Whenever we visit Europe, my wife and I are interested (well, actually "amused" would
be a better word) by a particularly tiny and odd looking car called a "Smart." It
looks like 2 bucket seats surrounded by a box, has no trunk space and barely enough
room in front for the engine.

Whenever we see one, I always joke, "Let's get one while we're on this trip -- how
much could they cost? Couple of hundred dollars? We can keep it in the hotel room and
mail it home when we're done."

Now, I'm really curious. Does anyone know how much a Smart costs? I've never seen one
on a highway -- are they only city cars?

In article <[email protected]>,
"Paul Tauger" <[email protected]> wrote:

    > Whenever we visit Europe, my wife and I are interested (well, actually "amused"
    > would be a better word) by a particularly tiny and odd looking car called a
    > "Smart." It looks like 2 bucket seats surrounded by a box, has no trunk space and
    > barely enough room in front for the engine.
    >
    > Whenever we see one, I always joke, "Let's get one while we're on this trip -- how
    > much could they cost? Couple of hundred dollars? We can keep it in the hotel room
    > and mail it home when we're done."
    >
    > Now, I'm really curious. Does anyone know how much a Smart costs?

As cheap as $6k Euro... the same company also makes the 500sl.

jay Tue, May 14, 2002 mailto:[email protected]

I've
    > never seen one on a highway -- are they only city cars?
    >
    >

--

Legend insists that as he finished his abject... Galileo muttered under his breath:
"Nevertheless, it does move."

"Go Fig" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > In article <[email protected]>,
    > "Paul Tauger" <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    > > Whenever we visit Europe, my wife and I are interested (well, actually "amused"
    > > would be a better word) by a particularly tiny and odd looking
car
    > > called a "Smart." It looks like 2 bucket seats surrounded by a box, has
no
    > > trunk space and barely enough room in front for the engine.
    > >
    > > Whenever we see one, I always joke, "Let's get one while we're on this trip --
    > > how much could they cost? Couple of hundred dollars? We can
keep
    > > it in the hotel room and mail it home when we're done."
    > >
    > > Now, I'm really curious. Does anyone know how much a Smart costs?
    >
    > As cheap as $6k Euro... the same company also makes the 500sl.
    >

except in rip off Britain, of course - a little bit more But very popular in
London, despite being LHD only (at least until recently?)

On Tue, 14 May 2002, Paul Tauger wrote:

    > Whenever we visit Europe, my wife and I are interested (well, actually "amused"
    > would be a better word) by a particularly tiny and odd looking car called a
    > "Smart." It looks like 2 bucket seats surrounded by a box, has no trunk space and
    > barely enough room in front for the engine.
    >
    > Whenever we see one, I always joke, "Let's get one while we're on this trip -- how
    > much could they cost? Couple of hundred dollars? We can keep it in the hotel room
    > and mail it home when we're done."
    >
    > Now, I'm really curious. Does anyone know how much a Smart costs? I've never seen
    > one on a highway -- are they only city cars?

AFAIK they're still not officially on the market in the US. There's some talk about
it though.

The cost depends on the country you'd buy it in. Various countries have various taxes
on them. Over here including taxes they'd cost around 11k euro, so that would
translate to about 6k without taxes.

Their website is on www.smart.com

--
Met vriendelijke groeten/Best regards Jeroen Wijnands http://www.xs4all.nl/~wijnands
--
OK, so you're a Ph.D. Just don't touch anything.

Thanks, Luca (and everyone else who responded).

These cars have really piqued my curiosity.

"Luca Logi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:1fc7u5w.12olwaa11psquoN%[email protected]...
    > Paul Tauger <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    > > Whenever we see one, I always joke, "Let's get one while we're on this trip --
    > > how much could they cost? Couple of hundred dollars? We can
keep
    > > it in the hotel room and mail it home when we're done."
    > >
    > > Now, I'm really curious. Does anyone know how much a Smart costs? I've never seen
    > > one on a highway -- are they only city cars?
    >
    > The price of care may widely differ in EU countries as taxes and marketing are
    > different in each place. However, in Italy a new Smart goes from EUR 8460 for the
    > base model to EUR 14190 for the top cabrio model. The market of used Smarts is
    > quite brisk as most people keeps them only for few months.
    >
    > Smarts can go on highways, even if they have a mechanical limiter to prevent them
    > being driven faster than 130 km/h or so. But you will understand that they are not
    > really suited to long travels as you cannot bring with you a significant amount of
    > baggage.
    >
    > I have never tried to drive a Smart, but from the wisdom I read on
    > it.discussioni.auto, it is much smarter a car than you would think. But it has some
    > drawbacks, like getting difficult to control on wet stone surfaces (like some
    > roads in Rome when raining) and having no spare tyre (there is no place and the
    > front tyres are different from the rear tyres anyway).
    >
    >

