:CONTROVERSIAL: Worst cars of the 2000s :CONTROVERSIAL:

[Spec M]

The Pacifica are really common around here, I agree it along with the Crossfire were pretty overpriced for what they're. Nowadays you can find a Crossfire for under $15k though which is pretty reasonable for a used late sports car.

 

[Moglet]

That Smart will be number 1 on a lot of people's lists until they try to park in London

 

[homeforsummer]

How about how it is completely pointless and that even people in Europe who love small cars (or, rather, especially people in Europe) should know better? Not only is it a bad car in general, it is a bad city car.

No, not really. It's a very good city car, and if it had a proper automatic or proper manual gearbox it'd be an excellent one. How exactly should we "know better"?...

Its very small and has zero space

Small yes, zero space no. Have you ever even been near one, let alone inside one?...

but it isn't particularly frugal.

Not particularly frugal at higher speeds, because it's shaped like a brick. Around town and in normal non-motorway driving they're quite good. A quick shuffle around the UK smart club's forums reveals lots of figures in the 50s for MPG, which isn't too shabby at all. I don't know if you guys get stop/start ones over there but that must help. Not to mention diesel ones.

It is lightweight and stiffly sprung, but it isn't fun to drive.

Again, owners don't seem to complain too much. Remember - fun is subjective.

It is quite expensive and made by Mercedes, but it isn't of particularly high quality.

Again, debatable. Build quality has always been pretty good in them. It's worth bearing in mind that for a good few years even proper Mercs weren't of particularly high quality, too. That's improved and so have smarts.

It is an anomaly brought on to fill a niche that never existed in the first place, and the fact that smart has nearly gone bankrupt twice should tell you that most people don't see the point in them either.

Disagree. The niche may not exist in the US but it does over here. And you do see a lot of them about, so somebody must be buying them. It's worth pointing out that the UK smart club is the second biggest make-specific car club in the UK after the MG Owners Club, which has been around for forty-odd years...

Its biggest crime was being too expensive for what it was.

I'd agree, but over here the direct competition is the also-expensive Toyota iQ.

I'm not saying that it's not "unsuitable" when judged by American standards, but it's certainly not a bad car (acquired taste maybe, but not bad). Essentially the Smart's main problem is asking America to "get" it, given that it was designed very specifically with tiny European city centres in mind.

 

[Sniffs]

home put it exactly. it's a European oriented City Car, and is meant for 1 Horse width roads that have been around forever.

 

[Tornado]

No, not really. It's a very good city car, and if it had a proper automatic or proper manual gearbox it'd be an excellent one. How exactly should we "know better"?...

Because for years Europe has actually had good small cars and city cars. The defining feature of the fortwo is that it is a really small mini car; and I don't understand how it would be particularly better than, say, a Fiat Panda, unless you were catastrophically bad at parallel parking. I am glad that it isn't as expensive as it used to be, but I still don't see the objective point.

Small yes, zero space no. Have you ever even been near one, let alone inside one?...

Yes, in fact. I've been inside one.

Not particularly frugal at higher speeds, because it's shaped like a brick. Around town and in normal non-motorway driving they're quite good. A quick shuffle around the UK smart club's forums reveals lots of figures in the 50s for MPG, which isn't too shabby at all. I don't know if you guys get stop/start ones over there but that must help. Not to mention diesel ones.

I don't find the numbers it puts up particularly impressive when they are matched by your typical diesel Golf.

Again, owners don't seem to complain too much. Remember - fun is subjective.

Yes it is. A lot of Prius owners have fun clogging up the fast lanes on the highway watching their center console instead of the road, for example.

Again, debatable. Build quality has always been pretty good in them. It's worth bearing in mind that for a good few years even proper Mercs weren't of particularly high quality, too. That's improved and so have smarts.

Not from what I've seen. It appears very much so that it was engineered to a price far beyond its already-expensive MSRP and then cheapened inside so they could make it at least somewhat cheap. This is my impression of the second gen model, because that is what I sat in.

Disagree. The niche may not exist in the US but it does over here. And you do see a lot of them about, so somebody must be buying them. It's worth pointing out that the UK smart club is the second biggest make-specific car club in the UK after the MG Owners Club, which has been around for forty-odd years...

The niche really doesn't exist for the Prius in America, but they sell them by the bucketloads for what I'm guessing is the same reason.

