Quickly passing some numbers, don’t have the paperwork with me
2018 Smart Passion, MSRP of $26xxx. Downpayment a little less than $1200, 35 payments of $163 taxed after (9.25% rate), 10K miles per year.
$500 cash rebate later
Wait there is a smart car with a msrp over $26000? I thought you could get two of them for that. Or a civic si, you know a real actual car.
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I had a smart car in the family couple years back. Couldnt take the 5 second lag between gear shifts at all. Rather than a getting a new one, just try a short term lease from swapalease or something. Honestly, test drive a Buick Encore. You will be amazed by how much more that car offers compared to the smart in terms of features, space etc… And that too, for a lower price.
Decent enough deal, but that’s still a lot of dough for a roller skate on wheels.
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I had 2008 Smart Fortwo, the first year they were available in the US. It was really a shitty car.
I put about 18K miles on it before I had a horrible crash in it. I t-boned a Buick at 50 mph on Valentine’s Day 2010. I walked away from the crash without a scratch. They towed the Buick to the junkyard. I remember the cop at the accident scene bitching at me for driving such a “little piece of shit”.
Do yourself a favor and don’t buy a Smart.
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You mentioning that accident reminds me of this video from several years ago where a Smart car was tossed into a wall at 70mph.
Whether or not you’d survive something like that is another story.
I’m confused by the cops reaction. If you had been driving a suburban you probably would have killed people in the Buick. He should be happy it only weighs 1500 lbs.
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The Buick doesn’t get hov sticker nor does it run on electrons. I have my reasons for it. It’s another extra car that check many boxes
I agree it is half of a real car, but I am basically paying half as much. It’s all about expectations
Personally, I think you could have gotten a better deal on either the Encore, Terrain, or a multitude of other vehicles. But to each his own. Enjoy the car!
He wanted the HOV sticker + electric power…none of those matter in that regard.
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Only other car that can be close is the soul ev and volt in total operating cost. I also got some other credits for my old car worth $1100 not bad.
The cop was an asshole. While I was in his backseat filling out accident report he was bitching about how much he hated being a cop and should have done what his mother wanted him to, be a dentist.
There was a woman behind me, in a Suburban that saw the whole crash. She came running up to me after the crash yelling, “where’s the guy in the little white car? He must be dead!” She said she saw the whole back end come off the ground (engine is in the rear of smart).
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Looks like somewhere in Minnesota 
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the new one has a vastly improved transmission. they’re kinda fun to drive.
US version are electric only, no transmission. The car just kind of goes. It’s not fast, but never felt slow. It’s similar to the Leaf. I forgot to mention some people can qualify for the $2500 CA rebate too. At highway speed, it gets the rated 58 miles range. At city speed, the car has been exceeding the rated miles by quite a bit. I am seeing 65-85 miles on a charge in rush hour traffic and around town.
Just the other day I got a quote for a Smart(26k MSRP) too, it was the same as 36 month 10k a year. Total due at sign is $1500, and the monthly is $110(included 9.25% tax) , he told me if I put down 10MSD= $1000, the monthly will be $88.13. If you deduct the state rebate($2500) and electric company rebate(PG&E,$500), then total cost per month should be $44 a month. I think it’s a good shopping cart! Doing grocery run that’s only couple miles away from home and don’t want to fire up your gasoline car just for the trip. But I don’t think I’ll ever take it on freeway tho despite how safe they say it is. Btw the range is only 56 miles… really can’t go far… even less than a fiat 500e.
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I tried to do msd, but they said the program didn’t allow it when we tried to put it in the computer. I would jump on that deal if the range and size aren’t a concern for you. The car has just as good of a range as my 13 leaf in the city. $40 cheaper than my deal means about an additional $2500 off. That puts he selling price at around 14500!!! My operating cost in 600 miles so far is $0. I can’t wait for the free parking permit rebates and hov sticker coming back
the HOV sticker is great during traffic hours! I think in Bay Area only SF Mercedes has Smart inventory. No one else has it, and they are not willing to play balls neither. The quote I got was from SoCal, which they are much more patient and willing to play around the number with me. At the end I felt like 56 miles isn’t enough especially with AC and freeway speed.
I think your deal was roughly $1250 cheaper over 3 years. The issue is how do I get the car back? By the time I pay for towing, my saving is only like $700 and it isn’t worth it.
My tesla does about 150 miles, my toyota does about 85, this one can do 60 pretty easily. For my life style none of the cars have came close to running out.