SMART EXAMINER

Re previous post. I should have said its a cost cutting exercise to leave out a spare wheel etc to make the car look like a cheaper bargain in the showroom. However they then make money by charging you for stuff that should come as standard.

I am going to keep my tax disc holder and the last tax disc in the car after October just to confuse people. Just think....in a 100 years time it could be worth a fortune he he.

Starting handles did come as standard in cars not as extras even in the 60s and 70s. ( They were there as a back up) As did spare wheels and temp guages. Now as soon as one car maker offers spare wheels as an extra,they all jump on the bandwagon,and who needs giant size fuel guages instead of fuel and temp? Its nothing more than cost cutting. As MickA says.....what next. Does sir want a steering wheel with his new car? That will be extra.Oh and sir wants seats...That will only be an extra £1000,but we do include a cup holder for free.You did not get that in your old Austin did you sir.

I hope they bring out an Aldi UP/Citigo,as it will be half price lol. Perhaps a Benefit street Citigo that you can get from the DWP with a horn that says "You know what i mean" each time you press it.

I am quite sure whatever it is UP or Citigo it will only be the usual stupidity of clowning around. Probably something like the car being shot at by fighter jets.Not a real road test. Top gear used to be a good car show years ago.Even better when it was Wheel base. Who remembers William Woolard and Tony Mason? In those days they used to show cars and showed the engine,dash,and boot of normal cars. Today it caters for the Max Power guys.Wow the car is fast...Yes its fast....thats all they care about. If the car does not do 0-60 in 2 seconds or costs less than a million they are not interested in it. How much was the supercar they featured this week. £850 000. I am sure we are all rushing out to buy that car this week.It will be perfect for the comute to work. I must be the wrong age group for the show now,as everyone seems to like it,and why should Clarkson care.He is on 2 million a year,so he is laughing all the way to the bank. I will get off my soap box now!!

I have always loved autos.They are perfect for todays crazy traffic. You can always use the flappy paddles in a Ferrari, and in most autos today,even the Citroen C1 has them and the Smart.

I hope it will be offered in Automatic this time whatever the car is. Yes a VRs would be nice as long as the MPG is still good.

I thought everyone loved their first car,no mater what it was. You might look back now and say it was rubbish,but i am sure at the time you thought it was great to be behind the wheel. My first car was a Reliant Regal Van (Dell Boy style) which i had at 16. You could drive it at 16 in those days on a motorbike licence.It was great to have an extra years driving. I sold it at 17 after only a year and only lost £25 on it. I then got a Hillman Imp,before i moved on to my first sports car,an MGB soft top which i loved.

Yes,and they list the Panda as the best car. I see the Brokers are giving over £1000 discount off the new i10,and the car has only just come out.They are also giving a £1000 off the new Mini which is not out till March for advanced orders.

There are always deals to be had on any car. Dont listen to dealers giving you a sob story. There is a nice profit in any new car plus the dealer bonus on every new car sold. The Auto Express aim to pay shows the VW UP discounted to the same price as the Citigo.You could always try the Brokers,or buy a pre reg. At the moment a dealer near me has a 13 reg Citigo Sport for sale at £8500 which he probably bought for £7000 and has put the usual £1500 mark up on it. However the best price i have seen is a 63 reg Mazda MX5 Roadster that costs £20 000 new. This one is up at £15 000,and when i enquired,i could have got it for £14 000. I cant bring myself to paying £200 road tax though and 25 MPG when i have been used to Free Road Tax and 60 MPG.

If you want more power,why not get a quicker car in the first place? Perhaps a used Fabia VRS or even used cars like the BMW 320D,Chrysler 300C,Jaguar XF, Mini Cooper,Abarth 500,Mazda MX5. All these cars are quick as standard,and depending on year are around the same price as a top spec new Citigo,but of course they will cost more to run. I can understand you might prefer a new car with a good warranty,but if you carry out mods,it will be goodbye warranty anyway. I will look at all the above cars as well as the Citigo/UP when i change my car in September,and then decide,however if i go for the Citigo/UP or any new car i would leave it standard. That is just my view,but of course i understand that everyone must make their own mind up as to what is best for them.

I always fill my Smart diesel when the gauge is just under half full,and i have done 300 miles.It takes 5 galls to fill,so thats 60 MPG all round town work. When i make the odd longer trip,eg Manchester to Blackpool 100 mile round trip, i get 80 MPG. They say you can get 600 miles from a tank,but i would not risk it. Even if i did Manchester to London return it would only be 400 miles,so why bother.Then again i would not drive to London when i can get the train for only £20 return booking well in advance with my railcard,and it only takes 2 hours.

