Springy Gas Cap

Every other car I've recently owned has had a tethered gas cap of some sort, but they all seem to be designed as an afterthought — their short length dangle the cap up against the bodywork of the car or force you to balance it somewhere closeby the filler flap possibly marring the paint. The Smart's looks to be one of the smartest — a springy accordion cord that allows the cap to dangle straight down avoiding contact with the bodywork completely. Simple and functional.

Lights Out!

Discovered that the driver's side headlamp was out the other day. Seems a little early in the Smart's life for a bulb to go out — but it's a relatively quick item to change. Did a little research online and discovered that I could upgrade to a slightly better, brighter bulb. They're readily available from any automotive parts store.






It's always good practice to replace both at the same time — the idea being that if one's gone out there's a good chance the other will die shortly as well. Followed the directions in the Smarts' manual — all went smoothly although I have to admit inserting and rotating the new bulb in the socket that you can't see was a little tricky. There's not a lot of room to maneuver in there. But after a few minutes everything was in place and I was back in business.

Mid-Century Smarts

The Pasadena Art Center's summer automotive event also displayed a range of other tiny cars from the middle of the 1900s. These Smart Car precursors gleamed in the hot Southern California sun, delighting all with their pleasing forms and exquisite detailing. This pale blue R360 from 1964 was Mazda's first real car — It went on to dominate the diminutive category of tiny vehicles in Japan known as Kei cars, popular for their favorable insurance rates and tax exemptions.




The very odd-looking Messerschmitt KR200 from 1955 — a three wheeler with a bubble canopy roof, that I suppose drew its styling from the infamous WWII warplane. I remember first becoming aware of this "car" when it appeared in the groundbreaking movie Brazil, from the mid 80s — very well cast for its weird and intriguing, alternate future, look.




This red car with the suicide doors is a something called a Goggomobile 400TS Coupe from 1958, while the much more modern-looking orange Barbiemobile convertible below is actually a Goggomobil Dart of '59 vintage.

Front Door Entry

Saw an interesting and eclectic selection of cars displayed at the Pasadena Art Center College of Design's Summer automotive show. With a nod towards the current fashion for transportation efficiency there was a selection of small, efficient cars from the mid-century. Standing out from the crowd with its unusual design was this pristine example of the BMW Isetta dating from 1957. Getting in and out is literally through the front door – even the steering column hinges up along with the door to allow entry. I'd be tempted to put a welcome mat down in front of it. Looks like a pretty functional solution to me – although I didn't get the opprtunity to try it out for myself. A little flimsy looking as far as front-end crash safety goes though. And to think I feel apprehensive about the Smart Car's minimal front-end impact protection!

Drive to LA

Decided to go down to Los Angeles on a whim this past weekend. Passed by Hollister Peak on the way down. A rather dramatic, rocky escarpment on the road to Morrow Bay — but it turns out to be only about 1400 feet tall.

Green Smart

Decided to finally take my accumulated pile of flattened cardboard boxes to the Berkeley recycling center north of town. I'd been procrastinating because the pieces were huge — some big TV boxes, triple-flute furniture boxes and my bike shipping packaging. Flattened out they were still bigger than what a typical car could handle — I'd have to rent a pickup truck, or so I thought. Convertible Smart Car to the rescue — with the roof retracted it was ideal for carrying the big stuff. So the driving visibility was severely limited out one side — I made sure I could get there without needing to make any righthand turns!

The Long and the Short of it

The Smart Car is most identified by it's extremely short length — a mere eight and a half feet. This seems especially compact when parked next to this gigantic 125 foot maxi catamaran called he Cheyenne. I discovered this was Steve Fossett’s record breaking craft, the one that sailed across the Atlantic and around the globe with world-beating speed back in 2004. Now propped up at Nelson's Marine in Alameda, it looks stunning in the later afternoon sun — a dramatic contrast to the aging grey Navy vessels across the street.

