Just cancelled my Smart FourTwo convertible order...

[Hulababy]

After the past month of messing about and the Smart garage not having a clue, they have now decided that it is not possible to turn the air bag off using the car seat. It only works for the first stage car seat, and not the next stage up. Dh has told them this is not acceptable for us and we believe there recommendation is not safe enough.

So it is cancelled

However, for just £200 more I am now going to, hopefully, get a FourFour Passion - the four seater Smart car. Not convertible though, but still pretty cool, and definitely more economical than my Beetle. Dh is going to speak to them and see which ones they have in stock. I am happy to compromise on colours

Don't have to spend £190 on their car seat either now. Can just get a normal one. No isofix sadly (I don't think anyway - best check!) but PILs have just got DD a Britax Hiliner seat, reduced to £40 on Toys R Us which did really well in the Which report, so may get that one.

So, fingers crossed this one goes well.

Complete hijack here, but Janh do you have a Jazz? I was thinking of getting one (the automatic kind) but walked past one the other day and was really disappointed at how boring it looked! I'd love to know if it is a godd car - I really loked the spec. Not sure about the 4-seater Smarts - I thought they were expensive? They are certainly less characteristic than the little ones. Being a shallow person, I would quite like a funky car!

I am very shallow, but not funky.
An Aston Martin DB9 would do me nicely thanks.
Anyone got £100,000+ to lend me??

No?
Oh, well, will have to stick with the Astra (that stinks of lavender essential oil due to DD finding a small bottle and opening whilst in transit!)

The Smart ForFour starts from £7295
The Passion says from £10,370

However I am getting a Passion for the price of the Pulse - about £9000.

Not bad for a Mercedes car.

nooka, I don't have one but my neighbour does, she loves it and I really like the look of it and so do What Car, Which magazine etc. I still need to carry extra bods and stuff sometimes so am stuck with my Zafira but next time I may well get a Jazz.

Honest John road test - pretty near perfect - only not fun (or funky, either, obv!)

(Comes in some very cute colours too...)

Thanks Janh. All the specs look good, but I wish it didn't look so boring! Still as our last car was a Golf, I can't really talk! I guess it's just about trying to break my driving duck, and I thought something funky might help!

Sounds like you've got yourself a good deal there Hulababy - if I only had one child I would think quite seriously about the little Smart.

You could get a second hand S class, pimp the ride with lowered shocks and blacked out windows and cruise, girl, on that budget, LOL.

I said funky!
Not boy racer!!!

For fast I drive the Golf GTi fast and classy

One kid ? Fancy a frogeye sprite ?

Hehe, we used to have a rag-top frog-eyed sprite, BC. The roof leaked when it rained!

I thought the Forfour was based on a Mitsubushi Colt? Mind you, I've lost track of who-owns-which-marque nowadays so maybe Mitsubishi belongs to Merc anyway!!

Hulababy - I haven't read it all - but we have the Pulse and it is gorgeous....I love it (it is DH's - I'm stuck with the people carrier that takes an hour to get up to 60mph)

It is so fast and so stylish...I get people asking about it in the supermarket car park

I love it

suedonim, gotta love those bugeyes, hey !

... and lovely little stupid boot to give elegant curve to rear, LOL.

My dad used to have a triumph roadster when he was courting my mum. The roof leaked too, so she made him get rid of it. I think he still regrets it, LOL !

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Hula, I thought Smart cars were made by crysler(sp?).

Hula, I thought Smart cars were made by crysler(sp?).

smart factfile

• smart GmbH (parent company in Germany) is a 100% owned subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler AG
• established: April 1994
• no. of employees: 1,140 (status @ Jan 2003)
• administrative headquarters: Böblingen (Germany)
• production facility: Hambach (France)
• represented in 35 countries (status @ Feb 2004)
• management: Ulrich Walker (CEO), Rudi Hammerschmidt, Dr. Roberto Klimmek, Anders Sundt Jensen, Dr. Helmut Wawra

from their website

The Smart is (or was) a MErcedes, actually the Mercedes Class A was developed based in the research carried out to develop the Smart. Swatch (the watch makers) were also involved in its design.

Am I a fan or what? only thing that I regret about being a mother it's erasing the Smart from my wish list.

Must have changed then - unless Daimler Chrysler are part of the same group. It was definitely Mercedes originally (under the name MCC), and they are sold in Mercedes garages/showrooms in the UK. And yes, Swatch was definitely involved in their original design. We has a Smart Passion 2 seater when they first came out, pre DD, and it was the only car I have ever been sad to let go.

Actually DaimlerChrysler own Mercedes Benz

see here

Hub2Dee, we also had MGAs which leaked like sieves. The passenger (me!) would have to mop up with a sponge and wring it out via the window, which entailed getting even wetter. And one of them had a wonky passenger door which you'd have to hold closed when going round corners. Ah, those were the days - real motoring! The best non-leaky ragtops we had were Lotus Elans - fabby cars, wish we had one now!

Is the For Four based on the old A class? I liked the old one but the new one seems less flexible as regards rear seating/boot.

btw Smarts are very popular in N Europe as business advertising cars so you don't see many privately owned ones. In Switzerland at least there are special mini car park spaces, just for them, and yes, they get parked sideways on along streets! Not sure about their safety record, seem to remember hearing of a very nasty Smart vs truck accident - there doesn't seem to be much to crumple.

Safety record for the small one is supposedly excellent for a small car. Obviosly any small city car hitting a truck is going to not fair well. There was a TV thing with tests on the Smart and other city cars. It came out best. It can withstand huge crashes - the way it is designed makes it one big crumple zone and the inside design means it doesn't impact on the driver/passenger as much. Body panels are plastic too so more flexible. And loads of airbag features. However, the human body can't - so after a certain speed it is all academic anyway.

Lotus Elan, suedonim ? Ewwwwww, LOL.

Sounds like your MG had knackered sills, LOL... that can cause doors to become, ahem 'lively'... I still run a '73 MGB but it really doesn't look like it's got much of a future considering the number of seats and the fact the standard seat belt doesn't fit round a car seat !

More recently, dad had an Austin Healey 100/6 (example here, next to a Sprite ! ). That was a fun car to drive, a bit heavy but nice and noisy, LOL. Has a certain 'MGA look' to it, doesn't it !