Oldstan and Veedub 210......The problem is the autos are traditional torque converter boxes that sap power and use more fuel.Thats why most small cars use the new type of auto boxes these days,which are robotised manuals,ASG,MMT,DSG,CVT etc. They might be a bit slower to change gear,but they do not use more fuel,infact some return better MPG in town. The new i10 Automatic also costs more in road tax than the manual. I would want the Premium spec with heated seats which now cost more unlike the old i10 that included them,but with the automatic box.This is not available,so seeing as i cant see myself ever buying a manual again,i have to cross it off the list. Talking about Fiats,i have owned 2. A Cinq Sporting which i had for 8 years,and a Panda 100 HP.Both were 100% reliable,and the Panda was quick,0-60 in 9 seconds,but only 30 MPG round town. I still fancy the Citigo or UP when i change,in September,but again i would prefer the Sport in automatic,which you cant have,so it would be the Elegance ASG with privacy glass and Black wheels,or the High UP ASG.It all depends on the best discount.

All forums think their car is the best.Go on the Fiat forum and they would not touch the little box Citigo/UP. The Mazda forum would not touch a Fiat. The Kia forum would never have a little Smart. Yes all owners think their cars are the best,when infact these days nearly all cars are good. Even the Dacia Sandero for only £6000 or the Duster for £9000. The new i10 has had rave reviews from the motoring press,saying it rides like a car fom a class above.Very quiet and smooth,however like Oldstan says,i do not know why Automatic is not offered on the top Premium spec. Mind you automatic on the i10 gives rubbish MPG at only 30 MPG round town. The best value small car must be the Citroen C1. You can get £2000 discount off a new one and 63 pre reg for £6500-£7000. Chain cam,50 MPG,group 1 insurance,spare wheel,and the VTR+ has alloys and privacy glass. At the end of the day its down to choice.For me i want the best deal with the best discount.I pick around 4 or 5 different cars to test drive,and then decide.I like to keep an open mind,but if one deal costs me £5000 less than another,as it has in the past,then thats the one i will go for. As well as Auto Express doing the 3 car test next week, Autocar is doing a full test of the Hyundai i10.

I would wait for the 14 reg if its close to March as it will be worth around £200 more at resale time. A guy on the Fiat forum has had his pants taken down by a dealer,who registered his new car on 31 December instead of 1 January just so the dealer can get his bonus for 2013. The customer will drop around £300 at resale for the sake of one day as it will be a 2013 car instead of a 2014 car.

How about the Fiesta ST? That is also £17K and has been getting rave reviews.

I have also had two Smarts.The petrol 450 in 2003 and the latest 451 diesel in 2009 which i still have. I agree the auto box is excellent,and even smoother on the diesel as long as you take things nice and easy and let the box change at 2500-3000 rpm. I drive in auto all the time and love it. The only reason i would not buy another Smart is because they are now too expensive. I paid less than £9000 for my Smart in 2009.The last price for the Passion diesel before they discontinued them was £11500.....crazy!! The new model will obviously cost even more when it comes out later this year,and it will only have a petrol engine from Renault.....no thanks!! I am sure the Citigos ASG auto box will be the same as the Smart. Even the lever and gate are the same. I guess if you drive it slow and easy and NOT with your foot to the floor driving at max revs,it will be fine.

I will not change till September,so the new car hype will have died down at the Hyundai dealers by then. If i get the i10 it will depend on how good the discount will be. Pity they do not make it as a 3 door,as i do not need 5 doors,or 4 seats come to that.Perhaps the Kia Picanto auto would be better. I have also looked at the Ford KA. I can get a pre reg Titanium with £2500 off.The Grand Prix model looks good,a bit like the Citigo Sport with Black alloys,and Red and Black trim,but of course they are manual only,not automatic.

Why not have a look at the new i10 out the end of January? The Motor mags are raving about it,saying its in a different class from the old i10,and better than cars costing twice as much. It has a conventional auto box,and amazing sound deadening.It looks good as well.I will certainly have a look at it when it comes out.The only problem is the automatic is only available on the mid spec SE and not on the top spec Premium. I would want the Premium with heated seats and heated steering wheel,but no way do i want a manual,so it would have to be the Automatic SE.I dont know why they do not offer auto on the Premium.

A few years ago i ordered a Kia and put a deposit on it. I then found out later that a brand new Kia model was coming out,so i told the dealer that obviously i wanted the new model. He said he could not do the same deal on the new model,discount etc,so he gave me my deposit back. I guess it all depends on how good or bad the dealer is.

I guess they are built to a price,hence the noise and lack of sound deadening. I bet the Fabia and VW Polo do not have the same problems. The Smart does not have any noise issues,but instead it bounces down the road like you are on a pogo stick.

Yes i guess thats true,but in all the cars i bought years ago,i never had a problem with them,even if they had been sitting in the compound for weeks. The only cars you had to wait for in those days were cars like the Rolls Royce and Bentley.

Bring back the old days i say when dealers had stocks of cars in the compound.None of this waiting for months for your car. You used to go into the dealer,tell him what you wanted.He had a look on his stock sheet,and you picked up the car the same week.

These cars seem to have lots of strange sounds, Clutch clicks,Whistles,etc. Perhaps they are built in safety devices to stop you from falling asleep lol.