Smart in Guelph

Believe it or not I’m trading in the BMW X5 and getting a 2008 Smart Car. For me I had fallen in love with the Smart Car while I lived in Switzerland over 7 years ago and now finally in Canada I will get my Smart Car.

I do love the X5 but it is really not needed for my lifestyle and after a long research phase I believe that the 2008 Smart Car will be able to handle the Canadian winters, my limited highway driving and still have all the things that the X5 provides.

There isn’t a Smart Car dealership in Guelph, but I found one in Kitchener at Victoria Star Smart Car Dealer http://www.kitchener.thesmart.ca/. So called down and met up with the business manager Sue and after a few phone calls I happily put my down payment on a beautiful 2008 silver on silver passion model Smart Car.

Sadly they don’t have any 2008’s in stock but I’ve ordered mine and it will be coming from Europe shortly to arrive sometime in November. I ordered a silver on silver passion model, with leather and fog lights. All the fancy options available in Europe aren’t making over here to Canada, but that won’t stop me from ordering them in Europe myself and installing them myself.

I had seen the current smart car model, the 2008 version is very different and I hadn’t seen one in person yet. I took the chance and put my down payment before seeing it and am very happy to say that today I saw the 2008 demo unit at Victoria Star Smart Car Dealer in Kitchener. It is really an amazing car, far superior to the previous model, the interior is very polished and professional while the exterior still has that unique fun Smart Car look and feel.

For those who know me from the good old days, yes the smart car does have a lot in common with the neon and while I don’t think I can get racing with this smart car there are many people in Europe who’ve gone as far as putting motorbike engines into smart cars, here a great video of the potential of a lite framed car with a nice sized engine:

I will be documenting the life of my own smart car on the website Smartster.ca (yet to be a live link, but coming soon) and hope that I can upgrade the exterior and interior a little and maybe tinker with the engine (just don’t tell the dealership).

The factory times for the European 2008 Smart Car puts the 0 – 60 times at 9.9 seconds it can beat a Hummer and is inline with a 95 to 98 Honda Civic. Nothing to boast about but remember the Smart Car has only 3 cylinders and the engine is about the size of most cars glove boxes.