Alameda Naval Air Station

One of my favorite places in the East Bay is Alameda, and the Naval Air Station is especially remarkable. The World War II military base has been decommissioned for over a decade and has a wonderful vacant, air of decay about it. There are a series of massive old hangers that appear to be empty, although some have mysterious company names on them. All with stunning views across the bay to the skyline of San Francisco. It's a great place to take photographs. 

The old aircraft carrier pictured above is the USS Hornet, now a museum.

What a Car!

Well I've been driving the Smart Car for a whole day now, and the verdict is in - it's great! I've really got the hang of the sequential shift mode, which completely transforms the car. The transmission's default full-auto mode is sluggish in the extreme - especially that initial first-to-second shift. It's looking like the transmission is the achilles' heal of the Smart – each shift feels like it takes several seconds, and you feel yourself lurch forward as the car slows to change cogs. But the free-revving engine more than makes up for it, happily winding up to its redline in every gear. I find myself compensating for the amused looks the car gets from other drivers by gunning it pretty aggressively - I'm probably not going to get the best mileage!

D-Day!

Well, I went for it. Took delivery of my very own Smart Car in San Francisco today. It took me awhile to figure out that the Smart Center was part of the Mercedes Benz dealership - all contained on the second floor. I thought Mercedes Benz was trying to ditance themselves from the Smart brand and all that. Maybe their independent dealer network hasn't been setup quite yet.

The dealership showroom was bright, modern, and clean - seems consistent with the Smart ideology. They had several cars parked in amongst the furniture. I spotted my car and made a beeline to check it out. Initial impressions were a little mixed. As I had expected, the new second generation design didn't look as pure and resolved as the earlier model. The red cloth interior I had ordered a year earlier looked much brighter and girlier than I expected. And the car seemed surprisingly big - its tallness loomed large over the desks and other furniture in the upstairs showroom. The Smart's build quality however, looked much better than I had expected - there was a solidness in it's construction and a crispness in the design of the details that indicated this really was a quality product.

The Salesman and I set out for a short test drive - once on the street the Smart takes on it's usual diminutive appearance. We zoomed up a couple of very steep streets where the hill-hold feature was demonstrated. We buzzed around for a few blocks while I struggled with the sequential transmission. I didn't really get the hang of it to be honest - I've always driven manual shifters. 

From the inside the car is quite spacious. You forget that the vehicle ends a couple of feet behind you. It's not until you get out, turn around to close the door when you realize, with utter disbelief, the extreme shortness of the car . It's more than three feet shorter than a Mini Cooper! It's hard to imagine how the earlier model measured 8 inches less than this - it would seem to be phyically impossible to create a vehicle any smaller.

There were several other customers excitedly checking out the cars - glee that turned to  sulkiness when they found out that the first year is pretty much sold out. I was reassured that this was something special. It's time to get on the Smart bandwagon .

It's Alive!

Received an email today from the Smart Team San Francisco. The Smart Car is here! I guess this internet thing really works - my order from a year ago turned into a real, built-to-order car. Part of me was hoping that the Smart Car request had gotten lost somewhere - I don't really need another car. Not right now. Certainly not a third two-seat convertible - what was I thinking?

I called and sure enough, the car really did exist, exactly to my specifications. I should at least check it out. I've made an appointment for a Saturday a week from now to look it over and see if I still want to take delivery. The more I think about it the more it starts to sound like an interesting proposition. I still haven't seen this new second generation car in the flesh and I'm more than a little curious.