G3 2007 fortwo - X-Gauge

The only independent dedicated 

smart car e-magazine 

winter 2006 | issue 14| price: FREE on-line 

Austria 

L2B Rally 

Craig’s Roadster 

In this issue 

smart news 

Canada ER 

your local meets 

from the readers 

Doc from OZ 

five featured cars 

vinyl tinting designs 

X-Gauge review 

TomTom 510 install 

BRABUS pedal install 

window lifter install 

smint’s roadster diary 

working smarts 

plus lots more... 

G3 2007 fortwo 

ISSN 1744-9448

Smartarse Design - 

3000 s ft Branch in Watford, 

2000 s ft Branch in Romsey, 

for all your smart performance parts and services 

Romsey’s demo roadster with: Performance Clutch 

Charge cooler 

Viper induction 

Custom Map 

Lambo doors and ICE 

Custom Remapping £350 inc VAT 

NOW Available, Custom remaps by appointment. 

Plus a wide range of remaps available by RedDot for : 

Mk1-6 fortwo, Mk7 fortwo, Brabus fortwo, 

roadster 61, 80 bhp and BRABUS 101 

Our remapping service includes diagnostic check, performance 

consultation and remap, all backed by our Smartarse Design warranty. 

Please call for details. 

Win-Star & Bosch 

smart diagnostic 

computer systems 

smartimes reader offer 

Clutch adjustment £19.99 inc VAT 

(Normally £29.99) Offer ends 23rd 

Dec 06. Call to book. 

Smart Car Servicing 

fortwo - A £125 B £195 inc VAT 

roadster - A £149 B £275 inc VAT 

roadster coupe - A £149 B £295 inc VAT 

BRABUS roadster - A £149 B £349 inc VAT 

BRABUS roadster coupe- A £149 B £369 inc VAT 

Forfour - A £125 B £220 inc VAT 

Accessories 

Full range of interior & exterior products in stock 

Smartarse Design Custom Service 

- Full leather interiors 

- Classic and custom paint work 

- Body work styling 

- Personal custom performance enhancements 

Coffee and rest area 

No obligation free friendly advice 

Call us on 01794 367878 

www.smartarse-design.com 

New Products and Services... 

£89.99 inc VAT 

fitted Offer 

Stealth Exhaust 

fortwo and roadster, 

stainless steel, full 

Janspeed lifetime 

warranty, great sound 

and improved power/ 

performance. 

NOW in stock 

£429 

inc VAT 

Armourfend 

3M Scotchgard film 

protection for glass roof 

normally £99.99 inc VAT 

fitted. Helps stop risk of 

breackage from stone 

impact. Call to book. 

Body panel protection 

also available. 

Watford Dyno Meet in association with smartimes magazine 

January 2007, check web sites for further details. 

Rolling road £25 per run. Free BBQ and hot drinks. 

Millennium 

Many of our products are available 

to order on-line at 

www.smartpartchick.co.uk 

we 

ship our products 

internationally 

 

smartimes magazine 

Smartarse Design Romsey Unit 6, Wynford Farm Ind Park, Belbins, Romsey, Hants, SO51 0PW 

Tel 01794 367878 email: citycarsrusltd@btconnect.com 

Smartarse Design Watford Unit 2a Blueprint Commercial Centre, Imperial Way, Watford WD24 4JD 

Tel: 01923 288199 email: citycarsrus@btconnect.com

in this issue 

contributors 

James Gillam, Kane, Lief Hanson, 

Bahaeddin Nakiboglu, Richard Neale, 

Tom Crawford & Julie Saltmarsh, Philip 

Egan, Colin (DOC) Robinson, Ian 

Dolphin, Steve Crosbie, Dazza, smart 

media, Scott Fen - Impact press & PR 

ltd. 

Special thanks to: 

Roger Broome, James Gillam & Meara 

Paterson, Sheena Hamilton. 

publisher/editor 

Stephen Goddard 

administration 

Karen Goddard 

smartimes 

9 Downlands Road 

Winchester 

SO22 4ET 

tel: 01962 626585 

fax: 01962 626593 

Office hours: 4:30 pm to 7:30pm 

www.smartimes.co.uk 

email: info@smartimes.co.uk 

copyright 

smartimes magazine 2006, All rights reserved. 

Reproduction in whole or in part is forbidden 

without the express permission of the 

publishers. 

Page 

Winter 06 edition 4 

Club meetings and events 5 

smart news 

from the readers 6 - 8 

smart news 9 - 11 

smart G3 2007 fortwo 11 - 21 

smart meets and articles 

OZ - Introducing the Doc 22 

smart Canadian EH? 23 

Bolderwood smart meet 24 - 25 

Bexhill car show 26 - 27 

smart cars invade Woodward Detroit USA 28 

South West smarties 29 

Have smart will travel 30 - 31 

smartimes at smart times Austria 31 - 34 

Lief’s collectors edition roadster 35 

The alternative Austria tour 36 

FQ101 do the London to Brighton Rally 37 

London to Brighton Rally - start 38 

London to Brighton Rally - finish 39 

Feature cars 

CraigAxe roadster 40 - 41 

smart with wings update 42 - 43 

“Alien” smart attack 44 

Mac in smart - Turkey 46 - 47 

Projects and technical 

SMINT’s roadster diary 48 - 49 

smartboy and his smartcar - trail and error 50 

more speakers - project car 51 

adjusting suspension - project car 52 

Armourfend - protection for your smart 53 

window tints? vinyl finishing - project car 54 

The X-Gauge - up close 55 - 56 

TomTom 510 install - project car 58 

BRABUS pedal covers install 59 

C7 update 60 

MDC window lifter install 61 - 63 

Working smarts 

Supreme Windows 64 

smartimes back issues 

Back issue content and smartimes information 65 - 66 

Cover Car: 

smart G3 2007 

fortwo featured 

on page 11-21 

smartimes magazine

to our readers 

Welcome to our winter 2006 issue of smartimes e-magazine, 

late, but we think it was worth the wait. 

In this issue we are pleased to include details from the press 

launch of the new G3 2007 fortwo model. This long awaited release 

marks a new era in smart, or should I say Mercedes? The advanced 

test drive reports in the UK motoring press have been positive 

(based on the 800cc Diesel engine). As the wider motoring press 

start their reviews we at smartimes hope to arrange a test drive of 

our own and report back in our next issue. In the mean time, check 

out the details and feast your eyes on what is the new boy on the 

block. 

2007 looks to be a crucial year for smart. The success of the 

new model fortwo I believe is going to be down to dealer quality, 

service and acceptance of the owner demographic. The model 

itself looks well specified, with a full range of drive trains that 

offer efficient and cost effective motoring values to the discerning 

motorist. I am sure the ascetics will not be to some peoples tastes 

but, that can be said of a lot of successful cars on the roads today. 

Given the new fortwo model will also be available in the US market. 

Sales figures have the potential to make smart viable. Time will tell. 

Let’s hope DaimlerChrysler give it the time it needs. 

