I Rented The CHEAPEST Car On Turo... Huge Mistake Or Smart Choice? 

Just refer to the single clutch as "a Ferrari transmission" at every available opportunity.

Your reviews are entertaining yet very educational. Great work as always

So your navigation sounds like a german officer, where its heritage is

I have put one of those in the bed of my F-450 and closed the tail gate too help a buddy move once... :)

Little fun fact: SMART stands for Swatch Mercedes Art. As it was a collaboration between the 2 companies. For the ones who don't know, Swatch was a very popular watch brand during the 80's and 90's. Anyways, great videos Elliott! Always looking forward to see your content.

Have you considered doing a video of you detailing a Turo rental car using only Simple Green products?

That was our only company car our service tech had to drive repeatedly between Ottawa and Montreal (120 miles each way) in the dead of winter (slush, snow, freezing rain) during a product launch. A good way to tell your employee they are expendable. I only drove one to the airport once and the transmission (lurch) is as you describe. Mercedes failed attempt to recreate a Geo Metro.

Elliott, you’re absolutely correct about every aspect of the Smart car, because this video really did keep me smiling! Thank you so much for sharing your experiences in Califonia.

Bro. Just randomly watched this video and I couldn’t leave. Too good! The car spinning in the parking lot and the navigation lady was too funny! 😂

As an European it's always a joy to listen to Americans comment on the Smart car. Actually that's not the first gen but rather the second. When the first generation came out they were everwhere because you could put 2 side-by-side in 1 parking European sized parking space. When that generation came out they were bigger and you couldn't so they lost the feature they were the most known for but they were still relatively popular. The third and most recent generation is quite rare to see since they are the same size (or bigger) than other A-segment/city-cars while being more expensive

Elliot you had me rolling with the navigation lady bit. Great video and I couldn't care less about a Smart car. LOL!!!!

Keep up good work . Much love Vinnie from Seattle

Greetings from Australia. Great review. Don't see many on the roads here. Keep up the great work.

Hey Mr Motary Notary on the Go!!! A Smart Car??? I live here in Southern California & I laugh every time I see one, around here they are fun but considered to be only one step up from a golf cart 🛒 Thanks for letting me tag along on your latest adventure!!! 👍👍

11/10 will watch again! This was a fun review

I mean they don’t sound too bad straight piped, shoutout to Burlacher!

Fun video sir 👍🏻👍🏻

I was always more interested in the Scion IQ personally, Most reviews seemed to place it as a better alternative until Scion folded. The new style for the Fortwo looked a lot better, still cute but more car-like than the egg shape this has.

Great one😀

Now im looking them up on market place. Thanks Elliot

I love the navigation lady 😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆another great video

Very funny Elliot!

Excellent work, Elliott!! Hey, for $60 for your whole trip, what the heck?!! For a little perspective, when the Chrysler PT Cruiser first came out, all my radio stations bought them and put horrible wraps on them because they commanded a LOT of attention, kinda like the Smart, as you pointed out. BUT, around a year later, you could set it on fire and people would still not notice it.

Cool video of one of my fave cars! "They've never been expensive". They are exceptionally expensive considering how much car you are actually getting. Sticker price of a well-equipped model was $15-$20K or more! And the repairs are outrageous. I routinely pay in the thousands for things that would be a fraction of the cost on a higher-production car. STILL, a great car and cool video. The repair costs, all worth it for this gem.

Cool video.. Love the SMART

To change a headlight bulb on one of these, you have to disassemble the inner and outer fender, and the front end.

Ahhh! Pismo Beach in all its finest. Obviously you took the correct turn at Albuquerque. Maybe Bugs Bunny needed the Navigation unit to find his way there. 🐇🚘

omg I was in the exact same location as you are right now in Pismo Beach! I stayed at that very same hotel in the background on 2 occasions!

Thanks for this review. I've always wondered about these cars as I would love to free up some garage space for my motorcycle. Since I work from home, I don't need a big car anymore and could save on fuel with a smaller car. Really enjoyed seeing what the car is like!

Very interesting Smart car review, I really enjoyed it 👍 👍👍.

Best smart review I’ve seen yet. Thinking of buying one off Carvana to commute back and forth to work. Highway all the way 57 miles one way.

