My new Smart Car

Just picked up my new 2008 Passion smart car from Detroit. I was one of the first to register and one of the first to get delivery in Michigan. (I think I was the 12th to pick up but since I was in China for the last couple weeks I could have picked it up earlier were I in the country.)

The dealership site and the smart car site are linked.

Our next step is to establish a smart car enuthusiast club for West Michigan.

Check out the Smart Car of America web site for enthusiasts.

Comments

[Steve Goulet]

Nice! I want one. Will they service it locally or do you have to drive to Detroit?

I am also reading about you here: http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/01/smart_car_debuts_in_west_michi.html

[Stu]

Steve,

The only service in Michigan is in Detroit. But it uses synthetic oil and the normal cycle is 10,000 miles/12 months. The car also has an oil sensor which determines when you actually need a change (often longer) and lets you know.

[subadei]

Looks like Brabus has taken the initiative and endeavored to do exactly what I would do should I suddenly find a smart car in my garage. Exploit it's incredibly light weight and modify. Imagine this thing with 110 or 140 hp...

Great to see you blogging again. I'd imagine this car handles, quite literally, like a go cart. It's wheelbase isn't that much larger.

What's the stock sound system like?

[Stu]

Thanks - been way too busy in the last year but I just decided it was time to post or 'get off the pot'...

The car does handle very nicely even in the snow and ice, although the center of gravity feels a bit high to have that much horsepower pushing it.

I got the upgraded sound system (radio 10) which is decent, plenty of power enough to be uncomfortably loud. I did not get the extra tweeters and subwoofer. The interface is deceptively simple much like the design of the car.

[Stu]

Ooops - just checked the invoice it seems I did get the tweeters and subwoofer... no wonder it sounds good :)

I just got to figure out where they put the tweeters...

[smart car]

If you don’t want to invest in a bad car for any reason, you of course have to go with something that has been owned by someone else. You can get a great smart car this way, but you have to be smart about buying a used car.

[Marsha Dallalire]

Would love updated info, we just bought one pick up today June 6, 2008.

[Brett Harrison]

they put th tweeters with the mid range in the doors and the sub is under the drivers seat, but go to bestbuy and you can upgrade the sound system to be so much better so when people come up to me and say what's the sound like, it must be tinny, I can crank it up instead of adjusting the sub because the power to that cancels out the mid and highs and it is fucking annoying, so I'm heading to bestbuy tomorrow.

[Stu]

My tweeters are near the defroster vents on the dash before you get to the windshield. The sound is good enough for me - the volume goes to 25 but by '19' it is painfully loud (playing my iPod mostly).

Marsha - tell me more!
You should be invited to the smartusainsider site soon. Lots of folks are members of SCOA - see my link on the sidebar.