Our project car will sport a new look for 2007. We have been 

working with our advertisers to bring new ideas and developments 

to our readers over the last four years. By selling off replaced 

parts and a set of panels, we have managed to negotiate a new 

set of painted panels. This new look will be first shown at the next 

smartimes ‘dyno’ rolling road meeting planned for January 2007. 

More detail of the ‘dyno’ meet will be posted on our web site during 

December 06. 

thesmartclub.co.uk 

Be part of the world’s largest independent club for all things 

smart. 

Advice, information, third party services and access to our 

Online Shop for club merchandise including ‘smartimes’ 

magazine . 

Membership of thesmartclub, including access to information 

on Local, National and International Events plus full public 

access to our MessageBoard is, of course, free 

PLUS you can gain discounts on parts, services and 

accessories from over 20 official UK smart centres and 

other prestigious third party companies by using our unique 

‘Privilege Card’ for only £10.00 p.a. 

Join the fastest growing smart car club* 

now at 

www. 

thesmartclub. 

co.uk 

As regular readers we hope will acknowledge, smartimes has 

endeavoured to bring together the best of the smart community 

news and events over the last four years of publication. As 

smartimes enters its fifth year, we are finding it increasing difficult 

to cover our administrative and server costs. Our projects are 

funded privately and are not included in these expenses. 

Reviewing our options and having decided that to enable 

smartimes to continue. For 2007 smartimes will return to three 

issues. All our back issues will be made available from the download 

page of our website by the end of January 07’. By making our full list 

of issues available online, we will increase our annual subscription 

to £10. We still have a low percentage of readers paying the 

subscription. A password system is under review but this goes 

against the smartimes ethos. As such I would ask readers to honour 

the request for the subscription payment. Remember, as paid 

subscribers you are entitle to our monthly email newsletter as well 

as access to the on-line e-magazines. Just fill in the small form on 

the home page of the smartimes web site. 

Our special thanks go to all that have contributed to 

smartimes, either by way of articles or help with production and 

subscription this year. Please remember you our readers are more 

than important to us so, keep sending us your own stories and 

photos, however long or short the subject. If you run a local meet 

or have arranged your own event please send us the details for 

publication. You may even run a local/regional or national club 

overseas. Whatever your situation or location, if you have something 

to share with the world-wide smart community, smartimes and our 

readers want to hear from you. 

Stephen Goddard 

editor and publisher 

smartimes - the only independent smart car magazine 

The views and opinions published in smartimes magazine are not those of smartimes 

magazine ltd or its management. 

Articles are edited and published without condition or copyright restriction of the writer/ 

supplier. Submission and publication is not a contract between smartimes magazine ltd and 

the writer/supplier. Smartimes holds the copyright for all material published in smartimes 

magazine. 

www.clubsmartcar.ca 

Canadian smart owners club and forum 

www.smartenthusiast.com 

American smart owners club 

 

smartimes magazine

smart meetings and events 

MEETINGS 

Andover Smart meet. The Oak, Smannel, SP11 

6JJ, just outside Andover on the Newbury Road. First 

Tuesday of the month starting at 7-30pm 

Bristol 2nd Sunday of month at Griffin at Bridgeyate, 

From midday onwards 

Donington various Sundays at Donington GP Collection 

2pm onwards, 20th August. 

Essex Smarties -Second Tuesday in the month at ‘The 6 

Bells’, Main Road, Boreham, Nr.Chelmsford, Essex. CM3 3JE 

(just off the A12 at Boreham Interchange). Any time from 

around 8pm. www.essexsmarties.co.uk 

e-mail: julie@spottybadger.com 

The Herts and Beds Meet, first Thursday of every month 

at Baldock Services, on the A1(M) junction 10, from 7.00pm 

for details contact (John Porter) 07979 300122 or 

email john.porter@smartofhertford.co.uk 

Hull & East Yorkshire, meet at the Altisidora, Altisdora 

pub, Bishop Burton, from 8.30 pm onwards, 

every last Wednesday of the month. 

Kent - The Whaft, Cotton Lake, Galleons Boulevard, 

Crossways Business Park, Dartford, Kent DA2 6QE 

1st Tuesday of each month from 7.30pm 

Midlands - Bowling Green, Friary Road, Lichfield, 

WS13 6QJ Every week on a Wednesday, starts at 

8.30pm 

Northampton, Queen Elanor pub, Northampton 

first Sunday of each month - 7 pm 

Mansfield ‘The Snipe’ meet, at ‘The Snipe’ pub, on the 

A38, two minutes from J28 of the M1, near Mansfield 

Notts. Every third Wednesday evening, 6.30pm 

Milton Keynes area meeting - every other Monday night 

at the Caldecote Windmill just off the A5 southbound in 

Milton Keynes at 7:30pm. web site www.mksmarts.co.uk for 

map and directions on how to get there and dates for the 

next months meetings. 

The North West Smarties Mascrat Manor Pub, just off 

Junction 21 of the M6 Southbound/Northbound (sign posted 

Irlam A57) once a month - Dates are announced online, 

non-internet members contact us on 07854923172. 

NorthEast (Durham) meets are now bi-monthly at different 

venue’s. For details please email: nesmarts@gmail.com 

Northern Monkeys Manchester meet - every Thursday 

from 7.30pm. Robin Hood Swinton, at top of M60 Jcn 16 

(A666) slip road (west bound exit only). 

‘HHOGS’ Hoggs Lodge, Clanfield PO8 0QD, Portsmouth. 

Just off the A3. The last Thursday of the month from 

7:30 pm onwards. 

‘BASS’ Old Bell, Grazeley Green, Reading, Berkshire, 

RG7 1LS. 

The third Tuesday of the month from 7:30 pm onwards. 

Bucks and South Herts Meet (BASH) 

Chequers Inn, St Albans Road Redbourn Hertfordshire 

AL3 7AD Third Thursday of every month from 7:30pm 

Southampton ‘HHOGS’ The Forge, Main Rd, 

Otterbourne, Winchester, Hampshire SO21 2EE 

We meet on the second Thursday of the month from 7pm 

Sussex Meet the Red Lion Public House at Handcross 

RH17 6BP (Just off the M23) Every Third Monday of the 

month from 7:30 pm 

smarts of Shropshire (SOS) 

Horse Shoe Inn, Uckington on the B5061 between 

Shrewsbury and Wellington (Old A5). 3rd Tuesday of the 

month from 7:30pm. 

South West Smarties 

Check out http://www.swsmarties.com for meeting in 

the Bristol and the Devon/Cornwall areas. 

‘BASS’ Walton/Weybridge -The Weir, Barge walk, 

Walton-on-Thames. The first Wednesday of the month 

from 7:30 pm onwards. 

Wales - for details of Welsh meets 

email n.wilcock@talk21.com 

Buy your copy now! 

£15 with FREE p&p to UK addresses only. 

Postal charges to: Europe - £2.50 • Zone 1 & 2 - £4.00 

This is a Limited Edition, quality product that you 

will not find being produced anywhere else! 

A3, full colour on heavy weight paper, spiral bound across the 

top and posted in a white card envelope. 

