Author Topic: 126 v Smart  (Read 13768 times)

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Bruce

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126 v Smart
« on: May 07, 2006, 07:01:18 PM »
the smart car is hailed as a great inovation in small cars, but for a fraction of the price you could buy a Bis. both have similar performance and economy, both have rear engines under the floor with rear wheel drive, but the smart allways looks as if would topple backward when driving up hill and pull wheelies on the flat!!! despite being slightly shorter than the 126 it has a larger turning circle. both have front and rear luggage compartments, the smart has more luggage room but then the 126 has 4 seats, 2 of which can be folded down, when the rear seats are folded down in the Fiat it can carry more than the Smart when it is a single seater while still having 2 seats. as to the overall size of the cars, the Fiat may be 607mm longer than the Smart, but the smart is 138mm wider and 206mm shorter. so the 126 can carry more luggage or passengers than the Smart, turn inside the Smart, get through smaller gaps, get under lower bridges and is only a little bit longer. these drawings are to scale so you can see the difference:

as are these photos of the 2 cars;

the Fiat is a small car that is fun to drive, the Smart looks strange and needs a computer to stop it falling over. So i ask you who's the smart car now?

126dave

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126 v Smart
« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2006, 08:54:51 PM »
bruce,great presentation,but your preaching to the wrong peeps..............anyway,its all about sales and marketing,for example,why does anyone need anything else but a morris minor (the '60s version)? availible in all the needed body types..........or a CD? come to think of it why do we need plastic wraps on everything???.

it would also be nice if car makers gave the figure of energy (barrels of oil?) that go into making todays so called eco freindly cars,what with all the ceramics/carbon/alloys and stainless steel etc etc that are now needed to run these hot runnig computerised cars
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fiatfsm

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126 v Smart
« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2006, 09:25:40 PM »
this is right up my street, last autumn my wife and I went for a test drive in a Smart... it was a gorgeous day so we took the 126 down to the dealer, the sales staff were all over it needless to say. Anyway, off we went in the Smart, within minutes my wife felt sick as the motion of those things is akin to a small boat, the characterful 3 pot engine sounded like a washing machine on self destruct spin, the understeer was phenomenal, when it hit a bump in the road it just hopped about the place... and that gearchange is woefully bad, no really it is just plain crap. What a dreadful little heap those things are, we bought a used MR2 instead!! Soon as I got back into the 126 I realised what a great small car should be like. Also from what Ive heard from smart owners the general reliability makes even the BIS sound great! If it was 4k tops then OK, I could get it, just but it costs as much as a real car. Agree with the comment re Minors, I drive a 92 Panda as my everyday car and it has nothing extra on it, wonderfully simple motoring.
1987 Fiat 126 FSM, alloys, clear lights, Polish tat accessories... love it!

paul harbinson.

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126 v Smart
« Reply #3 on: May 08, 2006, 07:53:40 AM »
Don't let everyone know but their engines explode after a few years of ownership.You only have to look at the sticker on my engine cover to know the contempt I hold for the "city car" that is the dumb (sorry smart).Is that a bit harsh or am I telling the truth?Put it this way how much are smarts 7-8k.Why when loose change will get you a cracking 126 that holds four.By the way the smart 4four will stop production soon due to poor sales.Daimler-Chrysler are trying to sell smart as its costing the company a fortune and there is talk of the Chinese buying the rights to build the smart roadster and calling it an mg midget. :shock:
Dante Giacoso, pure genius!

Bruce

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126 v Smart
« Reply #4 on: May 08, 2006, 09:19:04 AM »
Paul, is this the sticker you have on yours:

where can you get them, and do they do it in black as my car is white?

paul harbinson.

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126 v Smart
« Reply #5 on: May 08, 2006, 01:03:15 PM »
yup,thats the one.I got the picture of the the links part of the site then,got an apprentice to make me the sticker....I have a spare one :D
Dante Giacoso, pure genius!

Chris Lakin

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126 v Smart
« Reply #6 on: May 08, 2006, 09:49:22 PM »
what a great demo there Bruce, perfectly illustrted reasons to buy a 126 and not a SMART
 :lol:

youre right though, 4 seats or 2 seats?, same size car? same engine size (but without the turbo)   and of course 126 has better looks. :lol:
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gregs656

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126 v Smart
« Reply #7 on: May 10, 2006, 07:26:09 PM »
this is all true

but remember, in a smart car, the cumple zone isnt your face!
The Hunt Continues. . .

dajwid

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126 v Smart
« Reply #8 on: May 10, 2006, 07:32:10 PM »
We don't crash our cars, thank you very much. We love and cherish them :lol:

gregs656

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126 v Smart
« Reply #9 on: May 10, 2006, 07:47:16 PM »
:lol:

and race them  :shock:  :shock:  :cool:  :cool:
The Hunt Continues. . .

126dave

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126 v Smart
« Reply #10 on: May 10, 2006, 08:57:12 PM »
oh yes....we race them..................good point on crumpling your face tho,would'nt fancy takin it from the side either.....................great cars,but '70s tech.but if i was to give my step daughter either of these choices for reg travel? id give her a smart....but with the choice of ragging my aircooled at the weekend!............
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issylupus

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126 v Smart
« Reply #11 on: September 18, 2006, 09:41:33 PM »
God, I cant stand the SMART, they look like a kids drawing that never got finished.
The people who drive them are just waisting their money. I bet in 10 to 15 years you wont find many of them still running about on the roads.
They will be filed in the same drawer as the Sinclair C5 and the rubix cube.
I was stuck behind one old lady who couldnt drive to save herself. She must have thought if she had a wee car she wouldnt be noticed as much. How wrong she was. She clogged up the traffic in both directions in Bently for over 10 minuets trying to park the thing in a space I could have got my bus in !!! After hitting the kerb 4 times she pulled out and attempted the manouver in reverse which was just as bad. when she finaly got it remotley close to the kerb enough to let the trafic by she waved politley as if we had all just done her a favour or something. I was now 15 minuets late on a twenty minuet run.

Get them off the road and make more room for a proper small car (the 126,)
0 - 60 ---- Honestly !!

Chris Lakin

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126 v Smart
« Reply #12 on: September 18, 2006, 10:22:11 PM »
ouch dangerous ground there Issy, its pistols at dawn!!!  ive just had an email from the Smart Car Club Chairman wanting to settle it over a race.

hahah only kidding  :lol:
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issylupus

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126 v Smart
« Reply #13 on: September 19, 2006, 08:38:32 PM »
bring it on !!!!

I'll give them a race any day.
but if its an endurance race they want then I bet my wee car will still be running in another 5 years.

WILL THEIR'S ???????

If it's pistols at dawn then remember I use to do a lot of shooting when I lived in Scotland.

Nothing will change my mind, I still think the SMART looks like a wedge of cheese without the crackers !!!!
0 - 60 ---- Honestly !!

paul harbinson.

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126 v Smart
« Reply #14 on: September 20, 2006, 07:52:44 AM »
I love it when a smart stops behind me.You can see them straining to see what the picture is on my engine cover and then when it dawns on them the look of disgust is priceless :lol: .It  usually ends in a race after that.I win most of the time,not from straight speed but the point that I'm not afraid to chuck mine in and out of traffic or into a corner :wink:
Dante Giacoso, pure genius!