Well, it’s car-show time again in Toronto (warning: car-show link has annoying music), and the manufacturers are making many announcements.
Mercedes has announced that it is bringing the Smart car to Canada! w00t w00t! I saw them over in Europe and thought they were amazing pieces of design. 
Are you going to get one? I’ve had mine about 18 months now, it’s great! If you want to find some enthusiasts, go to
http://www.thesmartclub.co.uk/
and
http://www.funkysmart.co.uk/
What the hell was that?!? You’ve got to be kidding me! In this day and age of giant tank-like road beasts, this thing is a bug waiting to get splattered on someone else’s windscreen!
I wouldn’t want to get into a high-speed collision in this ity bity little car. Good thing it’s top speed appears to be a scant 120 kmph.
I like them. When sitting in one, it feels like you are sitting in a luxurious spacious van. The car just ends two metres behind your seat, instead of going on a few methres more. And about the crushing: they are really quite sturdy.
Over here, they’ve become mainly “company cars”. Companys use them because they stand out, look cool and different. They are often in striking coulours with lettering and logo’s on them. Design-companies, for instance, love Smarts. They that need to drive up and down the city all day, (Smarts park extremely well, which is a huge bonus in European cities) and carry just one or two persons and a bit of tidy luggage.
I happenned to develop pictures sometimes in my Walgreens photo lab and all the customers who are going to Paris are taking back pictures of the tiny Smart Pretty scary for the average american !
I drive an 77 MG B nearly daily and people are amazed at the size of the car 
Smart are fun, especially (only…) in urban conditions. You don’t want to do a long high way drive in it, although a lot of my friends have done it back in France where they would rent one for a week-end. But I would see it as a big advantage in Boston commute/parking.
If it’s so smart, why’s it coming to Canada?
Just kidding, carry on.
I have wanted a Smart since I heard about them when they first came out. Unfortunately, since I live in Truck Land (aka Oklahoma), I wouldn’t even be a greasy spot on the road 
I called the body guy about my '66 MGB. “Six weeks.” Yeah, he said “six weeks” last October. And last April. :dubious:
I totally dig the Smart. I saw a couple on display at The Block at Orange a few years ago. I thought they were great; my co-worker said they looked scary-small.
It appears to be intended as a city car, for errands and such… I’m not sure I’d want to do a transcontinental haul in it. For that, I’d prefer the Prius. And I’d be uncertain about taking it on freeways, given that the average speed on the freeways is around 110. (Except in Toronto, where the average speed is often approximately zero.) And I wonder how it handles snow and ice.
But I could see our printers at work getting one for a delivery car, no problem!
The fan sites that kferr links to show upcoming models that look much more conventional, with a nose for the engine. And the official Canadian site (which has filled out dramatically since yesterday) mentions an upcoming Smart SUV, so I guess DakotaDog could get one after all.
Now, if only we could expect the development of the Smart Driver…
Now I’m going to ask two really stupid questions… What is its top speed in mph and how many miles per gallon does it get? I don’t know how to covert from litres and kilometres to gallons and miles… :o
Top speed:
120 km/h x 1/1.609 mi/km = 74.5 mi/h.
(I don’t think anyone will be driving this car on the interstate in Montana, for instance…)
Fuel economy:
3.5 L/100 km = 0.035 L/km.
1/(0.035 L/km) = 28.57 km/L.
28.57 km/L x 1/1.609 mi/km x 3.8 L/US gal = 67.5 mi/US gal.
(The old Canadian gallon was not the same as the US gallon.)
The preceding exercise in dimensional analysis has been brought to you by dim memories of engineering school.
And if you look at the Smart site, you’ll see why Canada recommends using capital el (L) as the symbol for litres: the site uses a typewriter font, and talks of “3.5 l/100km”. the small el and the one look the same. Rather confusing.
Mine is a 2001 model with the smaller 600cc engine producing 61 BHP and the top speed limited to 85 mph. But then I had the EMU remapped (chipped), added a high flow air cleaner, intake scoop, and sport exhaust. I’ve not had mine measured, but a car with similar upgrades was measured at 82 BHP on a dyno. And the remap ups the speed limit to 100 mph. On my daily commute I get 50 mpg (British gallons) but if I do a motorway run at a steady 70mph I can get 65mpg. It will quite happily bomb down the motorway at 95. As to safety, it rates highly in European tests and anecdotally I know a woman who crashed down an embankment after hitting a deer. Both the police and insurance people said that in any other small car it would have been a fatality, but she walked away with just some cracked ribs.
I found the link I was looking for, which of these small cars would you rather be in?
What’s the other car in the photo?
I’ve seen quite a few Smarts on the road and they look pretty substantial by Japanese standards. I think they’re wider and taller than my father’s Nissan Micra. Unfortunately two-seaters don’t sell too well over here.
By the way, is the Smart not available in the US?
We have a dealer literally just down the street, so I see these things all the time. I’d love to have one for the school run and other assorted putting-around-town errands. Unfortunately, I’ve got two kids and the Smart is not yet Smart enough to come with more than two seats
Apparently they’re coming out with a longer four-seater version, the ‘forfour’. From the pictures I’ve seen, it seems to be lower as well as longer, and doesn’t look nearly as cute. scr4, it looks like the Canadian arrival is preparation for entry into the US market.
I think the other car is a Fiat Seicento, at least this seems to match.
kferr, If I was going to get one, I’d want to make those modifications you mention. As I mentioned before, 120 km/h is too slow a top speed for our freeways, especially the Evil Death Highway of Doom known as King’s Highway No. 401. Who does those mods?
I had my mods done by Smart-r-Us in Nottingham UK. I’m sure that as soon as Smarts start selling in Canada a tuning shop will pop up. The remap gives the most bang for you buck. If you can find a tuning shop that does Digitec remaps for other cars, then they’ll be able to get the software for the Smart too.