I'd agree, but over here the direct competition is the also-expensive Toyota iQ.

Which suffers from most of the same problems. Not all of them, but most of them.

I'm not saying that it's not "unsuitable" when judged by American standards, but it's certainly not a bad car (acquired taste maybe, but not bad). Essentially the Smart's main problem is asking America to "get" it, given that it was designed very specifically with tiny European city centres in mind.

Its a smugmobile. It isn't that hard to get. Probably the only reason it hasn't taken off in America like the Prius has is because it is too compromised and expensive to make the elitism worth the effort.

 

[homeforsummer]

Because for years Europe has actually had good small cars and city cars. The defining feature of the fortwo is that it is a really small mini car; and I don't understand how it would be particularly better than, say, a Fiat Panda, unless you were catastrophically bad at parallel parking. I am glad that it isn't as expensive as it used to be, but I still don't see the objective point.

You're forgetting the fact that it's a piece of design though, too. You'd find it hard finding someone who has no opinion on the smart. This is an appealing characteristic for a lot of people. Much as I like the Panda and I'm sure it's a good car, it also blends completely into the background in Europe amongst the dozens of other small cars in the market. Smarts don't blend in, even slightly.

Plus, it's a different concept. The thing is only 2.5 metres long. You'd be amazed how much extra space that gives you. European cities are a lot more crowded than American ones. I've driven around both. It's pretty easy to guess which one the Smart makes more sense in.

Yes, in fact. I've been inside one.

Then unless you're eight foot eleventeen I can't see how you can claim it lacks space. There's masses in there and it's not even too bad for luggage - there's certainly more boot and cabin space than there is in my MX-5 and yesterday I managed to fit a holdall, a 23" TV, two games consoles and a bunch of other assorted crap with absolutely no problems in that. Or a week's worth of shopping for two people with room to spare. When you actually think about how much space you regularly need, it isn't a lot.

I don't find the numbers it puts up particularly impressive when they are matched by your typical diesel Golf.

So it's not impressive that petrol models are getting 50+ MPG on short commutes and 70+ when the speeds rise? Sure, a diesel Golf will do that, if you don't mind spending an extra £5k and having two extra seats you may not actually need.

Yes it is. A lot of Prius owners have fun clogging up the fast lanes on the highway watching their center console instead of the road, for example.

Although I understand you're being ironic, you've missed the point. Driving a Prius is like driving any other passenger car, only a little more silent around town. Smarts trade on what you might call the "experience". You can virtually touch all four corners of the car from where you're sitting, you sit higher up than regular cars, you've got great visibility compared to most modern cars, a burbly little 3-pot engine behind your butt... like I said, "fun" is subjective. To me, all that sounds like it'd make driving quite interesting, even if you're not going to be setting any new skidpad g-force records.

Not from what I've seen. It appears very much so that it was engineered to a price far beyond its already-expensive MSRP and then cheapened inside so they could make it at least somewhat cheap. This is my impression of the second gen model, because that is what I sat in.

Don't mistake "different" for "cheap". Just because it doesn't have acres of dashboard like many modern cars it doesn't make it cheap. The two or three that I've sat in have been pretty nice, especially the Brabus with leather everywhere. Personally, give me dashboards trimmed with material over plastic any day.

The niche really doesn't exist for the Prius in America, but they sell them by the bucketloads for what I'm guessing is the same reason.

Clearly it does, otherwise they wouldn't be selling.

Its a smugmobile. It isn't that hard to get. Probably the only reason it hasn't taken off in America like the Prius has is because it is too compromised and expensive to make the elitism worth the effort.

I don't know what Smart owners in the States are like but "smug" seems way wide of the mark. People don't buy them to "save the world" like they would a Prius, they buy them because they want something a bit fun, a bit different and a bit interesting. And personally I can see why, as most normal cars bore me to death. The niche cars are where the interesting stuff is.

 

[niky]

Hmmmm...



Although, yes, the staring at the center console thing is true. Keeping it in electric mode is fascinating. It's like playing with a gigantic, silver tamagotchi... BRAMP!.... was that a cyclist?

 

[Moglet]

I don't understand how it would be particularly better than, say, a Fiat Panda, unless you were catastrophically bad at parallel parking.

It's much, much smaller than a Panda! My car is basically a Panda and it dwarfs Smarts. Look at the end of the row in the image below, I know it's parked differently and it's far away but the difference is pretty clear;