Today, John Brooks, Rod Chong and I passed our time blasting through the Autobahn at top speed, in the air conditioned comfort of our hired Lexus, as we watched the German countryside pass quickly through the side windows of the car.
As we bumped Rod’s custom “1971” mix of funk and soul music out of the Lexus/Mark Levinson speakers, John called out the names of the artists, and made comments to the likes of “I remember when this song was new” or “Thumbs down! Rod, this song was rubbish back when it was new, and it certainly hasn’t gotten better over time. Next song please!”
When we finally arrived at our destination and checked into our very posh and luxurious hotel, I wanted to do nothing more than explore the town at night and find an underground hip hop club full of gorgeous blue eyed German females.
However, we Speedhunters are certainly a dedicated bunch – since most of us have been busy traveling over the past few days, we needed to catch up on posting site content – after all, someone has to edit and upload the photos for the posts that we write. We do this for our readers – most of whom visit our site every day to look at photos and read the new updates. So tonight, that someone is me. Sigh, I guess the German ladies will have to wait.
Check out this car – the other night, as Rod and I walked through downtown Frankfurt with our friend Danilo, we spotted this Smart Car! But wait – this Smart doesn’t look like the normal tiny ball-shaped Smart fortwos I’m used to seeing! Rod pointed out that this was a Smart Roadster Coupe, which I’ve never before seen in North America. I pointed out that it had a pretty decent lip on the rear wheels, which neither of us have ever seen before on a Smart car!
After consulting with our resident expert, Andy Blackmore, I found out
that this Smart Roadster Coupe actually ended production in 2006. How
sad! I like the way it looks!
The car in question is a Smart Roadster Coupe. I like the way the rear of the car looks – it kind of looks Honda CRX-ish but with S2000 style taillights. I dig the dual exhaust in the center, but I dig the fat lip wheels even more! I do think the wheels could be just a tad wider, or possibly the owner could just small spacers to push the rear wheels out a little more for a perfect look. For the front, it just needs wider wheels plain and simple… but I love this car! I’d definitely be down to test drive this thing! It is the coolest looking Smart car I’ve ever seen!
Check out the side view – kind of BMW M coupe-ish, don’t you think? I dig it. I should have put a Speedhunters flyer on the car’s window to go along with the other club flyers on there.
HID projector headlights and foglights under the bumper. This car definitely looks cool! I can’t wait to see one with wider front wheels and alot more front camber!
-Antonio Alvendia
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
These are pretty cute but a little underpowered. There are a couple at my place of work, one of which is a Brabus edition =)
As Cole said, really crappy engine unless you raise your 10k and spunk your 300k on a V6 brabus prototype jobbie but they do look funky just wish the engine sucked less.
On a seperate note any of you lads fancy covering how you got into what you do now in a but more detail, I know it was breifley covered in your blogs but I know a few people who would love to get into this field but assume that its soooo far away from what they can access its just not feisable.
Cheers Si
dude that sucks that they stop making them. i wish we could have some state side. that would be a fun little car that looks cool and is good on gas.
Cranky - The into prices are under the 'Car Life' Category. see.....
http://www.speedhunters.com/archive/tags/Car+Life/default.aspx
Hi Cranky! Hmm, I'll talk to some of the guys and see if we want to revisit this. Some of the blogs are pretty detailed,,,,. but right now i need to get to sleep. i have an early morning appointment with a certain Porsche tomorrow!!! wooohoooooo!!!
Heheh I think the 'Brabus' edition at work had the Brabus rims and a Brabus badge on the back.... I don't think it even knows what a V6 is =P
NIce car guys! Post more of your trip up!
nice car, your right though i wish the frt wheels were wider. oh well sick car nonetheless
Why? Why Why is this car not in North America? It would sell like hotcakes!
I'd want one!
Too bad Smart discontinued the Roadster/Roadster-Coupé. A friend of mine had a Roadster-Coupé and it was fun to throw that car around the twisties like a go-kart when driving up to the Nordschleife.
The biggest downer was the slush box though, took ages to switch gears.
I did some reading on the Smart Roadster on Wikipedia.
It seems that the car did not sell well, due to poor market image.
Try again! I want one!
Frankfurt, eh? You´ve been nearby my hometown which ist just about 30 Miles away from Frankfurt.
Whats your reason for visiting Germany?
The biggest engine for this car was a 85 hp 3-cylinder with 0,7 liters and turbocharger.
The Brabus V6 was made from 2 of this engines put together in one case. Twinturbo with 170 hp and 220 nm between 2250 and 4500 rpm. And yes, the gearbox was the rubish automatic from the fortwo diesel.
10 were made, but never gone in production because only the tank costs about 30.000 $, pure Formula 1 technology.
0-60 time was about 5,5 sec. with the real wheel drive application.
Pics:
http://www.focus.de/auto/fahrberichte/tid-6063/fahrbericht-smart-brabus-v6_did_15886.html
After the new ForTwo came out, they closed the Smart Design studio and folded the staff (who hadn't left) into the main Mercedes studio. Crying shame. The main problem for the failure in sales was the price and the feel...no manual box either ment that if you wanted to rag it, the ECU and the gearbox changed for you at about 4.2 - 4.5 rpm. No fun. I had a deposite on one, went to spec it out and a test drive and took my deposite back. Oh yeah, and the interior detailing/plastics were horrible. The Brabus (right on Cole) was a bit more lively, but just didn't deliver. I wish they would reopen the studio and knock out some new stuff...perhaps in a few years. I'll apply for sure!
I'm driving the roadster right now (I'm currently in Switzerland visiting my dad)....rent it for about $45 a day.
It's got about 70 hp....very sluggish engine as you might expect.....and you don't get any lady either....
For one, it's been on sale for YEARS here in Europe, so the news got old....so maye for Antonio is cool because he never so it....lol. 1 week is enough to get bored....lol
For 2, it's a cheap car! Great gas mileage though.
It also has a sequential gear box. (hold your breath), it's not fast AT ALL.
The car was designed by Swatch and Mercedes some 10 years go...and it's only 600-700cc turbocharged. Again, nothing to be proud of. But it gets the job done. It's get me from point A to point B in no problem....
For those of you who rant so much.....get one for $15K....slap on a Hayabusa engine for another $5K....and go to the track and beat some EVO's and STi's.....lol
Motor Mania we are in Germany and Belgium this week Speedhunting...
David - ha ha, exactly the same. Spec'd a roadster out, put the order in before launch, test drove one of the first and promptly cancelled the order! Quality wasnt there and the gear change was terrible (although better than the first For Two)
@ Andy & Antonia - Cheers for responding as I know a hell of alot of people reading this blog will be thinking you've got the best job in the world but have no idea as to how to get into the media side, if you could write down how you got to where you are ie college/apprenticeships/pure luck etc I/we would be really gratefull
Cheers again and keep up the good work lads
Si
I like this car. Too bad it would get smashed by giant SUVs if it was available in America. Sucky.
Well, you wont see something like that! In USA, you have dish washer machines that have more power than this.
But then again, all the people there are kind of....large. Dont know if they'll fit in this SMART.
I really "dig" this car also. For the lightweight, not for the fat tires.
Guys just sharing, I've found this interesting! Check it out! http://www.SmokinUnderground.com