Is the price of a Smart car justified?

I'm thinking of buying one and can't determine how much of the cost is due to its uniqueness, compared to its qualities as a car. Some say you pay a lot for what you get. Do size, gas mileage, and quality account for the cost? How will the resell value be over the coming years?|||The consensus is that you have to be willing live with a lot of trade offs. The Smart car is small, in a collision with another vehicle that is bigger than it (which is every other car on the road) the laws of physics dictate the the Smart will get the worse end of the encounter. Smart likes to tout their safety cage, but you cannot engineer your way out of the laws of physics. The Smart is also quite slow. The transmission has been widely criticized. Consumer Reports, who normally champion small economical cars was not impressed with the Smart in the least.





What you do get is good fuel mileage (though not much better than more substantial cars like the Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris. You get good room for two, and you get great maneuverability and easy parking.





IMHO it's not worth the trade-offs. I would go with the Honda Fit/Jazz before I would have a Smart.|||Smart's main characteristic is its size: It can fit everywhere, and that is a clear advantage if your are living in a European city, for example, where finding parking space is a daily battle. For that only, Europeans are mostly willing to pay a bigger than usual price. Of course, that doesn't apply in the same way for the United States market, where parking space is easier to find. For its other attributes, gas mileage is a big plus, however, that is exactly what you would expect from an engine that small. The quality of the car is good, given that Smart's parent company is Mercedes Benz. The only big disadvantage the car has, apart from the fact that it only fits 2 people, is that I would not want to be involved in a car accident, and be inside one! I have seen an accident in front of me, and I must say you really need considerable luck.


So, to answer your question, it depends on how much the car's attributes have serious value for you. If, for instance, you don't value flexibility considerably, you have other choices to consider as well.|||The base price of the car is $11,990 for the Pure and $13,990 for the Passion Coupe. There aren't that many cars that are cheaper than this.





The car provides you with 33 MPG city and 41 MPG highway. Very high for a non-hybrid car. Yes, a hybrid car gives you more MPG than a Smart Car, but the price is almost double that of a Smart Car.





If you go to the Smart Car forum, you can see what users have to say about their cars.





http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/forums/








As for used car prices, the price varies, but the following web page should give you some idea.





http://www.usedcarsplus.com/usedcars/11-鈥?/a>








By the way, there are lots of Bozos here who have never driven the Smart Car and know nothing about it, but are more than willing to tell you every bad thing they can make up. Go direct to the Smart Car Forum and get the real facts from real Smart Car owners.





http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/forums|||Companies price their cars based on what they believe people will pay for them, not just on what it costs to build them. The Smart is a trendy look at me car with a waiting list last I heard so....you are going to pay for that. You can get a lot more car for the money with the amount you are going to spend for a Smart...and many of the run of the mill compacts out there come pretty close to the Smarts fuel economy numbers...and will actually make surviving an accident more probable too with the extra sheet metal.|||I see a lot of them on the local used car lots and at the state auto auction. Most are very low mileage good condition. Make me wonder why people are ditching them so soon. The state auto auction is mostly cars that dealers have too many of on their lot so they wholesale them to get rid of them.|||they suck from what ive seen...the fuel mileage isn't that great and they have been dealer price raised by about 6k because of demand......so figure 11k depreciation just driving it off the lot....and they are crappy as far as performance goes....|||they're cool, and they're mercedes, so yeah.|||The highest priced Smart in my area is $17,900 which includes the convertible top.





Size: Holy crap I can put it in my truck. I saw one once at a fuel station and I almost hit it since I couldn't tell it was parked in a spot. You know how you don't often see small cars in between normal and large size vehicles. I did get to sit in one and I admit they have room to drive them but that's it. If you are just driving to work and then back home I guess the Smart would do but don't think you are going rollback shopping at Wal-Mart in it.





