Smart Car. Passion

My friend Gary got a smart car in at Hertz so I just had to rent it for the day.


From the outside it looks very small but it is surprisingly roomy inside.

Not roomy enough for me cause I weigh as much as the 3 cylinder; 71 horsepower, 1 litre Passion.

LOVED the see through roof!  FABULOUS #1

Air Condition worked great! Power windows and power door locks. Fabulous #2

Just a little thing, and could park it in a 1/2 spot. Fabulous #3.

Clutchless manual or totally automatic. Fabulous #4.

Everyone stared as I drove buy.  Absolute attention magnet!  Just make sure you don't want to try and be incognito.  Kids on the street would yell out legitimate questions like...  How fast can it go? They have never done that to me in my mini-van.  For me this is Fabulous #5.

First you put the key in the console between the two front bucket seats.  

As I was turning a sharp left corner, my knee hit the key and turned the car off.

Not impressed / Dangerous #1.

The bucket seats are very contoured.  And my butt nor my shoulders fit the contour that the designers think is the average person. A flat bench seat would have been spot on. Not impressed #2.

Only 30 miles to the gallon.  You must be kidding right?  3 cylinders, and that small and only gets 30 miles to the gallon.  I thought these were to get like 60 miles plus to the gallon.  So not impressed #3.

The front hood has NO LATCH!  I got it up to 80 on the highway and the hood did not come apart, but just to give me a little peace of mind, put a dam hook latch or something on the hood.  Not impressed #4.

Very rough automatic shifting.  It was a lot smoother when I did the clutchless manual. The single-clutch, automated manual transmission shifts gears so slowly and clumsily and the significant lurch of the transmission shifting is very unnerving.  The noticeable shift shock made me and everyone else who tried it, think that the transmission was giving out after 13,000 miles. Nope, the transmission is fine, that is how they drive.  

Not impressed #5.

No power at all. I mean do not pull out in front of anyone!  0 to 60 in about 20 seconds.  Yeah baby! I said 20 seconds.  Me and my Mistress's (my Mistress is in the Smart car with me in the pictures) granddaughter timed it out on the Reagan. And when a semi truck passed the poor little thing actually felt the crosswinds?  Not impressed / Dangerous #6.

$15,000 base price?  You have got to be kidding! Larger cars are cheaper! Not impressed at all #7.

Can you say ROUGH & BUMPY highway driving.  Where the hell are the shocks? Seriously feel every bump.  Not impressed #8.

The brake pedal come out of the floor and mashed down, rather than the normal brake pedals coming from the dashboard and mashing "in & down".  Had to get used to that.  Not impressed #9.

The passion loves to LURCH.  I mean, for having no power, it likes to lurch (not roll or crawl, but seriously LURCH) in parking lots and at stop signs & lights. Not impressed / dangerous #10.

So there is my revue.  5 fun and positives and 10 negatives if not outright dangers.

The Smart Passion does drive better than a gold cart, but not when at the upper speeds.

So all together the smart car costs too dam much and for only getting 30 miles to the gallon it is a big (hahaha I made you say big) joke.  

Hope you like the pictures of me trying to tune the Smart Passion up.... Just change the guinea pigs food and water and throw in some fresh cedar shavings every 1,000 miles and you are good to go!