    > Luca Logi - Firenze - Italy e-mail: [email protected]

Paul Tauger wrote:

    > Whenever we visit Europe, my wife and I are interested (well, actually "amused"
    > would be a better word) by a particularly tiny and odd looking car called a
    > "Smart." It looks like 2 bucket seats surrounded by a box, has no trunk space and
    > barely enough room in front for the engine.

Actually there is no space for the engine in front, as it is in the back!

    > Now, I'm really curious. Does anyone know how much a Smart costs?

From 7300 Euro (without VAT!) (= 6600 US$) on in Germany.

    > I've never seen one on a highway -- are they only city cars?

I saw some on the highway! They are real cars. The top speed is electronically
limited to 135 km/h, but the engine has enough power to reach this speed easily.

It's a "High-End" micro-car build by Dailer-Chrysler.

Bye Stefan

The Oik wrote:

    > except in rip off Britain, of course - a little bit more But very popular in
    > London, despite being LHD only (at least until recently?)

I think I saw some with right hand drive in London!? - I'm not really sure.

Hi

The car has a long history.

Originally an idea of Swatch watches, it was to be built by VW.
Then MB became the manufacturing Co. As the project developed Swatch did not invest the agreed funds, and MB became the 100% owner.

Some concepts -

Design brief was two seats and "a case of beer" storage capacity
Changeable plastic body panels (colours)
Only sold in cities
All dealers deal direct with the factory .... no national importers
Very few dealers
Some non traditional motor companies became dealers
Not in UK (Recently started RHD for UK, and appointed dealers)
Standard buildings including a glass tower with a lift to store cars

Marketing ideas included self drive taxi at airports, edge on parking bays, lease scheme with electronic key registering use of city based fleets

After a slow start, sales are improving.

New models are planned ................ convertible, 4 seats, sports etc.

Peter

I had one for a few days on Isle of Elba, and it was great for whizzing around the
island. It was a ragtop. It had a very strange electronic gearchange and felt like a
toy car. I was amazed how low the centre-of-gravity was though. It's a car to hire,
not to buy. Quite nippy though, seen plenty on the motorway in Switz. Dave

"Paul Tauger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
    > Whenever we visit Europe, my wife and I are interested (well, actually "amused"
    > would be a better word) by a particularly tiny and odd looking car called a
    > "Smart." It looks like 2 bucket seats surrounded by a box, has no trunk space and
    > barely enough room in front for the engine.
    >
    > Whenever we see one, I always joke, "Let's get one while we're on this trip -- how
    > much could they cost? Couple of hundred dollars? We can keep it in the hotel room
    > and mail it home when we're done."
    >
    > Now, I'm really curious. Does anyone know how much a Smart costs? I've never seen
    > one on a highway -- are they only city cars?

Luca Logi wrote:

    >The market of used Smarts is quite brisk as most people keeps them only for few
    >months. [...]
    >
    >I have never tried to drive a Smart, but from the wisdom I read on
    >it.discussioni.auto, it is much smarter a car than you would think. But it has some
    > drawbacks, like getting difficult to control on wet stone surfaces (like some
    > roads in Rome when raining) and having no spare tyre (there is no place and the
    > front tyres are different from the rear tyres anyway).

Plus it has about the worst transmission on this planet. The pauses when shifting are
endless and especially intimidating when you are trying to pass a truck with your 70
Nm (51 lbs-ft) torque and there's oncoming traffic.

I was one of the first to test drive a smart for a day because I fpund it a
phantastic trannsportation concept but I was cured.

Jens

PS: I don't dare to imagine driving up and down Zirler Berg
with a Smart, just to keep up our tradition.

    >PS: I don't dare to imagine driving up and down Zirler Berg
    > with a Smart, just to keep up our tradition.

I ride a 130PS sportsbike andchased one up the San Bernardino pass 2 years ago. It
had a couple of hundred metres head start but I couldn't catch it before it got to
the top. It was surprisingly fast, and could turn on a sixpence. Tim.

