Looking at buying a Roadster...

Diagro

Diagro

Diagro

Soldato
Joined
3 Jun 2012
Posts
11,266
Hey

Have been looking at a smart roadster, love the look of it.
Although I have read that they can have serious problems which can make a £3k purchase turn into a 5k one in less than a year.

Does anyone here have any first hand experience with them?

Or are there any other cars that are similar?
My budget is 3 grand and need to get over 45mpg.

Ta all
 
You can get about 40mpg out of a CRX del sol.

i dont think you will have much else to choose from without sacrificing something (ideally fuel economy)

MX5 on lpg?
 
40 miles per day is hardly anything tbh - I do about 40 miles a day at the moment and spend circa £45 a week on fuel so about 22.5ppm/ 28.1mpg

Up it to 45mpg (sticking to petrol) and you'll be about 14.1ppm / £28.20, which ok is a decent saving over a month assuming 4 weeks and £67.20 saved

But compare 45mpg to say 35mpg - which should be achievable with a number of cars and you're £36.23 for a week or £32 per 4 weeks of an increase over 45mpg.

Surely that's worth paying for a wider choice of cars, that won't be as likely to double the initial outlay in the next 12 months?

You also can't compare fuel alone - total running cost matters much more. £200 a year difference in insurance between cars or more expensive servicing / repairs will quickly obliterate fuel savings
 
A buddy has a smart roadster.

Seems happy enough with it but really is THAT small. After a 20 minute drive i couldn't wait to get back in my s14.

Also the cup holder is in an interesting place, ill leave you to find out where ^_^

If it was me, i would go for a mazda mx5
 
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Surely a Toyota MR-S fits the bill perfectly here? Cheap to buy, run, insure and being a such a light car with relatively small engine you should see close to 40mpg dependent on what your regular 40 mile drive is like.
 
I'm a big Smart fan and I couldn't bring myself to ever get the roadster. I love the brabus coupe version, looks great. That said the number of electrical faults they develop put me off massively and they aren't as rewarding to drive as the MX-5, also I had height issues being around 6 foot.

Finding a tidy Roadster is getting harder, currently I only see 53 on AT! There are plenty of buyers guides around from either Evilution or Roadstermodelguide but as I say, the main issue is leaks causing electrical faults. Also the keys have a tendency to uncode themselves! I've only had one of my keys on the 451 become uncoded but as it was close to my purchase Merc recoded it for free - make sure you have more than one key working at all times however as if you end up with a single key becoming faulty Smart charge some extortionate cost for reprogramming the SAM!
 
I had a small smart roadster and i din't have any problems with that car. I did all the maintenance my self. The car did one mile with 0.13p. Also i am 1.92m, i din't have a lot of space but i did enjoy that car. I have bought with 99.000 miles on the clock and sold the car with 108.000 very lucky.
Converting a mx5 to lpg will be a great idea, i have now a slk 200 on lpg.
 
Diagro said:
This one any good? 2 miles from me. And I could try haggle them down a bit.

Any advice on how to do this? I have no idea what to ask or what to check and stuff.

I'm one who would just hand him the cash and drive off lol
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...chad/used,nearlynew,new/make/toyota?logcode=p

insurance is 450 :)
Click to expand...

Looks ok from the pics, though I would want the original wheels unless those are staggered (doubt it but could be worth checking).

It looks promising enough, but I'd wonder why he was moving it on having only owned it a short time (rich coming from me) when it's a 1 owner car. I'd say it was worth a look, please take someone who knows a little about cars with you though.

Couple of specifics to check.

Open the engine bay and have the guy start it, make sure it doesn't rattle at startup or when running (it'll sound diesely if there's an issue), also look at the tensioner, sits on the block at right hand side of the engine. Make sure it's not leaking - not a big issue but should be a good bargaining point.
 
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