Our calendar is full to the brim with fabulous 

photographs of you and your smarts, taken by 

Tom Crawford at meetings and events across the country. 

The calendars will be posted out in November in plenty of 

time for Christmas. 

Please make cheques payable to: 

Spotty Badger Productions 

1 Grouts Farm Cottage 

Kelvedon Road 

Tolleshunt D’Arcy 

Maldon 

Essex 

CM9 8EL 

For those who like to shop online 

a Paypal account has been set up 

for you to use. 

Please make your Paypal 

payment to: 

polkadotsmart@hotmail.com 

‘where smart people buy smart stuff’ 

www.parts4smarts.ca 

Exclusive 

North American distributor 

of Michalak accessories 

CityCarsR us 

More smiles per mile in a smart 

Choice of over 10 vehicles in stock 

fortwo prices from... £2,995 

roadster prices from...£7,995 

Servicing £45.00 per hour - Computer diagnostics equipment 

Full Range of Accessories 

We ONLY sell smart cars. 

Our stock changes weekly 

Ring us NOW for current availability 

Tel: 01794 367878 or 077 4017 4955 

smartimes magazine


Kath and Mo of Glasgow, Scotland sent us this 

photo of their forfor and fortwo in the snow. 

Cornwall smarts, Royal 

Cornwall show ground, 

9/7/06 

Tony Martin 

WAS IT A SMART IDEA? 

I KEEP asking myself if it was 

a smart idea, and when it 

started? You See we have a 

Smart Passion cabriolet 02 

silver & black with a K&N filter, 

Club air scoop and a Teddy copilot. 

It gives everyone a laugh, 

and tickles us pink! It began 

with my Mini At college in the 

60’s...no it began with the 

Daihatsu Move+...no it began 

With my retirement red Suzuki 

Cappuccino. You’ll see I like 

cars - quirky cars. 

I didn’t buy the Suzuki I couldn’t get out of it!! That’s the reason for the 

Move+, but couldn’t get an auto version so that eventually went, even 

with 3 cylinders. We went on holiday to Austria, and at the entrance to 

one hotel was a car dealer. In the small corner garden was an open top 

quirky car...translating the euros it was about £10k, and we all said “well 

what is it?” A pram, a joke, or a sensible cabriolet two-seater car?? It 

was the first MCC Smart we saw. The holiday finished, life returned to 

normal, and we forgot all about the tiny black car. 2001 came and son#1 

had finished Uni, and we were tired of him underfoot. ‘He needs a car to 

get him mobile, and used to being away,’ we said...But says son#2, ‘he 

doesn’t like cars.’ This was true, and gave us pause for thought. But he 

likes the quirky - you see there is something in genetics - and he’d seen 

a Pure Smart all in black. ‘A Bat-mobile,’ he thought. He got it in April ‘02, 

Smart #1. A very short time into that summer Smart of Lincoln hit upon 

the idea of the 1st. Smart Rally. A run up from Lincoln to Elsham Hall 

Country Park with as many Smarts as possible. Games, demos, comps. 

-a fun day out! To increase the numbers on the run they offered demo 

vehicles to half-a-dozen people who asked. I asked - I said to reticent 

son #1,’Come on, it’ll be fun!’ It was! A day of driving an open-topped 

quirky little car with no clutch ‘tiptronic’ or fully auto, air-con, heated 

seats and I was hooked! And that was before the Panama hated chap in 

the Brabus up rated cabriolet, who pulled across so I couldn’t get out and 

‘told’ me about the joys of driving a Smart on holidays in France. He also 

asked me how long I’d owned mine; how far? How fast, I’d been in mine? 

I just couldn’t tell him; could I? BUT the MCC Smart, how do you like it? 

A car for people who don’t like cars? Possibly. A fun car for people too 

stiff to get in a mini maybe. A car for all reasons - nearest thing to an 

old mini, a sports car, an open-top, a quirky funkysmart factor car with a 

599c.c. three cylinders...You bet! 

There’s another story or two, but that’s how it began. 

Richard Neale. 

Wilecoyote” FunkySmart Aviator 184 and co-pilot ted” 

I had my car painted to advertise my business, Spirit Interior Design. It was done 

through a member of Clubsmartcar.ca Eddy of Flying Tiger. There have been all sorts 

of comments on the car from a child who thought it was a toy car to a man who said 

it sucked!. I love it . 

Eileen 

The pics are of the Smart before I “owned” it officially - Ted & Flag were for ‘fancydress’; 

Other one shows organiser Mike [in 1st Rally special T-shirt]& another [not 

Panama hat man] looking at route past Humberside Airport. 

“Smart Street” Paris. Steve sent 

in this retouched photo, but I 

defy you to tell us which four of 

thesesmarts steve added. 

Steve Ilott 

Oakville, Ontario Canada 

I made a pair of 

nudge bars for 

my smart out of 

scrap metal , 

with materials, 

paints and fog 

lights, they 

cost me all told thirty 

pounds for the pair. 

tony martin 

 

smartimes magazine


“The Second Coming” by Steve Crosbie. 

Greetings once again from across the pond to 

Smartimes readers. My third “smart”icle is actually 

regarding my favourite topic, which is design. For 

those of you who read my first couple of attempts 

at wordplay, you will remember my troubles trying 

desperately to get a smart in the first place; and as 

of three weeks ago, I have sold my baby. My pride 

and joy. Yes dear readers, I left the smart fold. 

HOWEVER, it didn’t take long to rejoin the ranks of 

the enlightened, with the arrival of my new baby four 

short wonderful days ago. So, I sold my ‘05 pulse, 

black on black with the green interior, and rushed 

to get a new ‘06 pure cabriolet this time, and have 

joined the ranks of the few, who are already onto 

their second smart, in Canada. Why the rush? Well, 

according to most sources, our favourite little car is 

going to be remade to suit our American neighbours, 

with a slightly more aggressive and longer front end, 

different headlights, door handles that are going 

horizontal, perhaps even a slightly more generic 

interior, and a Mitsu gasoline engine. I felt I needed 

to stay with the Diesel and the funky, i.e. current design of the car as she is now, hence the need 

to get a Cabrio asap. And oh what a joy these last few days have been. Sunburned face and all! (I 

never thought about sunscreen, not having owned a convertible before, now I look like a Lobster) 

So now I am on to my second smart , loving every minute of it, I would say ‘you should see me with my top 

off‘, but that’s not a pretty sight really, more something you Brits might expect in Fangoria as opposed to 

Smartimes. Nothing much different design wise from ‘05 to ‘06, and my mods are slow and sure to begin 

with, little things that are more inexpensive and cosmetic rather than engine, i.e. costly-wise. I put a little 

silver antenna, oops, I mean aerial on it, some winter wheel covers to hide the ugly steelies in my humble 

opinion...a turbo badge on the rear, an aluminium (that’s a-loo-min-um to us, not al-you-min-eeum) look 

gas cap cover, oops again, the petrol thingy, rear brake light cover. Brabus shiny pedals and axle caps so it 

looks like I have a dual exhaust. Important changes like a stage 1 remap, new exhaust (when the first one 

needs changing), upgrading the crappy, oops, I mean rubbish stereo, and cool summer rims, perhaps the 

crossblade rims or the strikelines, they have a nice modern design to them. Important changes like that will 

happen over time and as budget allows. I am also looking right now at modding the lights back to Euro-spec 

and adding a power window controller. So, from a design point of view, not huge changes appearance wise, 

but enough to make my already unique car slightly more unique than others. 