A nurse at my doctor's office had a Smart Car. She was sweet so I told her I would detail her car for free (I like doing that for people). Detailing it did not take long. I enjoyed the little bit of time I had driving it but the transmission shifting is indeed weird. Enjoyed the video.

This makes me feel pretty good about the Fiat 500 I rented in Spain back in August--19 euros a day on Turo. It had a 5 speed which was nice, as I can only imagine how slow it would have been with an auto. It had a 68 hp 1.2L 8V I4 in it. I think may be the slowest car I've ever driven. Hills were fun while trying to maintain 75 mph, but in the towns it was perfect. I think in aggregate I spent more time at WOT in that Fiat in one week than I have in my GTO in the last 5 years.

My best friend when I was 15-16 had one of these, and they are amazing. We were able to fit 4 guys in it all above 5'4, and we would go whipping down backroads at 140km/h. That was kind of dumb of us, if we crashed we would have become pancakes. but nonetheless I will always have a special place in my heart for these little legends, defenantly gotta get myself one someday.

NWA - Navigation With Attitude 🤣 Ha ha that was a fun video. Despite all its flaws, the Smart is kinda cool.

My mom used to have a 2008 Smart Car and it always got all the attention. She hasnt had the car for almost 3 years and she still gets asked about it occasionally lol

Great scenery to demonstrate your latest Bargain

I was always fascinated by these cars, especially after Car Wizard and now you made a video on them. What surprises me the most is how many of these you see as support vehicles at Drag Races. Last time I went, I counted no fewer than seven Smart Cars there, more than half being used to tow these high powered drag cars back from down track. It was hilarious to me!

I remember seeing one of those being towed down the freeway, strapped to a snow mobile trailer lol

My grandparents used to live near Pismo, before they passed. Beautiful area. Would like to go back again. If you're still in the area, F. McLintock's Saloon was one place we loved eating at with them.

The music during the parking demonstration was hilarious 😂

lol that shirt said it all you got on Elliot....Where the😻🦴 👀cat is saying (l found this humerus)🥰👍

I've got a smart diesel 800 cc in UK no road tax loving it. I got 69 mpg. On a run doing 60 mph

For a several years you could rent these off the street in DC from Car2Go, gas included. Came in handy at the time because I didn’t own a car. Super great for parking but yeah that gear change was rough.

We had the twin of this car and you nailed the quirks and features. Your car, like ours, was spec'd for Cars-to-Go urban hourly rentals. One can tell because of the white/silver paint, plain wheels, no glove compartment door, heated seats and the navigation. Our Smart/Mercedes dealer took care of it under the generous Mercedes warranty and it was very reliable. The engine is made by Mitsubishi. It made a good, lightweight toad for our motorhome. We ended up selling it and buying a Jeep toad which hauls more and is a better daily driver. Oh, and the hidden tailgate compartment is indeed rifle-cable as I can personally attest.

Kind of reminds me of the episode of CHiPs ("Moving Violation") where the guys pull over a guy (played by Rosie Greer) in a Honda N600 (he looked bigger than the car!) He got so upset over being pulled over that he proceeded to rip the car apart with his bare hands!

I feel like there is a guy at Turo in some cubicle that just keeps ripping up your checks and chuckling as he notes your numbers under the column "free advertising" in his spreadsheet.

My Fiance has a 2016 Smart Prime it's a little more sporty and a lot of fun to drive here in Southern California

I personally own two 2015 fortwo 451 and I constantly shift it out of automatic by taking the baseball shifter and slapping it to the left and manually shifting using the tach that was an option and sits on the dash, but even without the tach it is just like shifting a motorcycle around town. Sometimes when you turn a corner when it is in automatic and your speed and rpm are up, and you turn the corner it bogs down because the Rpms dropped but the car stays in the higher gear, so manual shifting works great

The Smart Fortwo 453 is the best. Lol

I was on the preordered one and got one of the first off of the French assembly line in 2008. It was fun until it was not. The acrylic roof leaked, it had problems with the 3 cylinder as well as assorted sensors and controllers, as everything was driven by electronics, hence "smart". I drove it regularly over 300 miles a day, which I was told they were not designed to do. Eventually during one of these trips, a piston gave out, and punched a hole through the cylinder wall, due to a lack of lubricity. It only had 130,000 miles on it. Come to find out, the lack of lubricity issue did affect many of the first gen smart cars.

You can upgrade TCU firmware with "Eurospec" Brabus parameters to improve shifting. My Brabus Cabrio (turbo 120 hp) is way better than normal ones... Great Video. Greetings from Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

Ragged the living doo-dah out of one of those years ago. This one had the flappy-paddle shifters. Foot in the carpet on motorway top speed varied with whichever way the road inclined. But down our tiny English back road the thing was excellent fun. Felt like playing a rally sim. Thanks be well and stay. UK.

A few years ago I test drove a brand new Smart very similar to the one you rented, and the number one item on the deal-killer list was that automated manual transmission. I couldn't believe how jerky the gear changes were on a brand new car.

Uuuuuuh, I just got to hit LIKE when it was on 999. That hit the spot

4:04 that made me remember Doug DeMuro's Mitsubishi Mirage review

🤣🤣the same navigation in old benz w210…

Aww. You ended up with an ex “cars2go” rental. Not a lot of features. Tbh, the paddle shifters make it drivable. You can still shift with the center shifter, but not as much fun. I’ve gone canyon carving with mine and she’ll actually kick the back out around switchbacks and sharp curves. PS, im also usually in the left lane doing 10 over and passing. Have even done a straight shot 13 hour road trip from central California to Seattle with 2 people and luggage for a 3 day weekend. I have a 2013 with style package so I do have wider wheels, but still gets blown around. The brabus front splitter did help until friend curbed the nose and snapped it off.

I think you should buy a Smart, and then convert the 300TD station wagon into a hauler for it. What a series of videos that would be!

Awesome video…..need more videos…………….NOW!!!!

The best part is you can put it in your pocket if there are no spots. So SMART

I love the Smart. Crazy enough it is 14 inches longer than my 1975 Zagato Zele (the car in my avatar)

I think the gearbox must have a few variants, mine isn't THAT slow. It's ECU, both for engine and gearbox can be tweaked, for a price. Accidentally squealed the tyres, with a passenger.

I wonder when you recorded this. It’s gotten cold here in California all of a sudden! No cat t shirts and shorts until next year.

If you really think that a Smart4Two is scary to drive, you really have to give the Smart Roadster a chance. The Roadster is in a class of it's own much alike the Lotus Elise but not that fast. Full on GoCart feeling guaranteed. It get's scary once your standing alongside a truck and the tires are towering from your perspective. Cheers - keeps the great content coming!

Really good content for $60 of investment. I always wanted to rent one of these, and now I am glad I didn't need to.

Shoulda when Miata 😂

Turbodiesel smart is a whole different animal!!

You better hope Kenzi did not see the start to that video lol .

Aww span you were in my backyard and i didnt know!

I like Turo too, but it's never been cost effective, their fees are really high. And most credit cards and insurance policies don't cover Turo so you're forced to pay Tito's insurance. I like it for the cool cars, but in my area it's usually cheaper to go to the rental car companies, Plus you get unlimited miles.

All that's missing is the 5sec clip from The Expendibles 2 where Arnie says, "My shoe is bigger than this car."

I bought the earliest fortwo in Britain (1998 on an R plate) the real first generation a few years ago and it was fantastic fun and totally trouble free and I could get over 80mph out of its 600cc suprex engine before the front end would become a little on the light side lol. It must of been a press car that came originally from Spain as it was actually two months older that than the first production examples officially rolled off the assembly line and do miss the old thing but being LHD became a bit of a chore and keep looking at getting another, The later examples are supposed to be more reliable but I think they lost the quirkiness of the original and another one you should drive is the 700cc Smart Roadster which really are like a modern version of the original Austin Healey frog eye sprite and looks amazing.

VW makes an awesome 3 cylinder small car called the VW UP. It gets well over 50 mpg, on regular gas. Cost around 10,000 Unfortunately, not available in the USA.

Elliott AVIS strikes back

TV funny scene was in "Two and half Men" Walden and Alan were up to their waist in flood waters when a Smart car floated by. Walden said "Not so Smart"

If the old A-class flipped over, I have no idea how these don't fly around in a corner.

