Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Off Topic Smart Roadster. Owners opinion?

We have a family wagon which the wife uses to drive the monsters around in. I sold my BMW to get the wagon. So I took over the old focus estate which is boring me to death.

At some point I want to get rid of it and I was wondering what the smart roadster is like? anybody got one?

I got a Smart ForTwo which is quite different from the roadster. However the concept of small turbo engine and automated manual is similar, albeit a quicker shift on roadster.

If I get into a car that I am not familiar with it normally doesn't take me very long to feel happy with its quirks. With my Smart, it took me 2 days and 10 years later, I still get caught out once in a while.

The problem is that due to the small engine, it has to change gears relatively often. And when it's changing gear, you obviously don't have any acceleration. As I say, the roadster has a faster shift, to it may be a bit less of a problem, but still something to be wary of. I still occasionally enter a roundabout then just when I need a bit of acceleration, find that it's in the process of changing down and I don't have any power to avoid the car that was coming from my right faster than I anticipated. Another one is speed bumps. My smart doesn't like them due to short wheel base and stiff suspension so I take them a bit slower than most other cars. Just as I have slowed to go over the top, I want to accelerate out the other side, but by then, it might be changing down and I don't have any power available, by which time, the chap behind me is right up my arse and often annoyed enough to overtake at the next speed hump.

But it's built to Mercedes standard and otherwise not a bad little town car which 99% of the time, is all that I need.

As in hifi, you need a demo.

So do they all have semi auto then? Is the stick bump up and down?

It's a manual gearbox that has been automated. It's very different than if it was based on an automatic box. Basically the clutch and gear select is under control of the car, although some versions, mine included and I guess roadsters have a manual push/pull lever. Mine also has steering wheel paddles. However, even in manual mode, down shift will be automatically forced if not done manually in time.

Being a manual gearbox, the time for the car to depress the clutch, change gear and release clutch is under control of the car. I think in roadster it is more sporty, but unless its many order of magnitudes faster than ForTwo I bet can probably change gear 10 times faster in a manual car and when I want.

Sounds like I may get annoyed with it. You never know until you drive it though. Is it the same engine in the for2 and the roadster? I just want something with cheap tax good economy sporty handling and fast upto 60.

I've always fancied an old Moke. Fails miserably on the last two, but you'd bring a little sunshine to wherever you drove.

Moke is based on (Issigonis) mini running gear; it can be made to go as fast as you want and handles better than most 'modern' cars.

Buggered if it rains though...

All the best,

Steve.

Rains? I'd love to say what's rain but since it was coming down tigers and hyenas earlier....

It's 'cats and dogs' here.

Usually that here as well, but that didn't quite seem to describe it adequately.

I could equally have said "staircases"...

Do you mean "stair-rods"
Hector

No. It was bigger than stair-rods...