I have a lot of LA freeway miles in our long-term 2008 Smart Fortwo under my belt. For reasons not entirely clear to me, I keep coming back to the challenge of driving this car
. Perhaps it's because I don't value my own life as much as some of you do yours. Perhaps it's because I'm on the Penske payroll. Perhap it's because I'm simply dumb.
However, I tend to drive the same 25-mile stretch of freeway over and over (because it happens to lead to my boyfriend's house), so I know the traffic conditions and I know where all the ruts and joints are, and I plan accordingly to keep the engine its power band and the suspension relatively settled. Yesterday, I deviated from the plan and drove the car 70 miles from Santa Monica to San Clemente.
Because I am crazy, I found a way to enjoy the trip. The transmission, for example, works well when you call up a downshift at 70-80 mph. I tend to look very far ahead when I drive the Smart, so whenever I anticipated wanting to pass or could see an uphill grade coming, I maintained throttle position and pressed the paddle shifter for a 5-4 downshift. It was quick and smooth, and I didn't lose even 1 mph of speed.
In this one very specific situation, the Fortwo's automated single-clutch gearbox is preferrable to an automatic transmission.
Still, this is not a relaxing road-trip car. Obviously. During lunch, a business acquaintance asked me if the wind noise was really terrible at 70 mph. "No, not really, I don't think so," was my reply.
Then on the trip back, I realized there's a ton of wind roar. It's just hard to make out over the three-cylinder engine at full cry and the rumble of the 155/60R15 Continental front tires directly beneath me. At least, there wasn't much of a crosswind yesterday, so I didn't have to sail the Smart.
Of course, I turn up the stereo to drown out the noise, because, hey, it's a 996cc, three-cylinder engine, so I'm not missing anything.
More bothersome was the way the cabin heated up on a sunny, 80-degree afternoon. This is a problem on any car with a huge glass area, particularly hybrids like the Prius and Insight. I'm not usually an aggressive air-conditioning user, but finally, even I had to blast the A/C at 60 to offset the crockpot effect. I lived in Florida for 4 years growing up. If I moved back, I would not drive a Smart. Or a hybrid.
Erin Riches, Senior Editor @ 14,847 miles
cruiserhead1 says:
05:51 PM, 03/19/09
What did you do to deserve being banished to the naughty corner of the motor pool?
brn says:
06:47 PM, 03/19/09
Road trip in a Smart car is 70 miles.
Road trip in a Ford Flex is 1500 miles.
That pretty much says it.
asdf9036 says:
08:12 PM, 03/19/09
You guys have to take this on a cross-country road trip to see how it (and the driver) fares.
chuckdaly says:
08:48 PM, 03/19/09
When are you guys gonna have your '08 transmission reprogrammed?
g8gtnorth says:
09:30 PM, 03/19/09
@asdf9036
Some of my crazy Canadian compatriots drove across our fair, and fairly large, nation in a smart. I remember thinking before I read it that they were crazy. Turns out they were, but the overall impression was good. Author said you get used to the diminutive dimensions and being dwarfed CONSTANTLY.
I still think he's crazy.
surfwagon56 says:
10:45 PM, 03/19/09
Drove by that Lucky today, on the way back from surfing at San O. Wife's Odyssey looks a LITTLE less bland now that it has surf racks. I can just picture that Smart with racks and a 10'0" triple stringer on the roof! Turn the board sideways and it just might take off! :-)
Monocrom says:
01:43 AM, 03/20/09
That pic above illustrates the one place that the Smart doesn't belong... On a highway.
If you need a car for city driving, or never plan on having any kids, (or any dates for that matter)or couldn't parallel park with a driving instructor standing outside the car telling you what to do; then the Smart is a perfectly good choice.
I saw one lunatic driving his Smart car on the expressway I take to get to work. No one plans to be in a major crash... I never planned for the one that totalled my '98 Ford Escort just a few miles from home. I'm glad I wasn't driving a Smart car at the time.
firstwagon says:
08:31 PM, 03/22/09
I think you'll find the Smart would have protected you far better then the Escort in a crash.
The Smart is engineered to be safe. The Escort was just made to cost as little as possible.
Monocrom says:
12:50 AM, 03/24/09
"The Escort was just made to cost as little as possible."
I'll agree with that, to a certain extent. If it had anti-lock brakes, there's a good chance I would have been able to steer around the idiot in the red minivan who decided to jump across two lanes of traffic to get to the exit he had just missed.
Still, my Escort had sweet handling. (Likely due to its Mazda roots). And I was able to walk away from the accident with nothing more than a headache and a sprained left wrist & thumb.
You can chalk up my lack of injuries to God's good graces. I'll accept that. But given the choice between the two cars, I'd still take a late model Escort over a Smart.