Fiat 500 Forum banner

smart Owners Annonymous

4K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  FiatCares 
#1 ·
"Hi, my name is F500 and I was a smart-aholic.....":p

after reading that a few of our forum members have owned or still currently own a smart, I thought it would be interesting to just have a thread dedicated for those of us (yes, I TOO have owned a smart) who have been down that road. :eek:

please share with us your experiences with the smart and why you chose your FIAT. :)
 
#2 ·
I'll start it off with my experience. first, I was really excited to see the smart cars coming to the U.S. I went online and put down my $99 and placed an order. within a week I was told my car was 18 MONTHS AWAY!:mad:

after waiting about 8 months, I cancelled my order. thought to myself 'this is rediculus. I'll just buy one off the lot thats similar to the one ordered'. after about a month, the local smart center had a car EXACTLY like the one I would be waiting another 12 months for.

so I purchased my 09 smart Passion. I owned the car 14 months and my take on it was that it was 'ok'. I learned to live with the quirky trans (using the paddle shifters was the way to go) and the squirrelly handling (I added the same size rear wheels/tires to the front to make it somewhat better) but overall the car was decent. if nothing else it was fun to drive! :D

but now I'm about to be the proud owner of a 500 Sport that is suppose to arrive this month, not 18 months away but maybe 45-60 days.

Thank you FIAT........:)
 
#3 · (Edited)
Welcome :)

I bought my first smart in 2008 and my second a lightshine edition in 2011. 3 months after I bought the smart a Fiat Studio opened in my neighborhood and I couldn't resist the temptation to go see what it was all about.

That was 3 weeks ago and after driving all the 500's I traded in my smart and left with a red 500c Lounge and I haven't looked back since. Well... I can't look back because the top down I can't see out the rear :D

Hope you enjoy yours,

Chris
 
#4 ·
Traded my Smart Brabus for a Sport 500, I too have not looked back, wanted a bit more room and a better ride. The fat boots on the Brabus really kicked you in the back on bumps:eek:

I enjoyed the Smart as long as you appreciated it for what it was, hey you would never get a nose bleed with the accelleration....fast was not in its vocabulary.
 
#5 ·
I had an '09 Smart. It was used as an extra car and really wasn't too bad. I think its a great car and a great idea. Unfortunately Smart doesn't offer a true manual transmission. The semi auto made me dizzy when it shifted. I think they should only sell the car in crowded city's...
 
#6 ·
I had a 2008 smart cabriolet and in November I traded it for a Kia Soul. I missed my smart so bad 3 months later, I came across a 2009 smart for $9500 and I bought it. I still have it and love it! I had it in the shop in Indianapolis and while it was there I wemt around the corner to Northside Fiat just to look...Well I feel in love! Style, handling, size, just about everything I liked, so I became a Fiat owner!

I now own 5 cars:

2007 Cadillac CTS
2009 smart fortwo
2010 Kia soul
2010 Scion Xb release series
2012 Fiat 500 sport

My son (14) has already asked for the smart to be his first car so I guess I'll hang on to it for him.
 
#8 ·
My wife and i have always enjoyed small cars. My first one was a 58 Fiat 500 back in 65 and we had the only 71 Honda 600 coupe in Maine. So when we started seeing first gen smarts on the road in Canada during summer visits we decided if they ever came to the states we would find a place in the stable for one....if we could get a carbio that is:)

Trolling the internet in 06 I ran into the $99 down program for smart USA. So out came the credit card. Sometime in 07 I received the email to configure our new smart. Which I did. The following summer both of us decided to retire. At the time we owned 5 cars and motorhome. About the last thing we needed was yet another car. That winter we decided to start our lives as snow birds and closed up the Maine home, packed the motorhome and off to Florida. It was during that time I received a call from the local (286 miles away) smartcentre in Lynnfield, Ma. Our new carbio was at the dock and would be at the dealership sometime in April. Decision time..... remember the spring of 08? gas prices were starting to climb, smart were selling 3rd party for more than sticker and dealerships were glad the first in line buyers turned them down as smartUSA wouldn't allow them to sell assigned cars for more than sticker. Oh but the orphans would sell for whatever the market would bear.

