SMART EXAMINER

Yes i take your point guys,but i had a friend whos belt drive Fiat broke without warning,and it was goodbye engine. As for changing the chain at 100K or 10 years.It would take me 50 years to do 100K and i never keep a car 10 years. My Smart is just over 3 years old and the mileage is only 4000. I get free bus travel and low cost train travel with my Railcard,so use the car very little these days,other than to do my shopping,and the odd ride to the seaside.

HOW ABOUT THE SPECIAL OFFER PRICE.....£2- 11 INSTEAD OF £2- 22 WOW 11P SAVED. BOOK THAT WORLD CRUISE NOW. i BET THEY WILL EVEN GIVE YOU ANOTHER SPECIAL OFFER....BUY TWO FOR ONLY £4-22.. I BET IF YOU FIT THIS KEY COVER YOU GET ANOTHER 10 MILES TO THE GALLON,BUT IT IS BEST TO GET A MECHANIC TO FIT IT,

Oh that puts me off a little.Mind you i had a Fiat that had a recomended belt change at 5 years.I kept it for 8 years without a belt change and it was ok.It did have a low mileage though. My Smart is chain drive which i much prefer.

Why not get it serviced at an indie? They are always less expensive,and the warranty is still valid. Chain drive is much better so i hope they are. The VW Polo is not so perhaps the citigo is not. The Aygo/C1/107 are chain drive.

I had a Reliant 3 wheeler van (Dell Boy) as my first car,so do i get the star prize? Mind you in those days you could drive it at 16 which i did on a motorcycle licence,so it was great driving at only 16. Many years later i had a Jaguar V12 E Type so my cool score had returned lol.

How come more cars are not fitted with heated front windscreens? All cars have heated rear windows,but is it only Ford who have heated fronts? It must be great to have them on cold frosty mornings,but then again,when its frosty i just get the bus or stay in bed!!

Yes they all made fun of the steering wheel,but have you noticed today lots of sport cars and super cars have steering wheels that are flat at the bottom? So you could say the Austin Agro as it was called was a trend setter ha ha!! I had a Jaguar XJ6 years ago that used a pint of oil every 100 miles. I just put the cheap stuff in,better than a new engine.It was still a great car though,but 16 MPG. Then people today moan about 60 MPG.

Two years ago i drove my Smart to work in the snow. All the cars were crawling along and my car was sliding all over the road.A Range Rover zoomed past all of us as if there was no snow.That is the kind of car you want in the snow. When i left work that day i was stuck. Thank goodness 5 lads gave me a push out of the work car park. I got home and did not use the car again till the snow went.I used the bus instead,and now i always use the bus when the weather is bad.

That is true,but with the Smart,the petrol Smart does 40 MPG and the diesel Smart does 60 MPG. Take a 5 gallon fill. With diesel costing 9p a ltr more than petrol,that is about 40p a gall more. The petrol car does 200 miles on 5 galls,but the diesel does 300 miles. Therefore the diesel does the extra 100 miles at an extra cost of £2. The petrol car would need an extra 2 1/2 galls to do the extra 100 miles at a cost of £15,so the diesel wins every time. Plus i bought the diesel car for the same price as the petrol,so it is win win.

The latest Smart has a built in sat nav and the car costs £10 000 the same as the Citigo Elegance. I would not leave the removable sat nav in the Citigo,so i would have to carry it with me when i parked the car.That is ok in the winter when you can put it in your jacket pocket,but what would you do in the summer? My Smart did not have the built in sat nav,but i do have a Tom Tom which i only use about Twice a year,as i know where i am going most of the time,so i would leave the Citigos sat nav at home,but i do know it gives other read outs like engine temp etc which is usefull. I would also leave the glove box lid open when parked to show the scum bags the sat nav is not in there.

Does the Automatic ASG have the Stop/Start? Obviously it has not got a clutch,but it could work on the foot brake. The petrol Smart MHD has stop/start working on the foot brake,but the diesel CDI does not have it. They have been having problems with drive belts,and the battery is about 4 times the cost of a normal battery. I am glad i have the diesel.

I had a Fiat Panda 100 HP for 2 years.It was a great car with everything on it and quite nippy.In 2 years i spotted only 4 others on the road. I guess most people bought the basic Panda and thought the 100 HP was too expensive at £10500,however i got it brand new discounted to £8000. It did 0-60 in 9 seconds but only did 30 MPG. I much prefer the 60 MPG i now get in my Smart. The cars you see everywhere these days are the BMW MIni and the Fiat 500.