It's a Mercedes. Check out their website, preferably using a European link. Those are
hybrid cars, have been quite successful in Europe for 3 or 4 years if not more; the
mileage is very economical 50 mph (Europeans list "mileage" in reverse manner: the
number of liters of gas it takes to go 100 km).

"Paul Tauger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Whenever we visit Europe, my wife and I are interested (well, actually "amused"
    > would be a better word) by a particularly tiny and odd looking
car
    > called a "Smart." It looks like 2 bucket seats surrounded by a box, has
no
    > trunk space and barely enough room in front for the engine.
    >
    > Whenever we see one, I always joke, "Let's get one while we're on this trip -- how
    > much could they cost? Couple of hundred dollars? We can keep it in the hotel room
    > and mail it home when we're done."
    >
    > Now, I'm really curious. Does anyone know how much a Smart costs? I've never seen
    > one on a highway -- are they only city cars?

I found out that the basic Smart costs 8 380 euro. Check the website:
http://paris.smart-center.com/IVO_Sm...c=orderconfigu ration.
It's in French though. Danielle

"Danielle" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > It's a Mercedes. Check out their website, preferably using a European
link.
    > Those are hybrid cars, have been quite successful in Europe for 3 or 4
years
    > if not more; the mileage is very economical 50 mph (Europeans list
"mileage"
    > in reverse manner: the number of liters of gas it takes to go 100 km).
    >
    > "Paul Tauger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    > > Whenever we visit Europe, my wife and I are interested (well, actually "amused"
    > > would be a better word) by a particularly tiny and odd looking
    > car
    > > called a "Smart." It looks like 2 bucket seats surrounded by a box, has
    > no
    > > trunk space and barely enough room in front for the engine.
    > >
    > > Whenever we see one, I always joke, "Let's get one while we're on this trip --
    > > how much could they cost? Couple of hundred dollars? We can
keep
    > > it in the hotel room and mail it home when we're done."
    > >
    > > Now, I'm really curious. Does anyone know how much a Smart costs? I've never seen
    > > one on a highway -- are they only city cars?
    > >
    >

"Danielle" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I found out that the basic Smart costs 8 380 euro. Check the website:
    >
http://paris.smart-center.com/IVO_Sm...c=orderconfigu
    > ration. It's in French though. Danielle

Thanks, I can manage in French (barely).

    >
    > "Danielle" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    > > It's a Mercedes. Check out their website, preferably using a European
    > link.
    > > Those are hybrid cars, have been quite successful in Europe for 3 or 4
    > years
    > > if not more; the mileage is very economical 50 mph (Europeans list
    > "mileage"
    > > in reverse manner: the number of liters of gas it takes to go 100 km).
    > >
    > > "Paul Tauger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > > news:[email protected]...
    > > > Whenever we visit Europe, my wife and I are interested (well, actually "amused"
    > > > would be a better word) by a particularly tiny and odd
looking
    > > car
    > > > called a "Smart." It looks like 2 bucket seats surrounded by a box,
has
    > > no
    > > > trunk space and barely enough room in front for the engine.
    > > >
    > > > Whenever we see one, I always joke, "Let's get one while we're on this trip --
    > > > how much could they cost? Couple of hundred dollars? We can
    > keep
    > > > it in the hotel room and mail it home when we're done."
    > > >
    > > > Now, I'm really curious. Does anyone know how much a Smart costs?
I've
    > > > never seen one on a highway -- are they only city cars?
    > > >
    > > >
    > >
    >

"mpprh" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Hi
    >
    > The car has a long history.
    >
    > Originally an idea of Swatch watches, it was to be built by VW. Then MB became the
    > manufacturing Co. As the project developed Swatch did not invest the agreed funds,
    > and MB became the 100% owner.
    >
    > Some concepts -
    >
    > Design brief was two seats and "a case of beer" storage capacity Changeable plastic
    > body panels (colours) Only sold in cities All dealers deal direct with the factory
    > .... no national importers Very few dealers Some non traditional motor companies
    > became dealers Not in UK (Recently started RHD for UK, and appointed dealers)
    > Standard buildings including a glass tower with a lift to store cars Peter

Those glass towers are a kick. It looks like Pringles can of car chips. I almost
bought one, but wisdom prevailed since I carry largeish things for the garden. Love
the idea of changing the color of the car at a whim.