We figured that what the H@&&. We would buy the smart and if we didn't like it sell it for a profit... Remember people were lining up at smartcenters all across the US with $$ in hand. Kinda like the first 500 sales. We left Florida a little earlier than planned. Once back in Bangor, Maine we awaited the call. April 28th it came. So I took the bus to Boston and was greeted by a Lynnfield employee who drove me to the smartcentre. 30 minutes later Max, our 08 smart carbio, had he top down and was heading out of state. Thus began our currently 5 year relationship. During that time we have sold most of our other cars as well as the Maine home and moved to Florida where we stay 8 months of the year. Max has become the go to car for everyday. He either has the bikes on the hitch mount rack or is towing the rack and roll trailer with the kayaks. Currently he has a little over 51k on the clock.

The 500 story.... While Max has never had a unscheduled trip to a dealer, in fact he has been the least expensive car we have ever owned, the thought of being at the mercy of a MB dealer for parts or repairs in the future got us thinking. Max fits our lifestyle to a "T" now. Whenever we take long trips it's always with the motorhome as a small car in rural Fl is great for us. In looking for a replacement we ran into the 500c. It does everything the smart can and more. I have posted how AJ came to be a member of the family in other threads so I will not bore you with anymore details. Just to say AJ, our 12 500c pop is our BIG and Max is still in garage. They both get equal use on a weekly basis. For this part of our lives they both are a prefect "fit":D
 
#14 ·
Congrats, thanks for the great testimonial... :)
 
#9 ·
I'm actually debating right now between two extremes (for different reasons): a '13 Abarth convertible or a gas smart Passion convertible. Obviously way different cars, but I live in San Francisco and the smart has one feature that the Fiat does not: It's the only car on the market that fits in the parking space right in front of my house (the Fiat can mean walking up to a few blocks to find a spot - it's that cramped here.)

So I'm debating trading driving fun/speed/etc for the ability to actually drive around town and find a spot easily. In Texas, there's not a huge difference in size between a smart and a 500, but in San Francisco, every inch counts. It helps that the smart is over $10k cheaper, but an all-new generation is due soon, so there's that factor. I need to buy before August, though.
 
#11 ·
Be sure to check out the SCoA sitehttp://www.smartcarofamerica.com/forums/search.php?searchid=1874336 It's also an AutoGuide site. Plenty of great smart reading there.

They are in fact way different cars but both have a place. The smart may not be 10K less $$. I bought a left over 2012 500c for around 16K. That's a lot less than the smart carbio if you option it out like the 500c feature set. And of course many of the Fiats features can't be found on a smart in the first place. If both the 500 and the smart were available back in 08 my guess is I wouldn't have had a smart in the stable. But I glad I have:D Good luck on your decision. Either way you go you will have a great car experience and not be driving a cookie-cutter auto.
 
#12 ·
I haven't driven either car on a highway, yet. I think the fortwo will just have to be pushed to its limits to be tolerable there (which may be too loud inside) but then again: exclusive parking spot. Ahhh the problems of San Francisco living. (the smart would also be cheaper to fix given a love tap in the street, which we get often.)

I drove the Abarth on Saturday and loved it, really, so I'm leaning that way. It might boil down to which one I can get a better price on…
 
#13 ·
The smart is very noisy, and can be blown around on the highway when its really windy. Its so slow too. Very crude driving vehicle. Service from the MB dealer is very $$$$$$$$. You can replace the body panels on the smart. After owning one for 5 years 60K miles. I want more. Body parts are cheap, labor to replace it is still costly. You could do it yourself. The smart is put together really good. The mechanic's don't live up to the build quality. smart car are really over priced for what you get. Once you start adding up options, the car gets pricy. Maintenance, if you do it yourself is easy. I stay away from the MB dealer if I can. It gets great gas milage. Prefect city vehicle, for parking. If both cars were offered in 2008, I would have gone the 500 route. I love my 500. Wouldn't buy another smart till they change the current model next year. I did enjoy putting together 2010 the smart National here in Kansas City. 215 smart cars from all over the country, and Mexico, and Canada. That was fun.


 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top