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smart roadster: entertaining device

Greetings everyone!

Today’s post regards, once again, the smart roadster, my car. The reason why I find it interesting to get back to this is simple: it’s a sheer emotional thing.
I’ve driven it now for more than 3k kilometres (~2k miles), and I have to say I still think it’s epic. For the ones who do not understand me, please, read some ‘proper’ reviews of this car, or just drive one. Yesterday I met another roadster driver, and his thoughts on his car are pretty much the same as mine, even if his use of his roadster is much different from mine.
However, a common point was made: it cannot be the only car on a daily basis. Let me explain: my work place is 25 kilometres from home, and I end up driving more than 2k+ kilometres a month. In April, I used it on a daily basis, and I was astonished with its fuel consumption: week after week, it was always up to 4,5 l/100 km (50+ mpg). Better is hard, but I recognize my driving is far from average and I go to work mostly on highway. But I have no garage at my week-house, a big and somewhat troublesome city, so I felt stressed many nights. My car was already vandalized in March, when someone broke both screen wiper arms, so you understand me…
So, I picked up my parents Rover once again. And I must recognize that after a month with the roadster, the feeling of ‘peace’ it transmits is nice, the driving experience being completely different from the smart’s. It’s a nice drive, the engine being the responsible. But it hates cornering, it’s noisy and its fuel consumption is getting higher as the car gets older. With 170k kilometres (~106k miles) on the clock and being 12 years old, my last week average was 6,5 l/100km (36 mpg), absolutely ridiculous regarding my driving profile, and far from the old 5,8 I/100km (41) I used to manage some years ago… The roadster is also limited in rainy weather, not because of the softop (even if mine leaked two times out of the blue…), but because of fat tires and low weight. It simply disconnects from the road…
After two weeks away from my roadster, I was dying to drive it again. And this is my point of view: for someone who only needs a daily working tool (and drives considerable kilometres on the way…), the roadster is not the best option. You barely enjoy its qualities and you start to exaggerate its weaknesses. And that’s because you have to drive it. This is an entertainment device; you should use it when you want to. That also leads to low mileage, so the frequent and expensive maintenance services turn out to be less and therefore irrelevant. If you are looking for economy, there are important points other than fuel consumption…
If you are an economy maniac (as me... :S) who also happens to love cars and driving them, try this: buy a smart roadster and reserve it for the weekends and vacations; buy a cheap work horse for the daily life. Insurance and taxes will be cheap in both cases; petrol consumption won’t ruin your wallet; you will drive to work more relaxed and above all, you will leave the playstation alone during the weekends…

Please, read this reviews:

http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evocarreviews/34732/smart_roadster.html

http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evocarreviews/45290/smart_roadster.html

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