Back in Rainy California

We had some pretty heavy rains storms recently, and uncharacteristically late in the season for our area. But "We need the rain" is the common refrain voiced by almost everybody, referring to our persistent drought conditions. I do kind of like the rain and dramatic cloud patterns we get this time of year — we have plenty of clear sunny skies the rest of the year.

I generally try to avoid driving my Smart car in the rain - the increased risk of an accident due to slippier conditions and reduced visibility has me a little cautious. I hadn't expected such a downpour when I left for work that morning. But the Smart does feel very solid in the rain, and tracked pretty well at full freeway speeds. It's only when the wind gusts up that it gets a little frightening — it knocks you around, tugging at the steering wheel, feeling a lot like heavy turbulence in flight.

Smart Replacement

All the faults of the first generation Smart really started grating on us by the end of day one. So I promptly went over the next morning and swapped it out for the current generation model — the same version as the one I have at home. It even had the same red interior color. What a difference! Everything worked, the better quality interior was roomier and more functional, and there was a lot much more power on tap. It was also a convertible model, unlike the older Smart we'd had the day before — perfect for buzzing around all over the island of Santorini.





The weather had improved as well, so we retraced our steps from the day before, exploring the very southern end of the island. It was good to have that extra power for going up the one-lane main road to the island's highest point. The car looks pretty sharp in all silver. I'll admit I'm not a big fan of the Smarts standard dual color scheme, where the Tridon Safety cell sports a contrasting color from the rest of the body work. I think the car's blocky wedge shape looks much better when it's all one color. I still noticed a slight difference in the body panel colors. I've noticed my all black model back home also has the same problem. I guess it's impossible for modern manufacturing processes to match the colors between the metal and plastic parts to a reasonable tolerance. Those simpler design European spec wheels are definitely sharper looking than the stock American offering.




This is the road up to the central, highest point on the island - It's hard to convey in pictures how steep and high up this single-lane road was.


As you can see from all the red lines, we drove almost every road possible.

Big Red Smile

Peugeot's current design theme — very consistent across their entire line — features a very prominent, smiling front grill that really takes some getting used to. It's a look that is so extreme you're reminded of a Jack-O-Lantern face, or a creepy grinning Cheshire cat — a tad bizarre. This bright red example is the relatively new 107, the smallest car in their lineup, developed in conjunction with the Toyota Aygo and the Citroen C1, both of which look better. Still, it strikes a rather fine profile, especially in this color, and is amazingly compact for a four door.

Back in Time

Visiting the island of Santorini over the Easter break we noticed a number of little vest-pocket car rental sites — compact parking lots along the road with an array of tiny cars, scooters and ATVs for rent. I decided to try out one of the previous model Smarts, in a handsome two-tone metallic grey silver. I've always preferred the look of the first generation Smarts, with it's sleek, continuous-sloping, front end/windshield design. I was looking forward to rekindling a relationship with the old Smart, recalling that winter in England where we rented one six years ago.

The island is small but you still need a car to get around, especially to the more remote, less popular eastern side of the island. But it quickly became apparent that this Smart was not the quality automobile I remembered — what a difference from the 2008 model. Underpowered, whining transmission, jerky gear-changes, rougher riding, and with a much cheaper looking interior, this car had the infuriating habit of stubbornly sticking its doors closed. Barely more substantial than Tupperware lids to being with, the doors had to be opened with a peculiar delft movement of the handle — we never really did figure out how to open the passenger side door from the outside.




This particular car had an indicated 36,000 km on the odometer so it was too new to have worn out. For a brief moment I thought that maybe this readout meant 136,000 km, but that would be pretty impossible on an island barely 15 miles long. I guess I've become pretty used to the new generation car — especially the paddle shifting mode on my new Smart — I really had trouble getting the transmission to behave smoothly on this one — it had me jerking all over the place.

After turning on the windshield washers and smearing our forward view with toxic sludge so permanent that even couldn't be cleaned off with vigorous scrubbing, we decided we'd had enough. The next morning I went back and traded it in for the newer model Smart.

It does look pretty though...