Board logo

smart roadster
beaver34 - 7/5/12 at 02:08 PM

just been to look at a smart brabus roadster

anyone have any knowlege of these strange things?

i went hoping it was rubbish and i liked it for some reason, 53mpg 700cc 3cyl turbo £95 a year tax

or what other kind of cars you would be looking at, for some reason dont like mx5 even though everyone says there great maybe i need to drive one?

blakep82 - 7/5/12 at 02:16 PM

similar mpg, and higher road tax than my dads 2 litre astra turbo diesel!
noooo, i wouldn't do it

[Edited on 7/5/12 by blakep82]

Chippy - 7/5/12 at 02:25 PM

My sons mate has one, it's a hoot to drive as pretty light and quite pockey. I would say far more fun than a MX5, IMHO Ray

beaver34 - 7/5/12 at 02:31 PM

quote:
Originally posted by blakep82
similar mpg, and higher road tax than my dads 2 litre astra turbo diesel!
noooo, i wouldn't do it

[Edited on 7/5/12 by blakep82]


haha, why would anyone want a diesel astra though?!

blakep82 - 7/5/12 at 03:22 PM

because its 165bhp, £30 a year road tax, and accelerates very well.

but then again, i can't imagine why anyone would want a smart roadster...

main sort of point i'm making though, is that for the size of the engine, its a pretty poor MPG. fiat 500 twin air perhaps would be my choice if its something like that you're after. again, poor consuption, but they look like fun, and free road tax, so thats £95 a year of free petrol to put in

[Edited on 7/5/12 by blakep82]

StevieB - 7/5/12 at 04:11 PM

We had a (non Brabus) Smart roadster for a couple of years and it was OK - handled well but the auto gear change thing will really wind you up after a short while. It takes forever to change gear, isn't smooth in the slightest and feels like it leaves you coasting between gears forever - not good when it happens mid corner.

If they had ever put some effort into fettling the gearchange, it would have been a corking car and we'd have kept it a lot longer than we did.

AFAIK, the only Brabus has more power but the same gearbox problem, so expect the same annoyance.

Marcus - 7/5/12 at 04:22 PM

The Brabus had a slightly qiuickened gearchange. Still not perfect, but Smarts R Us in Nottingham do an ecu upgrade that improves things further. I love 'em. Do it!!!

beaver34 - 7/5/12 at 04:25 PM

quote:
Originally posted by StevieB
We had a (non Brabus) Smart roadster for a couple of years and it was OK - handled well but the auto gear change thing will really wind you up after a short while. It takes forever to change gear, isn't smooth in the slightest and feels like it leaves you coasting between gears forever - not good when it happens mid corner.

If they had ever put some effort into fettling the gearchange, it would have been a corking car and we'd have kept it a lot longer than we did.

AFAIK, the only Brabus has more power but the same gearbox problem, so expect the same annoyance.


I drove it and in auto it was crap end of story, in manual using the paddles it was ok better than I thought, the brabus has a faster change as far as the Internet says

It felt quite nippy too up to 60 mph and sounded nice,

beaver34 - 7/5/12 at 04:26 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Marcus
The Brabus had a slightly qiuickened gearchange. Still not perfect, but Smarts R Us in Nottingham do an ecu upgrade that improves things further. I love 'em. Do it!!!


I see, I'll take a look

Its not a coupe and I like them more,must they are proper rare non anywhere near me

oldtimer - 7/5/12 at 05:28 PM

I've got a non Brabus roadster and it's great fun, cheap to buy and insure. Handling is really sharp and motor revy once off the line. They are poor from a standstill as you have to get the turbo spinning. They eat up the country miles. Slow gearchange, as spoken, can be improved during remap. One thing I HATE is the hill-assist which releases the brake for you after a second, only problem is it also does it on the flat - I end up using the handbrake much more now so that I don't have to wait for the brake to release at a junction. Get one.

beaver34 - 7/5/12 at 06:48 PM

quote:
Originally posted by oldtimer
I've got a non Brabus roadster and it's great fun, cheap to buy and insure. Handling is really sharp and motor revy once off the line. They are poor from a standstill as you have to get the turbo spinning. They eat up the country miles. Slow gearchange, as spoken, can be improved during remap. One thing I HATE is the hill-assist which releases the brake for you after a second, only problem is it also does it on the flat - I end up using the handbrake much more now so that I don't have to wait for the brake to release at a junction. Get one.


