Spy Photos: SMART ForTwo
For those of you following the saga of SMART's progress towards infiltrating the U.S. more closely than the NBA Finals, these spy shots are for you. The soft-top Cabriolet and City Coupe pictured show that SMART's here to stay, at least for now. Refreshed head and tail lamps, a pedestrian-friendy nose, new and more aerodynamic mirrors, and door handles that fit flush with the door round out the updates to DaimlerChrysler's perennial problem child. Also be on the lookout for Mitsubishi's turbocharged three-banger -- despite the end of DaimlerChrysler's engine development relationship with Mitsubishi for projects such as this, the little car will still sport the diminuitive power plant, which it shares with the Mitsubishi i.
[Source: Channel4]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rob Lowe 2:33PM (6/17/2006)
Maybe they should have called it "The Not So Smart". But does anybody really know why this car is such a money loser other then the MB Accounting Dept. Do they actually lose money on each vehicle because of the vehicles cost to build or because of allocated overhead costs?
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smart 11:42PM (1/09/2008)
Thanks for creating this great article on the smart, I would like to personally invite you to the new smart site just launched.
The new smart website is focused on the 451 smart fortwo ( 2008 smart car ) and its web address is: http://www.451s.com
451s.com was created to help bring together worldwide smart owners and smart enthusiasts. While this site is focused on the 451 smart fortwo sold in America and Canada it is open to all smart's and the worldwide smart community.
http://www.451s.com
idodalia 9:50AM (6/19/2006)
I fell really bad for what has happened. I am going through the same thing but with a C 320. I have had the valves changed three times, whole new engine put in and now I believe the exhaust has gone out. I am tired of this.
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John P. Hedin aka DrSmart 4:06AM (6/21/2006)
Daimler is a pioneer in auto production-but who told the financial wizards of Stuttgart-Unterturkeim that they were small car experts. Ever since the infamous A "class"(?) failure in the Elk Test- where a Swedish auto journalist was injured in a roll-over during the maneuver-Mercedes has added it's vehicle stability control systems to try to control driver behavior. Other great handling innovations are electric power steering on the forTwo and the famous torsion beam rear axle on the Mitsubishi chassis of the forFour. Up until 2 years ago the SLK featured recirculating ball steering as an example of their "engineering excellence". They finally adopted rack & pinion on the latest CLK but the Crossfire was still built on the old chassis. Mercedes should have sold smart to either Peugeot/Citroen or Renault-but they probably know that the car is toast. Wait till the Fiat New 500 and Ford KA come out in 2007-affordsble- 4 passenger seating and 50 MPG! The basic problem with the forTwo is that it is over priced-poor performance-quirky transmission-and that it only seats 2. Whenever I go to the Netherlands I see very few forTwos-the Dutch are too practical and family oriented. Yes I know there are swarms of them in Rome a lot in London & Paris-but you cannot park them at right angles to the curb-8' 2"- or longer than an original Humvee is wide! and don't count on parking in with motor scooters as they do in Rome-you will get a parking ticket. a SMART idea will be to build a 4 passenger city car- 10' long-like the original mini with Front Wheel Drive- but tall- and price it at about $12,000, plus earn a 5 star NCAP crash rating along with 40/50 MPG.
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