The Auto box on the Citigo is the same type as the Smart. Every motoring journo has called the auto box in the Smart saying the same as is now being said about the citigo,however they do say the change is better in the diesel Smart. I owned a petrol Smart in 2003 and now have a 2009 diesel Smart. I find the auto change is perfectly ok as long as you do not race around everywhere.If you take things nice and easy it is fine. In the diesel i find the change nice and smooth. I am sure i would find the auto Citigo ok as well,infact i would not dream of having a manual car these days in todays traffic conditions. What is driving today?It is just a load of stop starts.Drive a few yards and stop for traffic lights.Another few yards and stop for zebra or pelican crossing.Another few yards and traffic jams etc etc up and down the box on and off the clutch,NO THANKS.I love autos,perfect for town driving. If the auto box in the Citigo is not smooth as silk or 100% perfect i can put up with it. I have had loads of manual cars over the years and loads of automatics,but now it will be automatics every time.

What about a cheap Kia Picanto or Hyundai i10? The fact is there is really no such thing as a bad car these days, made by robots,so its very rare to get a Friday special as in the old days. All city cars are perfect for short trips round town and to the shops. Cars like the Mondeo and Insignia for long motorway runs,and Jaguar,BMW and Mercedes for luxury. Any City car is perfect for today,as they make them with a more grown up feel to them. The UP/Citigo are excellent cars,and most people would be happy with the Aygo/107 or any small car.

As a former Examiner (Hence my Title) now retired,you do not have time in a driving test to get a candidate to do that. It is the same reason why we do not do motorway driving either,as not all test centres are close to a motorway. The reason most people do not question if a car has a spare,is because years ago no car would have ever been sold without a spare,no more than a car would be sold without a steering wheel or seats. My Smart car did not come with a spare as they said there is nowhere to store it,however i purchased one,and store it behind the passenger seat. It does reduce leg room for the passenger,so i have to make sure any passengers have little legs lol.I had tools from years ago. I would not dream of driving a car without a spare,and would certainly order the Citigo spare when i purchase the car.

Good for who?Certainly not the customer. Years ago a car would never have been sold without a spare. Today it is all about cost saving and earning extra money for the car makers. So many cars do not come with spares these days,or Temp gauges. What next.....Does sir want a steering wheel with his new car?That will be an extra £200.Oh and sir wants driving and passenger seats?Thats an extra £500!!

Ah i see the old British Leyland excuse "THEY ALL DO THAT SIR" is alive and well.

You can have a Citigo or UP today with no waiting,as long as you do not mind a used car. There are loads of citigos and UPs advertised on Autotrader. Yes it is true they are all overpriced seeing as they are not new having only been reduced by 5% at the max, instead of the 20%-25% they will have infact lost in the trade,however if you want one today without waiting it could be worth a look.

I see VW have been selling the UP automatic so perhaps they have some for test drives? Re.No Park position. In my Smart which has the same type of auto box,if you leave the lever in R reverse,this is the same as P park.The car will not move with the engine off even with the handbrake off,so perhaps the Citigo is the same.

Thats good to know. If it ever stops raining i will see if my local dealer has one for a test drive. To CFB and sk4gw.I think we all loved our Minis.Driving was a pleasure in those days. I had mine from new and kept it 7 years. In all that time it only needed a new exhaust at a cost of only £12,and a new battery. It did need the boot floor welding after 5 years due to the dreaded rust bug. Do you remeber the Wood and Picket special Minis that the pop stars had?I used to see them driving round London. Today the popular cars in London are the Electric G-Wiz, The Fiat 500,BMW Mini and the Smart. Perhaps the Citygo will join them soon.

The old Rover Mini had a cover on the front of the engine to protect the electrics. I was interested in what Crista said,that an Automatic was in the showroom.I thought they were not out till December or next year. Does this mean they are now available,as i would like a test drive in one?

A few months ago a BMW dealer down South had one of the last Mini Cooper Sport 500s i think it was a 2000 model priced at £13000.It did look in mint condition with a low mileage,but what a price seeing as they were about £8000 new.

They have so many different models now including a coupe. I still like the basic Mini First or One.

Not sure. I guess they were designed like that perhaps for ballance of the car with a tank each side. They held 10 gallons in each tank.Todays Jags do have one big tank,and i think they hold 18 gallons. Most of the time i only ever filled one tank,unless i was going to make a long trip when i filled both tanks. Its amazing to think in my car today i can go as far on 5 gallons as i could on both tanks in those days.

But it never rains in sunny Manchester by the sea. It must have been a rare event lol