Smart Niece

My niece came over this afternoon and was driving a Smart Car. I was shocked because she and her husband have each had Mercedes Benz SUVs ever since they started making them. Now they both have Smart Cars.

She handed me the key and said, "Take off!", and I did. I wasn't expecting much from what I read on this site the other day, but I was well imprressed with that little turd roller. Low power. I don't think so, cram your foot in it and use the paddle shifters and it does real well. It has a real growl when you get the revs up but the shifting is rather strange. There is a short pause between gear changes and it feels more stick than automatic. When in the automatic shifting mode it gets into top gear at very low speed, 40 MPH or less and chugs along like a steam engine. The stability is so good you can't tell what size the car is at anything up to 70 MPh, I was in a 55 zone so I didn't go any faster. Decelleration by engine braking is quite good too so it should be easy on brakes around town.

That's exactly what I thought when I drove one--not at all bad, but a lousy transmission implementation. Frankly, if it had a regular standard transmission, I'd probably be an owner right now.

0 to 60 mph in 13 seconds....

so faster than both the MGs at the end, then.