Now, my pet peeve is the way most people have the same sort of generic taste in most things, a need to 

feel normal, like everyone else, and less individual. I figure it’s a need to blend in, to be a part of something, 

and not be outcast as someone who’s “different” Then there are guys like me, who only feel normal when 

I have something “different’’ from everyone else!! The watch you wear, the car you drive, the music that 

moves you, all of it screams to the world who you are, who you wish to be perceived as, what motivates you. 

I myself love design so much, I drive a smart for the looks. I didn’t buy it for environmental or fuel saving 

reasons. The design spoke volumes to me. I own 31 watches (including a smart watch and a few Swatch 

watches) one for every day of the month. Furniture from Italy (see previous smarticle for photos) and 

Scotland (Charles Rennie Mackintosh = Pure Dead Brilliant) My house (and smart car) have been featured 

on the boob tube, oops, I mean telly in a design-themed show, and everyone who knows me personally 

knows my modernistic tendencies. smarts are a modern car for an enlightened generation. And while some 

bought it for reasons different than mine, we are all in a unique vehicle without a doubt. The impetus for this 

Smarticle stemmed from a recent conversation I had about design with a friend, regarding the difference 

between the sexes. It is generally understood we men are visual creatures, attracted to the looks more 

than women who appreciate more the “inner beauty”, lets say. As the saying goes, Women need a reason to 

make love, men just need a place. But I digress...no woman I know ever wasted any energy contemplating a 

light switch. I ranted for 5 minutes on the topic before exhausting everyone’s interest. A plain toggle switch, 

a push button one, an “electric eye” version, computer controlled lighting, voice activated systems, there 

are remote controlled switches, ones where you push and hold to dim the lights up or down to create that 

special mood, ad infinitum...and that’s just me on a light switch!! 

Imagine me on a whole car, even if it is half the size of a normal one!! Let’s just say for most it’s not that 

important a deal to think about the design of everyday things, but for those like me who live for this stuff, 

and can spend an insane amount of time on something as seemingly inconspicuous as a switch, when it 

comes to Automotive design, smart rules! Now if only I could win the lottery and design the ultimate house, 

with a smart in the garage...as an aside, if this has made you think “hey, he’s right, absolutely everything 

we touch is designed by someone, so what makes us pick one item over another?” then for your visual side, 

your ocular sense, for pure eye candy may I suggest you google design cognescenti such as Karim Rashid, 

Philippe Starck, Marc Newson, Ron Arad, Ross Lovegrove, Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando, for an insight into cool 

design. It is riveting stuff and worth a look. Take the time to read how the smart got started (the Swatch 

tie-in), and open a world of design that you may have never thought about before. Who knows, a new hobby 

of collecting things could be in your future. Thanks for staying with this to the end, and I hope I made you 

think even just a little about the chair you’re sitting in right now as you read this, the watch on your wrist, 

the music in the background, the design changes on your smart , the telly you’re about to watch Corrie on, 

and welcome to my world. Drive safe, happy motoring. 

Warmest wishes from Canada 

Steve C. 

smartimes magazine

smart news 

Clever-end 

“TOOLBACK” 

The TOOLBACK has been 

developed together with 

SORTIMO INT. Leaders in 

manufacturing vans for 

mobile tradesmen and 

large corporate compaines. 

Website: www.sortimo. 

co.uk 

The smart TOOLBACK is 

perfect for cities where there 

is little space for vans and 

trucks or an economic solution 

is part of the requirement of 

the operator. 

The SORTIMO-distributors 

in GB will be providing this 

excellent solution. So we 

believe that the TOOLBACK 

will soon find its way onto the 

roads of Great Britain. 

Gerd Terwée 

Marketing and Sales 

Clever-Parts GmbH 

Innovative 

Fahrzeugkomponenten 

Benzstraße 1 

75446 Wiernsheim 

T: ++49 (0) 7044 - 90180-50 

F: ++49 (0) 7044 - 90180-55 

smart turns up 

the heat with new 

fortwo BRABUS 

edition red 

The colour red is synonymous with 

passion and power and the new smart 

fortwo BRABUS edition red is certain 

to get customers hot under the collar. 

Available as a coupé and a cabrio, 

this latest special edition from the iconic 

automotive brand is fitted with a 74 bhp 

BRABUS-tuned petrol engine. It is equipped 

with exclusive ‘intense red’ body panels and 

has a matching ‘intense red’ tridion, front 

spoiler, side skirt and door mirrors and 16” 

BRABUS Monoblock VI alloy wheels. 

In addition to its powerful engine 

and striking good looks, the fortwo BRABUS 

edition red comes with an impressive list 

of standard equipment, including softouch 

transmission, exclusive leather/Alcantara 

seats, dashboard and door trims with 

red contrast stitching, 3-spoke leather 

sports steering wheel with steering wheel 

gearshift paddles, air conditioning, front 

fog lights, cockpit clock and rev counter, 

BRABUS twin sports exhaust with heat 

shield, BRABUS aluminium pedals, gear 

knob and handbrake lever, BRABUS velour 

floor mats and audio package. 

Dermot Kelly, Managing Director, 

Mercedes Car Group said: “There’s never 

been a smart fortwo quite like it. This 

distinctive and exclusive special edition will 

appeal to customers who want to stand out 

from the crowd and enjoy the fun-packed 

performance that a BRABUS-tuned engine 

can offer.” 

smart turns up the heat with new 

fortwo BRABUS edition red…2 

Available now, on-the-road prices 

for the ‘red edition’ are: 

• fortwo coupé BRABUS edition red 

£13,865 otr 

• fortwo cabrio BRABUS edition red 

£15,610 otr 

Introducing the 

new credit card 

from smart 

smart, the iconic automotive manufacturer, 

is launching a new credit card in 

support of the brand, in association with 

DaimlerChrysler Financial Services and 

HBoS Card Services. 

The smart credit card made its debut 

at the London to Brighton smart run on Sunday 

24 September 2006: the largest annual gathering 

of smart owners and enthusiasts in the UK. 

Being true to the brand’s environmental 

ethos, smart has agreed a partnership with 

the Woodland Trust, whereby new cardholders 

can off-set their carbon emissions for one 

year, simply by using their credit card. Every 

cardholder who activates their card generates 

the planting of five new trees, offsetting the 

1091 kilograms of CO2 generated by a smart 

fortwo coupé pure during one year’s driving*. 

Sam Bridger, Head of Marketing for 

smart, said: “The smart credit card complements 

our customers’ commitment to the environment 

and I am delighted that the Woodland Trust 

has agreed to be our partner on this venture. 

We hope to plant over 5000 trees before the 

end of 2007 as a result of launching this unique 

initiative.” 

With CO2 emissions of 113g/km, the 

smart fortwo is one of the lowest CO2 emitting 

cars on British roads. 

Maintaining the “green” theme, the 

smart credit card is made from plastic PETG, 

which contains virtually no chlorine or other 

highly toxic chemicals that are contained in 

standard PVC credit cards. 

The new smart card will offer 0% pa on 

both balance transfers and purchases fixed for 

the first six months, free online Fraud Protection 

and an APR of 14.9% on the Platinum Card. 

Following the official launch at the 

London to Brighton run, the smart credit card 

has now been launched to over 60 smart 

retailers nationwide. Applications can also be 

made on www.smart.com/uk or by calling the 

freephone number 0808 000 8080. 

UK directory 

smart Customer Service Helpline 

0808 000 8080 

smart Retail Call Centre 

0870 027 0700 

smartmove assistance - breakdown cover 

UK: 0845 300 3161 

International: 0044 20 8603 9941 

smartstart 

Burystead Court, Caldecotte Lake Drive 

Caldecotte, Milton Keynes MK7 8ND 

smartstart is a trading name of DaimlerChrysler Services UK Ltd 

smart Motability Customer Helpline 

0845 6001662 

smart Retail Corporate Sales 

0870 8500 522 

smartstart Insurance: 08456 033 330 

smartstart Finance: 0808 000 8080 

 

smartimes magazine

smart news 

smart forfun²: 

two iconic 

vehicles 

combined 

smart has developed a fortwo 

with monster ambitions. The 

forfun² has the body of a smart 

fortwo mounted on an allterrain 

Mercedes-Benz Unimog 

406 series. 

The Greek 4x4 Rally Champion, 

Stefan Attart, joined forces with 

Mercedes-Benz Greece, to design 

and develop this one-off vehicle. 

The engine and transmission are 

adopted from the Unimog and the 

vehicle has a six-cylinder diesel 

engine with a capacity of 5,675 cc 

delivering 84 bhp. By comparison, a 

fortwo diesel has a 41 bhp engine. 

The vital statistics of the forfun² 

include ground clearance of more 

than 2ft, eye popping tyres on 26 

inch rims, and a towering 12 ft 

height. 

Attart wanted maximum off-road 

mobility which makes the Unimog 

406 the perfect platform. He added 

oversized wheels, an aluminium 

safety cage, and his design team 

used special shock absorbers with 

manually controlled air suspension, 

which is an advantage on steep 

downhill slopes. 

The more traditional smart 

range is available from smart 

retailers, starting from £6,775 otr. 

Customers can find out more about 

smart by logging onto www.smart. 

com/uk or by calling the freephone 

number 0808 000 8080. 

The smart Choice for 

London Fashion Week 

The stylish smart fortwo was the choice of the fashionistas 

during London Fashion Week. 

Storm Model Management used the iconic cars to ferry their 

top international catwalk models to the designers’ shows. 

Top model agency, Storm, said: “The ultra-cool smart 

fortwo is the eco-chic car of choice for our top models during a 

frenetic week of catwalk shows in London.” 

Dermot Kelly, Managing Director Mercedes Car Group, said: 

“The fact that the smart fortwo is a continued choice of transport 

during Fashion Week shows that its popularity is as strong as ever. 

The car has always been a trend-setter in the design stakes and 

we’re delighted that Storm have made the smart choice.” 

smartimes magazine

smart news 

smart and 

UnitedAuto 

Group agree 

to General 

Distributor 

Agreement 

smart 

launch in the USA 

on schedule for 

early 2008 

Böblingen, Germany, November 2, 2006 – Ulrich 

Walker, president of smart, and Roger Penske, 

chairman of UnitedAuto Group (UAG), agreed 

on terms and conditions for bringing the smart 

fortwo to the United States. Both parties signed 

a General Distributor Agreement (GDA) just four 

months after it was announced smart would be 

coming to the USA. The GDA will regulate all 

future USA-based smart activities. 

After evaluating and defining all stages for 

distributing smart in the USA, the GDA was established 

to determine the detailed market introduction 

strategy. The GDA outlines the allocation of functions, 

market launch, sales activities, after sales, service 

and communications. 

The launch of the successor to the current 

smart fortwo in the USA, follows the success of the 

smart fortwo in Europe where more than 750,000 

vehicles have been sold. The increasing demand for 

affordable and fuel efficient small cars in the USA 

make it the right time for the launch of smart in the 

USA. 

“This is absolutely the right car in the right place at 

the right time. It embodies the unique combination 

of a lifestyle and design oriented vehicle that is 

ecologically appealing,” said Ulrich Walker, President 

of smart. “smart is uniquely designed, offers the 

lowest cost of ownership and is very fun to drive.” 

Additional attributes of the vehicle include an 

ingenious safety management system including the 

Tridion safety cell, (which forms the unique design 

of the car), Electronic Stability Program, ABS brakes 

and four airbags. 

“We are very excited to represent smart in the United 

States. The reaction to the announcement, made 

earlier this year, has been fantastic,” said Roger 

Penske, Chairman of UnitedAuto Group. “This is 

a vehicle that people gravitate to and it provides 

solutions to a variety of transportation issues that we 

face every day in the United States.” 

smart dealerships are expected to be announced 

in the second half of 2007. Dealers selected for 

smart stores must demonstrate a passion for the 

brand, commit to new and non-traditional dealership 

processes and have a proven record of outstanding 

customer satisfaction, as well as other criteria. 

Vehicles will be available in the USA in the first 

quarter of 2008. 

The new smart fortwo 

Dr. Dieter Zetsche, President of DaimlerChrysler 

“The concept of the smart fortwo is unique. The new smart is 

the evolutionary development of a cult car that is unrivalled 

worldwide. 

This unique car from DaimlerChrysler once again shows that 

a reduced size has a lot to do with intelligence and nothing to 

do with compromise. There is no compromise on comfort and 

agility, and certainly no compromise when it comes to safety 

and ecology because the high standards of the Mercedes Car 

Group also apply to the smart fortwo. 

We are convinced that the new smart fortwo will delight 

many, many people – not just because of its design and the 

form of mobility it offers, but also because of its unsurpassed 

economy.” 

Ulrich Walker, smart President 

“An excellent idea doesn’t need to be reinvented. The new 

smart fortwo is once again an unmistakable and likeable car 

that adopts the main features from its predecessor – comfort, 

agility, safety and ecology - and implements these even more 

consistently. 

The new smart is even smarter. No other car takes up less 

road space, no other car in this class comes with more safety 

features as standard, no other car in this segment maintains 

such a high value, no other car has a more economical 

diesel engine and no other car offers its occupants the 

pleasure of open top driving at such a low price.” 

About UnitedAuto 

United Auto Group, Inc., headquartered in Bloomfield 

Hills, Michigan, operates 319 retail automotive 

franchises, representing 41 different brands, and 

27 collision repair centers. UnitedAuto, which sells 

new and previously owned vehicles, finance and 

insurance products and replacement parts, and 

offers maintenance and repair services on all brands 

it represents, has 170 franchises in 20 states and 

Puerto Rico and 149 franchises located outside the 

United States, primarily in the United Kingdom and 

Germany. UnitedAuto is a member of the Fortune 500 

and Russell 1000 and has over 15,000 employees. 

10 smartimes magazine

smart news - new fortwo 

Concept and philosophy: 

Now even better 

The new smart fortwo is the logical further development of a 

car that attained cult status within a very short space of time 

and that set standards of comfort, agility, safety and ecology. In 

future, too, the smart fortwo will embody the brand’s core values 

of innovation, functionality and joie de vivre. 

And it will retain its unmistakable character: its striking one-box 

design, its compact dimensions, the two-colour and two-material 

concept with the striking tridion safety cell and the innovative 

and extremely practical plastic bodypanels. 

The city loves you. Even more. 

A smart is classless, it conveys a positive attitude to life. Its 

owner makes a statement: this is a well-informed person with a 

modern way of thinking and a sense of responsibility. The smart 

fortwo demonstrates the form that perfect urban mobility takes 

today. It is an automotive declaration of independence to the 

effect that this is all the car a person needs in the city. 

The previous smart fortwo was above all characterised by four 

main features: comfort, agility, safety and ecology. The new 

smart fortwo will continue all this in a further dimension. It 

remains a car for people with an individual lifestyle. 

No other car has a younger clientele. 85 percent of buyers are 

under 40. smart cars are driven by managers and mothers, sales 

reps and fathers. Apart from being extremely economical, lively 

and easy to drive, with its length of less than three metres the 

new fortwo is also unrivalled in the amount of space it needs on 

the road and in car parks. 

The new smart fortwo will continue the success of its predecessor 

that is now sold in 36 countries worldwide. More than 750,000 

smart fortwo have been built since 1998. 

The smart fortwo has become a familiar part of the roadscape 

in many cities and it is well-liked everywhere. From 2008 the 

compact two-seater will also delight many people in the USA and 

will convincingly convey the message: It’s not money that makes 

you rich. 

The specifications 

When designing the new smart fortwo, designers and developers 

took an in-depth look at the predecessor model and 

anchored a large number of improvements in the 451 specifications 

(the internal name for the new smart fortwo). 

The aim was to retain the uniqueness of this car - and at the 

same time to make the new smart fortwo even more comfortable, 

even more agile, even safer and even more ecological. 

Here are the most important specifications to be offered as 

standard or optional equipment: 

Design specifications 

l Retention of the characteristic design language 

l More expression, more independence, more masculine traits 

l The fortwo remains small and special 

l Likeable appearance 

l Conveying a youthful freshness 

l Retention of functions such as the tridion safety cell and the 

two-colour/two-material concept 

l More dynamic appearance, more coupé character at the rear 

Comfort specifications 

l 

l 

l 

l 

l 

l 

l 

l 

Longer wheelbase and wider track 

Longer length for more spaciousness and a larger luggage 

compartment 

Air conditioning with temperature control and greatly im 

proved performance 

Folding and reclinable passenger seat (single hand 

operation) 

fortwo cabrio: fully automatic soft top, can be operated at 

any driving speed 

Clearly arranged instruments, simple and intuitive operation 

User-friendly service lid on the front of the vehicle 

Lockable glove compartment 

Agility specifications 

l Engines with more power and torque 

l Larger capacity petrol engine, naturally aspirated engine 

and turbo version 

l Better driving performance, faster acceleration response 

l Increased electronically limited top speed of 145 km/h 

l Reengineering automated manual transmission, five gears 

instead of six, shorter shift delays 

l Wider standard tyres 155/60 R 15 at the front, 175/55 R 15 

at the rear 

l More direct steering 


11


Safety specifications 

l 

l 

l 

l 

l 

l 

l 

l 

l 

l 

tridion safety cell 

Four star EuroNCAP classification target 

Additional compliance with all US crash requirements 

Optimisation of passive safety 

Design of front to consider pedestrian protection 

requirements 

Lower vehicle centre of gravity 

New head/thorax side airbags 

Exterior temperature indicator with frost warning as a 

standard feature for all lines 

smart fortwo cabrio rear window made of safety glass and 

heated 

Panoramic roof made of extremely sturdy and breakageresistant 

polycarbonate 

Ecology specifications 

l 

l 

l 

l 

l 

l 

Further reduced consumption 

“Three litre” status for diesel variant, lowest consumption in 

its class 

Diesel particle filter (open system, closed system from 

2008) 

smart fortwo with starter generator 

Concept ready to accommodate alternative drives 

Exchangeable and recyclable bodypanels 

Evolutionary design: the evolution of an icon 

Should an icon like the smart fortwo undergo further 

development at all? The answer is “yes” – indeed, this is a 

must. For the new smart fortwo it was important to strike a 

balance between retaining the strengths of the previous model 

on the one hand and bringing in new ideas on the other hand. 

The past ten years have seen great changes to the terms of 

reference. The more than 750,000 smart fortwo customers 

influence the requirements for the successor model. However, 

so do new legal requirements, especially those for the American 

market. 

The brand, at its youthful age of eight, also stakes out clear 

terms of reference for the design. It was important to embody 

innovation, functionality and joie de vivre - the core values of 

the brand – in the second smart fortwo generation just as these 

were anchored in the first generation. 

The new smart fortwo has a more beefy appearance. The 

wheelbase has increased by 55 millimetres and the track width 

by eleven millimetres; the new smart fortwo appears wider 

and more athletic. This impression is underlined by the wider 

standard tyres (front: 155, rear 175), the additional air intake 

and the contrasting black bottom section of the bumper. 

Black moulding also runs under the whole width of the 

windscreen. This covers the wiper axes and ends in the left 

and right-hand mirror triangles. The side indicators have a low 

position on each wing side and also round off the swage line in 

the doors. 

Side View 

The new smart fortwo is longer, but it still has extremely 

compact dimensions. It is exactly 195 millimetres longer than 

the first generation. The front overhang is 72 millimetres 

longer, the wheelbase has increased by 55 millimetres and the 

rear overhang is 68 millimetres longer. 

The designers have succeeded in retaining the smart fortwo’s 

typical silhouette whilst giving the car a more masculine 

character. Clarity and modernity continue to play a decisive role 

in the shape of the vehicle. 

In addition to the somewhat slimmer tridion safety cell in the 

sill and door area, the horizontal door handle is a striking new 

feature. It has been rotated by 90 degrees compared with its 

predecessor. It cleverly takes up the shoulder line just below 

the window edge. This is now more pronounced and runs into 

the front wing and the headlight. 

The rear wing now also has a more pronounced contour. The 

rear window slopes a little more than before. This is firstly 

to keep the roof short and also to give the car a more sporty 

and elegant appearance. In order to comply with laws relating 

to pedestrian protection the front is now a little higher and 

steeper. The axes for the clap-hands-type aero-wipers are 

concealed. 

Rear view 

Front view 

The new smart fortwo has different eyes – projection 

headlamps. These are not only unique in this vehicle class, they 

also give the smart a face that is more technical and grown-up. 

In addition, the indicators are integrated in the headlights. 

The new smart fortwo is wider - by 43 millimetres to be 

precise. However, it appears considerably wider than this 

because the rear apron now runs straight through without an 

indent. The projecting handle of the tailgate also contributes to 

the wide effect. 

12 smartimes magazine 

Four instead of six rear lights now adorn the rear view of the 

smart fortwo. The rear light, brake light and indicator are 

located at the top. The bottom lights are housed in a circular 

reflector. Here, the rear fog light is located on the left-hand side 

and the reversing light on the right.

The rear window reaches across almost the whole width of the 

vehicle and is framed by two black glass-like panels. These 

replace the small quarter windows of the predecessor. 

smart fortwo cabrio: fully automatic opening and closing of the 

soft top at any speed 

What better way to enjoy “summer in the city” than in a 

smart fortwo cabrio? The open two-seater has enjoyed great 

popularity in many European cities for years, especially in 

Rome. It is an icon with cult character. 

The soft top can be opened and closed at any speed – a feature 

not offered by any other cabriolet manufacturer. In addition 

to this the new smart fortwo cabrio offers enhanced comfort: 

whereas the driver previously had to get out of the car to lock 

the soft top in its final position at the rear, this is now done fully 

automatically at the touch of a button. 

The heated glass rear window is a further new feature. It has a 

higher position than the previous PVC window and this greatly 

increases the loading volume when the soft top is folded down. 

As before, drivers of a smart fortwo cabrio can release the rear 

bow of the soft top and swing it up. The soft top snaps into 

place in a folded up position facilitating loading of the luggage 

compartment. 

For even more cabrio feeling, as with the previous version the 

roof bars can be removed by releasing a lever on the C-pillar 

and stored in a special compartment integrated in the tailgate. 

The soft top itself is made from a strong black polyacrylic 

fabric on the outside with a polyester/cotton mix on the inside 

and a layer of rubber in between. The roof spoiler made 

of black polyamide boasts an aerodynamic shape and also 

accommodates the third brake light. The soft top has been 

developed and produced by the roof specialist Edscha. 

The body structure of the smart fortwo cabrio shares 70 

percent of its panels with the coupé. The A-pillar has been 

strengthened in the windscreen area with an internal highstrength 

steel tube. The solid roll-over bar between the B- 

pillars is welded and bolted to the tridion safety cell. All these 

measures add just 15 kilograms to the weight of the car. 


The technical highlights of the new smart fortwo 

Comfort 

l Central locking with radio remote control 

l Panoramic roof made of polycarbonate 

l Clear glass headlights featuring projection technology 

l smart fortwo cabrio: fully electric soft top 

l smart fortwo cabrio: heated rear glass window 

l Air conditioning with temperature control (standard for 

passion) 

l Audio CD system with MP3 interface (optional) 

l Rain and light sensor (optional) 

l Automatic door locking when the vehicle is in motion 

Agility 

l State-of-the-art four-valve engines with variable valve 

control, 62 kW variant with turbo 

l More power and torque 

l New automated manual five-speed transmission with 

shorter shifting times 

l Shift paddles on steering wheel (standard for pulse, option 

for passion) 

l Electrically operated clutch 

l Electric power steering (optional) 

Safety 

l Optimised tridion safety cell 

l Optimised side protection with steel door structure 

esp (the only vehicle in this class to feature esp as standard 

in the basic version) 

l abs with electronic brake-force distribution 

l Brake assist 

l State-of-the-art restraint systems such as front and side 

airbags (option), belt tensioner and belt-force limiter 

l High-performance brakes 

l Safety seats with integral seat belts 

l New head/thorax side airbags (optional) 

Ecology 

l smart fortwo cdi consumes less than 3.5 litres under 

standard conditions (corresponds to 90 g CO2/km and 

“three litre” status) 

l smart fortwo cdi: only vehicle in this class to feature a 

particle filter as standard (in DE, IT, CH - open system, 

closed system from 2008) 

l petrol versions consume less than five litres per 100 km 

under standard conditions 

l smart fortwo with starter generator offers further fuel 

saving of up to 13 percent in city traffic 

l Requires minimum road space 

l Powder coating of tridion safety cell 

l Use of water-soluble, solvent-free paints 

l Solid colour bodypanels in the basic colours white, yellow 

and black 

l Instrument panel made of flax/plastic composite material 

l High recycling rate 


13


Comfort: The new smart 

fortwo has more to offer 

Comfort in a car has to do with more than just the seats 

(although the seats have been further improved in the new 

smart fortwo). Enjoyable motoring largely depends on whether 

a car is fun to drive. 

The smart fortwo is fun to drive! 

The smart fortwo has always offered lots of driving pleasure 

and the new smart fortwo will be even more fun to drive. 

Firstly, because the smart fortwo is something special and 

stands out from the crowd, and last but not least because it 

offers lots of driving fun. 

Even longer objects can be easily transported: a lever on the 

inside of the passenger seat both reclines the backrest and 

enables it to be folded forward to a horizontal position. A pull 

ring under the front of seat enables fore/aft adjustment (230 

millimetres). 

Instrument panel 

The new smart fortwo no longer has a curved S-shaped 

instrument panel. The main reason for the departure from this 

is to increase occupant safety. The asymmetrical shape of the 

previous instrument panel could have a negative effect on a 

passenger not wearing a seat belt in the event of a crash. 

Apart from this, the vehicle concept is highly practical - 

especially for people who live in cities or urban areas. Because 

on most journeys a car carries just a single occupant, and 

because people make faster progress through the city in a 

smart fortwo. And because they don’t have to search for a 

parking space, they find one right away. 

Much longer maintenance intervals 

smart fortwo drivers do not only want to spare the 

environment, they also want to spare their wallets. In addition 

to the low consumption, low running costs and considerably 

longer maintenance intervals for the new smart fortwo 

contribute to this. 

For example, the 52 kW variant now only needs to be 

inspected every two years or every 40,000 kilometres. In the 

meantime, an oil change is all that is needed. The “oil service 

plus” is recommended - a brief vehicle check instead of a full 

inspection. 

Space 

The new automated manual five-speed transmission, the 

longer wheelbase and the wider track provide for additional 

driving comfort. But that’s not all – comfort also includes the 

feeling of spaciousness. The smart fortwo offers spaciousness 

comparable with a standard-size saloon. 

Customers who took a seat in the predecessor model for the 

first time were surprised how easy it is to get in and out and 

just how spacious the small car is inside. Even tall people do 

not feel cramped. 

The passenger seat is positioned 15 centimetres further back 

than the driver’s seat to give the passengers optimum shoulder 

room. The passengers now have an extra three centimetres 

of elbow and shoulder 

room compared with the 

predecessor model. 

Seats 

The safety seats with 

integral seat belts have 

undergone considerable 

further improvement 

compared with the previous 

model and have been 

given a different look. The 

sides are well contoured 

and offer pleasant lateral 

support. The upholstery 

has a silk-matt sheen and 

an even higher quality feel. 

