off with it either not starting, or having to keep the battery charged, discs corroding, brakes sticking on etc despite my best efforts, so I think your Smartie has done really well, so well done.
CooperS said:
As a previous owner i probably did that many miles in 2 years.....
Either way why a diesel? The 3 pot engine with the chocolate tea pot brabus exhaust makes it a laugh to drive round town. Aren't the diesels a bit rattly and noisy?
For me, the normal diesel attributes... almost twice the mpg in my hands, no difference in journey times (in fact likely to be shorter journey times due to the fewer stops to refuel), engine gets quieter the faster I go, more relaxed drive, the auto box seems to work better with the diesel engine (or in manual I double shift so only 2 changes need to get into fifth), and so on.Either way why a diesel? The 3 pot engine with the chocolate tea pot brabus exhaust makes it a laugh to drive round town. Aren't the diesels a bit rattly and noisy?
It is an agricultural engine though, which can give it a bit of character imo (I call my car Fergy
) but the car is definitely quieter at an indicated 80-85 than my petrol was, and round town it chugs along at 1500 rpm or so.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff