A video I made when I was selling the car but now up here in case anyone wants a general overview of how a Smart Roadster Coupé looks, sounds and drives (ignoring my weird starting issue!). -- www.methinksperchance.net/cars
Hi, I bought your car in February! It had been through a couple of owners very quickly who couldn't live with the starting fault before finding a home in Machynlleth for a couple of years. I bought it and I've bypassed the ignition switch position 2 circuit with a switched live straight to the solenoid cable, and that's worked around it. The pos. 2 wire is right next to an ECU wire in one of the SAM plugs so there could be a short there or something when powered. Need to wire in a trick little starter button now, but it's a brilliant car, I've put 4k on it and it's the most fun car I've ever had!
No way, that's so cool! Glad to hear it's still going and you've managed to get round the starting issue - it was such a lovely car and that was the only thing that ground me down... especially after I'd spent an inordinate amount of money with Smart with no results (they were useless). It was great fun - still miss the turbo chirrup on the gear change! - and the Coupe is so much cooler than the standard Roadster IMO. Awesome, thanks for getting in touch and hope you carry on enjoying it for a long time yet - sounds like it's found a good home :)
methinksperchance My local independent Smart specialist is still convinced that it's the crank position sensor! There was one already sitting in the door pocket, whether that was the one you changed (if I remember you saying on PH? I accidentally found the article after googling 'glance grey Smart') or maybe someone else has tried that too. If I get the proper starter button wired in, with an LED back light and switch isolator from the oil pressure light, I'll make a wee video. Cheers, Barn.
I’ve been looking for one of these but I can’t find any local to me 😂 i love these they’re just proof that you don’t need a massive engine and can benefit from lesser weight 😄
Totally agree! It was great fun blasting round tiny B-roads but it could also do a great impression of a mini GT car - there was loads of room for luggage and it had good motorway manners too. So versatile for such a small car 😊
Long starting pressure seems like a fuel rail pressure problem, either a fuel pressure regulator or a faulty injector locking open and dumping fuel once engine has stopped. It's building enough pressure to start properly. Is it worse the longer it sits?
The car is long gone from my ownership now so I couldn't tell you, but a couple of comments down @bmabbs, who eventually owned the car (after it had passed few a couple of other people's hands!), has some info about how he solved the issue if that's of interest :)
toying with changing my Aygo for a smart coupe , they look like they may be fun , and being used to small cars and low hp it wont be much of a shock , every one mentions the light steering , is it really that light ? Ive an A6 allroad too so its not my only car.
It didn't jump out at me as being overly sensitive or light - perhaps it wasn't the most communicative, but to be honest that kind of suited the low, stiff, go-kart like feel of the car. A true helmsman might feel differently of course, but it didn't bother me 😂
I am thinking of buying a used smart Roadster (82hp, 2006, 140.000km), it will be my first car and I am afraid that I will always have to pay to maintain the car, buy new parts and so on... What do yout think? Do you think it's reasonable and reliable or is it going to be high maintenance... Thank you for your help 😊
Hi Erkam - great question! They're a really fun car to own but they're not always the most straightforward to maintain as well, depending on what's required. However, there's a great website called "Evilution" which is very helpful if you want to fix and maintain a Smart yourself - they also have a very honest buyers guide for Roadsters which you might want to look at: www.evilution.co.uk/index.php?menu=info&mod=1167 Hope that helps 😊
I'm sure I remember fitting a new earth strap with this in mind, but my records suggest I didn't buy one, so maybe I'm mis-remembering... it was a long time and many cars ago now! You might well be right though 😊
You may well be right, though I'd have hoped the Smart service department would've been able to diagnose and solve an issue such as that quite easily. Then again, some dealerships... 🙄
Yes, I pointed the clocks in that direction so they might show up on the video - when I drove normally they always faced me 🙂 (Sí, apunté los relojes en esa dirección para que pudieran aparecer en el video; cuando conducía normalmente, siempre miraban hacia mí 🙂)
Did you apply your foot to the brake pedal before attempting to start, as I didn't see any leg movement? Auto need foot on the brake as its a safety feature?
@@stuartpeyton188 From memory it's not necessary to hold the brake pedal down as you start the car - the car is an automatic but in the robotised manual sense, so it's a bit different to a standard auto in how it works. Evilution goes into detail about starting & driving these cars 🙂 www.evilution.co.uk/mod/driving-and-starting.htm
In view of the Smart Roadster's failure-prone electronics and the faulty design of the automatic gearbox with the long shift pauses between gears, I definitely recommend taking the 2.0 litre R170 Mercedes SLK (1996-2004) instead, which is of excellent quality and technically mature. Above all, the car has more space for the driver and baggage, and the engine is even suitable for LPG autogas. The R170 is a real long-term car in terms of durability and reliability, of which many components come from the proven, reliable Mercedes E-Class. With Mercedes, however, you always have to take a look at the cavities and ONLY take a chequebook-maintained, regularly serviced car. fully-equipped, good SLK with automatic gearbox is available for € 4,000 upwards.
Yes, a standard feature :) I have a vague memory that upgrading to the Brabus Roadster intake (or "TIK") pipe frees things up slightly and eliminates the chirp, but I loved the sound so didn't look at that in detail.
Mine was pretty good unless I parked it at a certain angle during heavy rain 🤣 But yes, they do have a bit of a reputation and it's kind of deserved...