Interior dimensions:


Front Hip Room (in) 45.4


Front Head Room (in) 39.7


Front Leg Room (in) 41.2


Passenger Capacity 2


Front Shoulder Room (in) 48.0


Passenger Volume (ft鲁) 45.4





In comparison with another vehicle I provide you with the following feedback: Comparison Car - 2009 Chevy Cobalt 2 dr LS package.


As compared to SMART:





+ 4.1 in overall front hip room (Cobalt has 4.1 (in) advantage in hip room)


- 1.0 in overall head room (Cobalt has 1.0 (in) less headroom)


- 2.5 in front leg room (Cobalt has 2.5 (in) of less leg room)


+ 37.6 volume (Cobalt has 37.6 (ft鲁) of passenger volume)





So in comparison the SMART has about the same room or better than a commonly operated Chevy*





*I do not like Cobalts and I do not wish them on anybody. I am simply using the Cobalt for interior dimension comparison.





Safety: the Smart does come with typical and optional safety equipment. ESC, CBC, ABS, ASC and ETC combination, driver and passenger airbags, modular steel frame, and hill start assist are all available on the Smart models. Most importantly, to me, they have a collapsible steering column in case you have had a head on collision which traps you in the Smart. These options will decrease your insurance.





Pay a lot for what you get? Well you are buying a SMART. I don't know what all the hype is about. My point is there is a market for them and people are buying them. They are semi-new so they will be marked up a little. I now work for the DOD but while I was a student in college I worked for Cadillac dealership. We couldn't sell very many Cadillacs but we sold a ton of the Chevy Aveo's. They were horrible in appearance and performance but people liked them. It's all a matter of personal preference.





Gas mileage: The EPA claims that SMART cars (both conv. and coupe) should get around 36 MPG avg. Actual users, according to fueleconomy.gov, are reporting fuel usage estimates in the 36.2-37.1 MPG range.





These SMART cars make me scratch my head! See Below:


Prius users are reporting averages of 47.8 MPG -51.6 MPG


Aveo users are reporting averages of 25.2 MPG -34.4 MPG


Focus users are reporting averages of 27.2 MPG- 31.9 MPG


Mazda 3 users are reporting averages of roughly 28.5-30 MPG





I include these comparisons because they are the working mans ( or womans) cars according to the compact cars I see on the highway. They all do roughly the same or better than the SMART and two of them offer more room for storage and a better ride than the SMART. Not to mention the Focus has an outstanding reputation. I cannot justify the cost of the vehicle because it's :fuel efficient: when there are other cars on the road that get better fuel economy and offer more room both for storage and safety.





Depreciation: According to the listing is my area, the 2008's have depreciated between $3,000-$6,000.00 to and average selling price of $11,000-$11, 400. According to a standard depreciation rate of $3,700.00 per year the SMART is depreciating $700.00 less than the rating per year and after 5 years a $16,000 investment will only be worth around $2500-$4,000.00 based n 600000000 conditions. Here's the deal..the depreciation is an average so it included Mercedes and Dodge Neons. Catch my drift? It's not accurate! Your car will be worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Obviously dealerships will offer you less than a straight sale to a consumer. If the fuel crisis continues then your cars value may remain relatively stable. If the cars begin to experience reliability issues, or if they offer too many rebates the cars will decline in value. I always say that the car companies ruin the value of cars as they continue to introduce new models year after year with HUGE cash incentives therefore ruining the value of their older models because everyone wants something new.





Personal opinion: You can invest your money more wisely. Your investment may be good for you but you may have a hard time selling the car therefore taking a big loss at a dealership if you ever trade out of it. If you plan on keeping it forever..hell they are cheap..buy two. I drive a Saab 9-3 turbo so I know whats it feels like to drive a car that doesn't appeal to the general populace. I live in the hills of PA and I avg 30-33 MPG everyday on some of the worst roads in the Northeast. On long trips I can average up to 44 MPG when I am not speeding. I only add this because I drive a 4 dr so-called luxury sedan with all the bells and whistles and I get excellent fuel economy.