On Sunday, an elderly woman cornered me as I was getting out of the Smart, to tell me how similar it was to a three-wheeled car that she owned back in the 1970s. Naturally, the conversation eventually got to the point where she asked me what I thought of the Smart. In the past, I haven't been shy about relating the coupe's numerous shortcomings and advising prospective buyers to avoid it like the plague. But yesterday, I was more charitable. I told her that the Smart was actually not a bad little city car, and in that moment, I meant it. Maybe I was having a good day. Or maybe the Smart is growing on me.
One Smart flaw that I'll never be able to get past, though, is its sound system. It is bad. Its sound quality reminds me of that of a dinky Casio synth that I had as a kid: tinny, buzzy and cheap. Our car has the base system; an upgrade is available, but I haven't heard it, so I can't say if it represents much of an improvement.
Warren Clarke, Automotive Content Editor @ 17,167 miles
carguy622 says:
04:28 PM, 06/ 1/09
To be fair I don't think anyone is buying this car for the radio. Based on it's commuting duty they probably figured "as long as AM sounds good and the traffic reports come through clearly" job well done. Especially the base unit.
ldiablo says:
07:13 PM, 06/ 1/09
The headline should have read:
2008 Smart Fortwo Passion Coupe: Car Could Use An Upgrade.
What a terrible car, especially considering that the mileage is nothing special. I alway feel sorry for people I see who actually spent money on one of these.
Yikes.
epbrown says:
01:12 PM, 06/ 2/09
I've got the base stereo as well, but I've never been much of an audiophile and really, all I do is play MP3s thorugh the input jack for the 15-20 minutes it takes to get to work, and for that it's fine. One thing I will note: the ForTwo's CD player is much less picky about home-burned discs than my BMW - seevral CDs that won't play in the BMW work in the Smart.
firstwagon says:
02:38 PM, 06/ 2/09
ldiablo
You know I have never met a Smart owner that didn't love their car. Including those who have had them for 4 to 5 years now.
They are not terrible cars, they are just different and that's really hard for some people to accept.
joquito says:
07:17 PM, 06/ 2/09
The stock speakers are the worse part of the car, even worse than the transmission. Swapping out the stock speakers is all it takes to remedy the problem.