I have had my 2009 Smart Car for 2 months and love to drive it every day. I am getting 37 mpg for my daily short trips. My old car was a Cheve Metro got only 28 mpg for the same driving. Car is very comfortable on the highway. looking forward to driving the car to Florida and back.
Lots or room inside. I am 6' 230 lbs and my son is 6'-4" 250 lbs, we both fit with no problems.
I get stopped all the time and when I let people sit in the car they are aways surprised how much room the car has. Lots of room behind the seats and the passenger set will fold flat if you need to carry larger items.
If you need to carry more then one passenger then this is not the car for you. But if you want a car that is fun to drive, great gas milage and easy to park this is the car that want you want.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Have had my Smart Fortwo Pure for about 5 month. Average 45 MPG. Handles well and is comfortable. I drive 50 miles a day round trip to work and it is a very nice car. It makes people smile wherever I go and I people come up and ask questions and look inside all the time. A great way to start a conversation. Answers to leading questions... No it is not a hybrid. Just a small gas engine in the BACK of the car and yep, that means it is rear wheel drive! (Think the original VW Bug but safer and modern) It is made by Mercedes Benz in France and a large complex called Smartville. It was named Smart because the man that created Swatch watches came up with the initial idea and partnered with Mercedes Benz to build it and make it safe and reliable. S (from Swatch) + M (from Mercedes) + "art" (because it is)=SMART. You can buy all the panels on the car and change the color at any time. There are also meets around the world where Smart owner swap panels when they want a new color. The car is 95% recyclable so not only are you not burning a lot of fuels, when your smart is done it can be reborn into other products. The cars all come with 8 air bags, traction control, anti-lock brakes, and a complete roll cage to protect you. The car is designed to keep you out of an accident and safe if you do get in one.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
I have a 2009 smart pure. I have owned it for a year now and I am verry happy with it. The car is very roomy and at 23,000 miles I can say I have had no problems with it. It's not a sports car nor is it sold as one. You car park it anywhere. It's an eye catcher with great mileage. Good for a college kid on a budget,or as a long drive each way for work. Fun to drive and feels good on the road. The quality is great, so far no rattles or loose trim. I drive some nasty bumpy roads to. I deliever Pizza with mine so you can imagine the crap I drive through. The storage behind the seat you can fit 40 pizzas in, two stacks with room for sodas.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Now a member of the Daimler AG family of automotive brands, the Smart project was initiated by Swatch, the Swiss watch company. Swatch's CEO, Nicolas Hayek, wanted to build a car whose overall length was the same as the width of a standard street parking spot--small enough to park nose-in, thus allowing two or three cars to park in one space. Other design goals included innovative powerplant...
Now a member of the Daimler AG family of automotive brands, the Smart project was initiated by Swatch, the Swiss watch company. Swatch's CEO, Nicolas Hayek, wanted to build a car whose overall length was the same as the width of a standard street parking spot--small enough to park nose-in, thus allowing two or three cars to park in one space. Other design goals included innovative powerplant technology and an entry-level price.
Hayek shopped the idea to several potential automotive partners, including General Motors, before establishing a preliminary partnership with Volkswagen. When that relationship fell through, Swatch cut a deal with Daimler-Benz. The resulting company, then called Micro Compact Car AG, was founded in 1994. (The name "Smart" is a semi-acronym, standing for Swatch Mercedes ART.) A factory complex was built in France, and the first Smart City Coupe rolled off the assembly line in 1998. It was followed, in 2000, by the City Cabrio convertible. These models were given the now-current Fortwo designation in 2004.
The initial design of the production City Coupe proved to have significant--and well-publicized--stability problems. The necessary alterations proved costly and detrimental to the original's sporty driving experience. As a result, initial sales were low. That factor, along with Hayek's disappointment that a standard gasoline (rather than hybrid or electric) engine was used, led to Swatch's abandonment of the project. The company, already renamed Smart GmbH, became a wholly owned property of Daimler-Benz. Smart GmbH lost nearly four billion euros between 2003 and 2006, at which point it ceased to exist as a separate entity and was folded into the Mercedes-Benz group.
During the new company's first decade, several additional models were introduced, either as concepts or in limited production runs. A five-door hatchback, called Smart Forfour, was offered from 2004 to 2006. Based on the 2003 Mitsubishi Colt, the Forfour wasn't built in the Smart factory, but rather in the same Netherlands plant that produced the Volvo V40. A Smart Roadster, built on a stretched Fortwo platform and styled to look more like a conventional car, was offered from 2003 to 2005.
Despite Smart's lengthy teething pains, the company managed, in its first decade, to deliver 900,000 vehicles throughout the world. Mercedes is now on track to fulfill Hayek's ambition of using alternative powerplants, with an electrically driven Fortwo planned for a 2010 introduction. Alas, parking regulations in much of the world--including most U.S. municipalities--make it illegal to park the Smart nose-in against the curb.