You missed one of its party tricks. Apparently it’s short enough that if you were driving down the road and we’re trying to parallel park it, but there wasn’t enough room to fit lengthwise. It will actually fit in width Wise. Meaning you can back in with your bumper against the curb and the front end would not stick out into traffic.

Good day Elliot

I don't know why so many road testers overlook this feature on the Smart- if you anticipate and lift at the shift point, it auto-shifts instantly. No annoying pause, and no lurch when the clutch engages again. Think of it a pedal-controlled semi auto trans, and it's much more enjoyable to drive.

I tested the electric version of this car a few years ago through one of those apps where you rent cars that are parked on the street and not at a specific location. It was an interesting experience, the turning radius was so good that I had a hard time parking because I was used to bigger cars, I was also a rookie driver at the time. But the modern version of this car is another story. I rented it through the same app and it was also the electric version (here these type of rentals are always electric for parking rules that are not relevant), but the experience was much worse. That car likes speed, it seems like a good thing, but when you go to the speed limit through an area full of radars you don't like it so much. The accelerator pedal is super sensitive, if you push it a bit too much the car just takes off. The worst thing was when perpendicular parking , the turning radius is fantastic, but the problem is that you don't see where you are going because of the enormous size of the B-pillar and to make it worse this version doesn't have a rear view camera.

I think you now have to buy or review the Brabus edition

I wonder why they went with an automated manual with this one? Is/was a pure manual available? My one experience with an automated manual was a very appropriate one: an International 26’ Penske rental truck, that I drove 450 miles moving from TN to SC about 11 years ago. Slow acceleration, but the slowness probably kept my lead foot from damaging our furniture!

my mom rented a cla250 for a week for the same price through turo as a ford fiesta through avis for one day when we went to florida LMAO

nice one

This reminds me of a former girlfriend’s auto trans car that had lost its second gear. So to get on the highway you went foot to floor, engine screaming in first, then it would almost die in “third” D. Scary.

If you want to buy a smart in the future I’d recommend the W453 0.9 turbo, it’s MUCH better

That version which i had was a car2go car that never got in service

The Smart gearchange is so hilariously bad that Mercedes used it as the benchmark for Sprinters with automated manual gearboxes. Those feel like every joint(flywheel, clutch, each gearshaft and gear, propshaft, propshaft joints, diff and halfshafts) between the flywheel and the wheels is made of the worlds shittiest rubber. The Smart engine has no good characteristics either. It's a car that should only have been electric

Good job you didn't have to change a headlamp bulb. Body panels must be removed.

What if you sneeze? Does the car shakes a lot? Is it dangerous on the highway?

Was there a different transmission offered in the EU? I think they were a sales success there...at least that's what Mercedes claimed.

The abused husband comparison made me laugh so thanks for that. I owned one of these for 2 years, drove it in semi manual mode and it was a hoot, the 3 pot sounds like a mini Nissan GTR when it is on song, bought it for £1500 and sold it for £1600, now that is cheap motoring.

the other thing at grocery stores, is you can squeeze it into a shopping cart corral

I drove one of these for work for a couple of years in 2010 & 2011. That's not the most bare bones version - air conditioning was an option as well as a *radio*. That's right, they didn't come standard with a radio! I bought a handheld AM/FM radio from Radio Shack & velcroed it to the ceiling so I could have something to listen to! And yes, that transmission is just awful - I like to describe it like riding with somebody who just learned to drive stick. Especially if you're in stop & go traffic going uphill! I have to disagree with the assessment that 0-35 or 45 is good for this car though. 0-60 & merging on to the highway are actually fine. What's not is pulling out into busy 40 mph traffic - the transmission doesn't want to cooperate so you get up to 20 the car stops accelerating! But at least girls thought the car was like sooo adorable, so it wasn't all that bad, LOL.

German GPS : YOU VILL TURN RIGHT NOW !!

Turo: Exists Elliott: NOTICE ME

Really good gas mileage on the highway 38, rofl my full size 2016 manual civic gets about 45mpg @85 mph

Should have named it Not So Smart Car. Love the Japanese KEI cars: Nissan Figaro, Suzuki Cappuccino, Honda Beat, S600,

That engine bay was SO dirty. My guess is, it's low mileage because it was a flood.