ULP
02-01-2008, 10:01 PM
Marie and I have sold our jack black 2002 smart pure - we've owned him from 12 months old and in that time the ownership experience has been nothing short of excellent.
From the first moment I saw pictures of the new 'Swatch' car it was love, but even when the cars came to the UK a 2-seater was impractical for us as our only mode of transport. When, in late 2003, my job relocated and we needed a second car, the choice was obvious. As Marie was driving the smart most of the time, it was up to her to choose the specification; as it was, I was happy with a LHD car but Marie, who only drove when I was drunk, only felt confident with a RHD car and wanted softouch, the automatic gearchange option; we could only afford an early RHD pure with the softouch option, so the decision was made.
Despite only having 44bhp, 'The Stig' (he looks like original Stig's helmet!) was never anything than a pure pleasure to drive, and the feeling you get when kids wave is brilliant
He has cost us nothing to run (save for Mercedes servicing, which makes Audi look cheap - £220 alternating with £300 every 9,300 miles), sips fuel at 55-60mpg and yet still enjoys being driven to the red line.
However, he now has 60,000 miles on the clock and we have been lucky with no expenses other than servicing, a new set of tyres (front ones at 40,000 miles, rear at 50,000 due to a flat) and a replacement pipe for the turbo (done under a goodwill gesture despite being out of warranty) the time had come to make the decision; keep for a few years or sell.
The end of the calender year is always a good time to talk-turkey with stealers, so we have done much ringing and chasing; dealers were anything from ambivilent to friendly and in the end we did a deal with smart of Ipswich; due to the time of year they did a great deal on a '56' plate river silver with silver tridion passion - the car is ex smart UK and came to us having just been serviced with only 7,100 miles on the clock. Apart from the standard specification for the passion (air conditioning, C.d., ESP, ABS, Leather wheel and 15" alloy wheels), our car also has heated leather seats - they were a definite 'want' for Marie and they feel and look good; all smart leather seats come heated. In addition, we got the dealer to do 'pods' (rev counter and clock) as part of the deal; these used to be standard on all UK smarts, but the change to fortwo from city-coupe saw these dropped from the pure and passion spec, remaining on the more dynamic pulse only. Whatever, a smart without pods is like Ant without Dec; just not cricket.
Anyhow, here is our old car - we hope he goes to a great home and we shed a tear at selling him on:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v371/christodd1/CarsJuly2006001.jpg
And our new steed:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v371/christodd1/Front34.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v371/christodd1/Rear34.jpg
First modification; leather door cards...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v371/christodd1/Inside.jpg
From the first moment I saw pictures of the new 'Swatch' car it was love, but even when the cars came to the UK a 2-seater was impractical for us as our only mode of transport. When, in late 2003, my job relocated and we needed a second car, the choice was obvious. As Marie was driving the smart most of the time, it was up to her to choose the specification; as it was, I was happy with a LHD car but Marie, who only drove when I was drunk, only felt confident with a RHD car and wanted softouch, the automatic gearchange option; we could only afford an early RHD pure with the softouch option, so the decision was made.
Despite only having 44bhp, 'The Stig' (he looks like original Stig's helmet!) was never anything than a pure pleasure to drive, and the feeling you get when kids wave is brilliant
He has cost us nothing to run (save for Mercedes servicing, which makes Audi look cheap - £220 alternating with £300 every 9,300 miles), sips fuel at 55-60mpg and yet still enjoys being driven to the red line.
However, he now has 60,000 miles on the clock and we have been lucky with no expenses other than servicing, a new set of tyres (front ones at 40,000 miles, rear at 50,000 due to a flat) and a replacement pipe for the turbo (done under a goodwill gesture despite being out of warranty) the time had come to make the decision; keep for a few years or sell.
The end of the calender year is always a good time to talk-turkey with stealers, so we have done much ringing and chasing; dealers were anything from ambivilent to friendly and in the end we did a deal with smart of Ipswich; due to the time of year they did a great deal on a '56' plate river silver with silver tridion passion - the car is ex smart UK and came to us having just been serviced with only 7,100 miles on the clock. Apart from the standard specification for the passion (air conditioning, C.d., ESP, ABS, Leather wheel and 15" alloy wheels), our car also has heated leather seats - they were a definite 'want' for Marie and they feel and look good; all smart leather seats come heated. In addition, we got the dealer to do 'pods' (rev counter and clock) as part of the deal; these used to be standard on all UK smarts, but the change to fortwo from city-coupe saw these dropped from the pure and passion spec, remaining on the more dynamic pulse only. Whatever, a smart without pods is like Ant without Dec; just not cricket.
Anyhow, here is our old car - we hope he goes to a great home and we shed a tear at selling him on:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v371/christodd1/CarsJuly2006001.jpg
And our new steed:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v371/christodd1/Front34.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v371/christodd1/Rear34.jpg
First modification; leather door cards...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v371/christodd1/Inside.jpg