Thanks, what mpg do you get?

How many miles and what issues have you had if any and what should I be looking for when viewing?

oldtimer - 7/5/12 at 07:24 PM

General running around 45mpg. Steady on motorways 50-55 mpg and slow on motorways due to traffic 60+mpg. I have only owned mine a couple of months and have had no issues. The roof tend to leak varying amounts, engine longevity is thought to be a possible issue. Mine's done 27K and is smooth. Try and get one with paddle shift as well as gear lever shift. They are slow changing as, though it appears like a sequential gearbox, it is a normal manual. 16" wheels are thought to be the best size. They have electric power steering up to about 5mph then it swithes off. My power steering is noisy when cold but seems fine. Plenty of specialists around. They feel quick, 25%power improvement remaps are cheap, but even the basic 80bhp is adequate to start off with. You can also open and close the electric soft top whilst driving. Nice little, nippy car.

oldtimer - 7/5/12 at 07:26 PM

General running around 45mpg. Steady on motorways 50-55 mpg and slow on motorways due to traffic 60+mpg. I have only owned mine a couple of months and have had no issues. The roof tend to leak varying amounts, engine longevity is thought to be a possible issue. Mine's done 27K and is smooth. Try and get one with paddle shift as well as gear lever shift. They are slow changing as, though it appears like a sequential gearbox, it is a normal manual. 16" wheels are thought to be the best size. They have electric power steering up to about 5mph then it swithes off. My power steering is noisy when cold but seems fine. Plenty of specialists around. They feel quick, 25%power improvement remaps are cheap, but even the basic 80bhp is adequate to start off with. You can also open and close the electric soft top whilst driving. Nice little, nippy car.

Pete - Kit Car Zone - 7/5/12 at 07:40 PM

A friend of mine had a limited edition brabus a couple of years back (I think the paint and interior made it limited edition). He loved it, really nippy as it weighed nothing and pretty reliable in the time he had it. He ended up chopping it in for a Merc after a few years. I don't think it was anything against the smart, he just gets bored of things quite quickly. So nothing negative to report really? Depends on what condition it's in for starters.

beaver34 - 7/5/12 at 07:57 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Pete - Kit Car Zone
A friend of mine had a limited edition brabus a couple of years back (I think the paint and interior made it limited edition). He loved it, really nippy as it weighed nothing and pretty reliable in the time he had it. He ended up chopping it in for a Merc after a few years. I don't think it was anything against the smart, he just gets bored of things quite quickly. So nothing negative to report really? Depends on what condition it's in for starters.


Thanks for the replays,

It's mint to be fair apart from the lacquer on the wheels but that affects them all, would have the powder coated anyway

It's a brabus with 40k on clock so has 100bhp and has a 11 month warranty which might be worth some money might not, it's the exclusive trim with all coulor coded front and rear plastics push button start heated leather etc....

Just looked at afew z3 on eBay like the look of them and are more grown up too, but more to run

Swings and round abouts I suppose

ashg - 7/5/12 at 08:36 PM

chris on here (toltec) has got a brabus one with the big wheels and shiny bits. its a real good crack to drive, as stated the gear change can be a bit slow on them but once you get the knack of driving them they are actually pretty quick. funny you should mention it as he is planning on acquiring another kit car next weekend and was considering selling it to free up some driveway real-estate.

beaver34 - 7/5/12 at 09:10 PM

quote:
Originally posted by ashg
chris on here (toltec) has got a brabus one with the big wheels and shiny bits. its a real good crack to drive, as stated the gear change can be a bit slow on them but once you get the knack of driving them they are actually pretty quick. funny you should mention it as he is planning on acquiring another kit car next weekend and was considering selling it to free up some driveway real-estate.


