2002 smart fortwo - city coupe Pulse from South Africa - Comments

I have had the car for 6 months and I have already had 2 flat tyres resulting in the replacement thereof. The tyres on these little cars are smaller in diameter, but are more expensive than your conventional tyres. I recently purchased 4 tyres for my previous vehicle which cost around R1700-00 and the 2 tyres of my smart pulse cost more than this (around R2500-00). On both above occasions I attempted to use the snazzy little puncture repair kit, but it appeared that the tyre had been perished. I have since been very afraid of driving this vehicle on a long journey, as a puncture in the middle of nowhere could have devistating consequences. I am considering buying a spare wheel and tyre and keeping it in the boot on a long journey, but this would mean that there is no room for much else.

The vehicles do not come with a motor or drive plan and servicing these cars are for the owners account and can only be done through the agents in order to maintain the warranty. The costs of these services are much higher than your average service costs and has come as a surprise.

The vehicle has also began to have a high oil consumption, and I returned the vehicle for inspection on 3 occasions to the manufacturer to have the vehicle checked and was eventually told that there is an allowance made by the manufacturer for oil consumption and was told to "live with it". I put in approximately a pint of oil per 1000KM and I do feel that this is quite excessive, given the low fuel usage. I have also recently had to take the vehicle back to the manufacturer for repair, since the vehicle has no power and struggles to move off on an incline. The manufacturers are still in the process of repairing my vehicle under the warranty. It has been 3 days now, and still they cannot confirm the fault or repairs to be undertaken.

I am not sure if this is the normal unreliable tendency of these cars, or maybe I just got the lemon.

I know that I may sound like a old complaining middle aged nag, so I would take this opportunity to comment on some of the good points of this little car. It is quite the head turner and is surprisingly quick given the size of the power plant.

It is a fun little car to drive and the fuel economy is out of this world. The car handles well and has all the feature comforts one would only expect in a more luxury vehicle.

I have experience of smart car mechanics and their problems. the problems you seem to have is indicative of turbo wear and or failure, it should not be using the amount of oil stated. is there any oil smoke from the rear? I have seen them get so bad you can't see behind the car when its running! in some cases the piston scraper rings break as well, especially if driven hard and/or excessive motorway use. the engine management does weird things with higher mileage, as it has an adaptive memory to cope with engine wear. hope this helps.

What brand of tires do you use?

In Sweden another problem has occured, the car isn't certified for stud-tires, which means it makes it harder to

use in winter.

My smart pulse (2002) has started to do the same thing: rapid engine oil consumption and smoke resulting. According to the previous owner's service history this has happened before, due to a faulty turbo. A second hand engine was installed, but now, it has started to do the same thing. The best thing that I can think of doing is converting the entire engine from a smart to a hgv engine altogether. I am not rich or anything, but apparently here in London you can get a grant to convert your car into an environmentally friendly problem-free kitten.

Hello people! I have got a glitter pink Smart! BUT the engine light has come up; I have checked my oil consumption and its fine. I don't know what it is, as my Smart still drives fine, and the performance of the car has not been affected by this. Are there any quick fix ideas?

I bought a brand new Smart for two GrandStyle, and I have now 7.500Kms total and started to notice a high oil consumption and smoke when I start the car in the morning. I would like to hear more about this problem. I heard about of at least five more situations in my area, which is the Azores Islands. My car is a model bought on the Portugal mainland, as the Mercedes/Smart representative here didn't have this model.

What is the point of a Smart car, anyway? The fuel economy isn't any better than a Toyota Prius, and that car holds 5 people, and the Smart car only holds 2.

By the way, if you are buying this car to be environmentally friendly, I suggest purchasing a battery electric car instead. Some of those have a range on several hundred miles and can drive on the highway. They also cost about 13 times cheaper than a conventional gasoline car to drive as you need no gas, oil, etc.