Buying a smart car roadster

Green Mile

I am thinking of buying a smart car roadster. They seem to be about €4,500 for a 2003 model.
I've taken a look at the reviews on youtube and its all positives. I am wondering what the negatives are as I would like to weigh up all pros and cons before buying.

Does any one have experience with these cars and what are the negatives that I would need to watch out for?

Notch000

negative, there not a MX5

Bigus

Nice car to drive but overly complicated Mercedes ECU s on all sorts of areas you wouldn't expect, Google steering wheel angle sensor problems on smarts.

Mercedes star diagnostics is needed for these and the lads that pay for this software aren't cheap, when the they're used to dealing with big Merc customers.

Chris_Heilong

I was looking not too long ago until I realised 4000k was a lot of money for a 2003 car thats not that powerful.

Leaking roof/window was a design flaw I kept hearing about, there was a uk forum for these, might be worth checking.

Special Circumstances

Bigus and Chris have covered the main complaints I heard from a lad at work that had one. Leaks and needing to go to mercedes for stuff. They have a robotised clutch I think and yer man said something about having to go to mercedes to re-"train" the gear changes and clutch movement on a rolling road if you need a new clutch?? Check that out, could be misremembering but it sounds very expensive!!!

vikkthor

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

I was looking not too long ago until I realised 4000k was a lot of money for a 2003 car thats not that powerful.

small engine but entertaining to drive

I would go with a MX5 though