I see, point him this way might be able to take it off his hands!

smart51 - 7/5/12 at 09:22 PM

They leak. My sister in law had one and water in the electrics left her stranded 3 times. She was towed to a main dealer each time and the "solution" seems to have been more silicone sealant. She got shut of it after the 3rd time. Rumour has it that the reason they canned it was the warranty cost. Find a good one, though, and they're brilliant fun.

Volvorsport - 7/5/12 at 10:26 PM

they dont make the roadster anymore ?

was looking at one or the other type as a donor car....

Toltec - 7/5/12 at 10:57 PM

quote:
Originally posted by beaver34
quote:
Originally posted by ashg
chris on here (toltec) has got a brabus one with the big wheels and shiny bits. its a real good crack to drive, as stated the gear change can be a bit slow on them but once you get the knack of driving them they are actually pretty quick. funny you should mention it as he is planning on acquiring another kit car next weekend and was considering selling it to free up some driveway real-estate.


I see, point him this way might be able to take it off his hands!


Hi there, what Ash did not say is I am down in Kent too - inside the M25, but technically Kent anyway - might be a bit far to take a look unless you have another reason to be down here. It is also no garage queen and there are various light scratches in the paintwork, though given the bodywork is plastic there is no rust.

I really know how to sell a car

I bought it because I was driving 25 miles to and from work, plus work mileage, and the Impreza was only averaging 25mph. The Smart meant the payments for the work mileage pretty much covered my commuting costs! Of course I could have bought a FWD diesel, but life is too short to drive dull cars.

I did consider an Elise/VX220, however I needed to carry various bits of gear for work and you can get a surprising amount of stuff in a Roadster Coupe. Four fifteen inch Pro Race 1.2 wheels with tyres for example.

I now work a 7 minute walk from home so I can go back to something less practical and fuel efficient.

I never use the auto mode, unless you are driving quite steadily the changes are not at all subtle and the change points always seem to be just at the wrong time, mine has the paddles though. You can do multi-gear changes which if timed correctly only take slightly longer than a single. From what I understand the gear box is actually a three speed with overdrive on all gears to give you the six ratios.

The hill hold is not noticeable most of the time as it disengages as soon as you press the throttle, where it can be a pain is manoeuvring on a slope, e.g when reversing down if you come to a stop the HH engages so it becomes difficult to control movement smoothly on the brake pedal. The way around this is to left foot brake and just touch the accelerator slightly, you can control the car on the brake and the HH does not engage. I drive the car using LFB anyway as the brake pedal is set quite well over to the left, makes it feel even more like a kart to drive.

You can turn the ESP off completely, however it is not too invasive and the traction control will allow some wheel spin, it only cuts power if you are really too heavy on the throttle. I found that in the wet if you use just enough throttle to get a little slip the system will hold it there, as you probably know maximum traction and therefore acceleration is achieved when the drive wheels are rotating slightly above the road speed. Same thing as as tyres achieving maximum lateral grip at a critical slip angle. Also hairy chested as I am the ESP once saved my arse when I hit a bump at speed on a wet motorway slip road when I did not even think I was pressing on that hard.

The front bulbs can be a pita to change, remove both wings and the front of the car in one piece to get at the side lights, both of mine are now LED ones.

Mine has all of the normal Brabus Exclusive bits plus I had cruise control fitted as it spent a lot of the time on the M20.

Cheers,
Chris

morcus - 8/5/12 at 02:30 AM

I;ve not owned one but I've wanted one since they first came out. My mum had a Smart for4 and I used to love going up to the dealership to see the roadsters (Which was alot, theres a very good reason they stopped making that car).

I think you'd get used to the jerky gearbox. My fiat has a simillar system of manual box controled by a computor and I've had simillar problems as those I've seen described with jerky shifts that can take forever and the computer desiding it would rather be in a different gear when it shouldn't (Like down shifting 2 0r three gears on ice). When I first got it I hated the thing but now I don't notice it but it's not as smooth as a real auto.