I work with engineers so I can relate. I am an engineering tech. one thing that I notice is that a lot of engineers tend to get tunnel vision when talking about certain subjects.

they tend to go with the norm because at some point, some engineer must have come up with it. basically they go with previous data instead of gathering the data themselves. being the guy that gathers the data, I would rather find out for myself.

I have suprised quite a few engineers with my cav as it gets 40+ percent over epa and it isn't a stick.

is the smart map or maf driven? a 25+% drop in fuel economy is horrendous. is a cai really making that much more power??? i guess since the car is really "cute" there are a lot of uninformed owners...

anyway, what gives the extra power for the cold air intakes isnt really so much the cold air as it is the volume of air between the filter and the throttle body and how that volume is shaped. of course the power gains (or losses) are different for every car depending on what is changed

I really wanted a Fortwo, until they dumped the diesel engine in the U.S. It's interesting to compare the dimensions and performance with the Isetta. I assume the huge weight increase of the Fortwo is all about crash safety. I've known people who call them ugly, but they seem elegant to me, as does the Fortwo for that matter.

Bose or HK are nothing impressive. If you want good sound, check out JL Audio or McIntosh.

I can't wait for JL Audio to come out with a stealth subwoofer enclosure for the Smart fortwo.

I currently have a McIntosh amp, but it's too large to install in a fortwo. I need to get a smaller version and see if it's possible to install under a seat and maybe get it to run in 3 channels so two channels can run the left and right speakers and the other can power the subwoofer. A McIntosh amp is as clean as power as you're going to get with a distortion rate down to an amazing .005% THD.

Factory radios and stuff typically have a very high distortion rate as of almost .1% to 10% THD which is why the radios always sound like crap when you turn them loud. They probably do this on purpose to keep people from playing their radios too loud.

28,000 miles!
 

JUST TURNED OVER 28,000 miles today!

Knock on wood, no problems so far. My other Smart turned over 13,000 earlier this week too, luckily no problems with that as well. They have both been great cars. While I haven't been logging my miles here, but I have been logging them and have maintained an average of 42.9mpg. My other Smart with 13k I've only done 40.8mpg.

I've put a few paint jobs on these things as they are a cinch to paint, it's like getting a new car every few months.

Smart came out with a website for owners that have wrecked their Smarts to post their experiences. This was in rebuttal to the wonderful report done by the IIHS. It's safeandsmart.com.

So far, I still do not regret buying multiples of these things but I have a hankering to get my old diesel Jetta back on the road again. I have also added a Yaris to the stable but it was for my kid. She had a 99 Escort I bought new but it dropped a valve seat and she needed a car so I offered up one of the Smarts, after driving it one day she said no because too many people ask questions about it and she found that creepy and annoying. I told her I would chose what she would buy since the loan was under my name too. I got a 3dr Yaris w/auto. Nice car but I've driven it about 60 miles and it now has 6800 miles on it.

the teal looks tough! i like it with the black!

Thanks.;)

And since I'm not such a lightweight twigboy - when the spousal unit and myself are in it quite a few people have mentioned they thought I lowered it. I honestly think its an illusion with everything being color coordinated and blacked out. What I mean by color coordinated is I painted about 75% of the stuff on the car that was black plastic from the factory.

82000 miles on mine and all is still well!

Update:

43,300 miles over 23 months of ownership.

These miles have been mostly trouble-free. Mechanically the car has been great. I did have a problem with the polycarbonate roof and had it replaced under warranty. After 2 years I still love it and don't regret it! While I haven't maintained my mileage records here, I have recorded them and I have and I'm at 42.0 mpg over the 43k.

I gave up one of my smarts for a '09 Yaris 3dr. It was my daughter's Yaris and we swapped even as my wife didn't like that the smart doesn't have a tilt wheel. I painted it pink before I gave it to her.

2 years worth of modding a new car. The latest was a set of wider wheels. I fell for putting gigantic wheels on a car before and it killed my mileage. Not this time. They are a little bit wider than stock but not much. I took this up on The Tail of the Dragon last year and it handles like a go-kart so with the new wheels it is that much better. Also added was a better air intake hose and a K&N style air filter, nothing dramatic. On the inside I went with a Pioneer AVIC D-3 and also added an armrest.

Those mods are just the latest stuff, lot more has been done. It is such an incredibly simple car I just had to modify it. All that being said....I have 4k-5k of DIRT ROADS on this car!!