Autoblog review of 09 OUCH!!!

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Permalink Reply by Ian Pellant 1 day ago

Hi SATO, (you knew I'd rise to this fly)

OK... when an article reads "Smart" I turn on the warning system. It's "smart" is it not?

The transmission is the easiest thing to criticize, especially by drivers of big, soft, standard automatics. The decision to fit all US models with the Auto OPTION and not provide the Turbo OPTION was a mistake, in my opinion. They should have imported the Pulse instead of the Passion. Pulse has the performance options that the Passion lacks. On the Pulse, Auto is an extra cost option... which reinforces the European design ideas where manual shifts historically are preferred to auto.

Another thing that does concern me is that some (if not all) smarts require a bit of bedding in of the clutch plates. With use, the transmission (on my pulse, at least) does smoothen out. It was herky jerky when new and auto was a rocking chair. Now it is much smoother and after learning it's idiosyncrasies, I'm much happier using auto, but still prefer manual shifts with the paddles. Paddle shift is as fast and smooth as anything I have ever achieved with a pedal clutch.

smart cars need to be run in... unlike most Asian cars. Journos should be given cars with 5,000 miles on the clock to test drive. Clutch, tires, brakes, engine; all need to be run in on the smart before they perform smoothly.

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Permalink Reply by mr bad example 1 day ago

another half baked retard, maybe i should make instructional videos on driving a smart... blanco must be his IQ

my driving videos show smooth performance at the recent midwest smart rally, and smooth, even at speeds up to 81mph. (i had no choice in the speed, i was tailing the others, only the lead guy knew where we were all going and he set the pace)

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Permalink Reply by Seumas Warren 7 hours ago

The only real negative thing about the smart is our strict diesel laws here in the USA. I'd love to have my smart with a diesel engine and get 60mpg. In the early 80's I had a VW diesel Rabbit that got 50 mpg. It was not all that fast but I did get better mileage than most. There were a few people not bashing the smart in that article but the majority were trashing it. I'd be willing to bet most of them have never driven a Smart for any length of time. With the paddles I can shift as smooth as silk (took me a month to get it down). And I have found that if you just accelerate normally the auto is a lot smoother. It seems more jerky when you're dogging on it. I don't understand why everyone has such a negative predisposed opinion of the smart. It is what it is, and will get better with time and development.

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