Leather trim is available as 

an option. 

The new instrument panel runs straight and is framed by two 

bows on the left and right-hand sides that represent a visual 

continuation of the structure of the tridion safety cell and 

support the upper and lower wings of the instrument panel. 

The lower wing also serves as a knee pad that offers knee 

protection in the event of a crash. 

This also has great advantages in terms of comfort as the 

changed shape of the instrument panel offers improved 

ergonomics and greater clarity. 

The feeling of spaciousness is also increased: the suspended 

arrangement of the instrument panel conveys lightness and 

makes the interior of the new smart fortwo just as unique as 

that of the previous model. 

The added elements such as the external-mounted air vents 

(that are now cylindrical rather than spherical) and the rev 

counter and clock on the dashboard (standard for pulse) have 

been retained. 

The driver can see the centrally positioned speedometer 

through the two-spoke or sporty three-spoke steering wheel. 

The large display shows the fuel level (left), the gear engaged, 

the coolant temperature (right) and the odometer. The daily 

mileage is shown below this and the driver can switch between 

the trip recorder and the exterior temperature indicator at the 

touch of a button. LEDs are now used for the indicator lights. 

Operation 

The control unit for heating, air conditioning and ventilation has 

a central, ergonomic position at the top of the centre console 

and is framed by two further air vents. Slide controls regulate 

the fan levels (1-4) and the temperature (18-26 degrees 

Celsius) of the air conditioning (a standard feature for passion). 

A control that can be rotated by 360 degrees distributes the air 

to where it is needed. The air flow rate has also been greatly 

improved in the new smart fortwo with a 20 percent increase 

compared with the predecessor. 


The large audio unit is located below the heating and air 

conditioning controls. Customers have a choice of a CD radio or 

a CD radio with a CD changer for six CDs. Large buttons and a 

clear layout provide for simple operation. In addition, a sound 

system with a subwoofer and MP3 connection is available. 

The designers used the central space on the lower wing of the 

instrument panel for further ergonomically positioned control 

buttons, for example for the seat heating, front fog lamps and 

central locking. 

the battery in the key ever be empty, the driver’s door can also 

be opened mechanically in an emergency. 

Panoramic roof 


In the pulse and passion equipment lines the new smart 

fortwo comes with a very light yet high-strength transparent 

polycarbonate roof. This covers an area of 1.1 square metres, 

half of which is transparent. The roof module is produced by 

Webasto and bonded to the tridion safety cell. 

Like the predecessor model, the new smart does not have 

a continuous centre console reaching from the floor to the 

instrument panel. This adds to the airy atmosphere as the 

driver and passenger are not visually separated. 

The ergonomically shaped gear knob, the two steering column 

control stalks and the interior mirror have been adopted from 

the predecessor model. smart drivers will also be familiar with 

the location of the ignition lock behind the shift lever. 

Luggage compartment 

The previous smart fortwo had room for six drinks crates. 

These also fit into the new smart - but that’s not all as the 

luggage compartment capacity has increased from 150 to 220 

litres (in accordance with VDA). 

Customers who want to load their car to the roof even have 340 

litres of space available. So lack of luggage space is no reason 

not to take that weekend trip! Four folding plastic boxes for 

supermarket shopping also fit comfortably behind the seats. 

The level loading space is particularly user-friendly with no 

edges to get in the way of the level surface. The folding rear 

door is a further advantage and this can be used as a surface to 

put things on. 

Furthermore, the twin-section tailgate requires very little 

space to open in tight parking spaces. Longer objects can 

also be transported in the new smart fortwo by simply folding 

the backrest of the passenger seat forwards into a horizontal 

position. 

Storage compartments 

The passenger can use a spacious storage recess in the 

instrument panel. Alternatively, special detachable bags are 

available for the storage recesses. 

A lockable glove compartment can be ordered as an option 

(available for the first time in a smart fortwo by customer 

demand). 

The developers were able to make the best possible use of the 

bottom section of the tailgate. Drivers of a smart fortwo cabrio 

know that the roof bars can be stored here. However, this 

space was not previously used for the coupé. A lid now opens to 

reveal 8 litres of additional space (for pulse and passion) that is 

perfect for storing all kinds of odds and ends. 

Practical details 

The extremely strong and breakage-resistant polycarbonate 

has a scratch-resistant exterior and interior coating which 

also gives the roof a slight tint. 60 percent of the sun’s 

energy is reflected and 100 percent of UV rays are kept out. 

A black sunblind made of polyester that is very easy to move 

backwards and forwards offers additional sun protection if 

required. 

Extensive range of standard equipment 

Exterior 

l H7 projection headlamps 

l Third brake light 

l White side indicators 

Functional/electrical equipment 

l Automated manual five-speed transmission 

l Instrument cluster with multifunctional display 

l Digital gear display with gear recommendation 

l Exterior temperature indicator with frost warning 

l Indicators with lanechanger function 

l Windscreen wipers with interval wiping and wipe/wash function 

l Heated rear window 

l Tank cap lock integrated in the central locking 

l 12 Volt socket in centre console 

l Central locking with radio remote control and immobiliser 

l Diesel particle filter (open system, closed system from 2008) 

l Electric soft top (smart fortwo cabrio) 

Interior 

l Passenger seat can be fully folded forwards (single hand operation) 

l Storage compartment on passenger side, next to steering 

wheel and in the doors 

l Coin holder (smart fortwo coupé) 

l Mirror in driver’s sun visor 

The designers have also put a lot of thought into how customers 

can best carry out simple servicing work for themselves, for 

example refilling the windscreen washer fluid. Two levers in 

the grille release the front lid which can be secured with two 

holders in front of the bumper. The washer fluid, light bulbs, 

coolant and brake fluid are then easily accessible. 

The rear window of the smart fortwo coupé (like the cabrio’s 

flap) can now be opened with an electric push button switch 

located in the handle recess above the licence plate. This then 

also allows remote unlocking using the key. The push button 

switch just needs to be pressed for approx. 1.5 seconds. Should 

Safety 

l tridion safety cell 

l Crash-absorbing elements at front and rear 

l Crash sensor to activate hazard warning lights 

l Full-size driver and passenger airbag 

l Safety seats with integral seat belts 

l Belt tensioner and belt-force limiter 

l drive lock, automatic door locking when the vehicle is in 

motion 

l esp 

l abs with electronic brake-force distribution 

l Hydraulic brake assist 


15


pure equipment line 

The pure entry-level variant comes with everything that makes a smart a 

smart. The exterior of the pure is characterised by a black grooved plastic 

roof and steel rims. It comes with a black tridion safety cell. 

In the interior different surfaces and colours largely distinguish the 

basic version from the sporty pulse and the elegant and extensively 

equipped passion. 

The lower part of the instrument panel (knee pad) and the door trim 

are made of grained black plastic. The two-spoke steering wheel is a 

further feature of the pure, as are its mechanical window winders. 

Agility: Even more power 

Petrol engines: more power and torque 

State-of-the-art compact three-cylinder engines are installed at 

the rear of new smart fortwo. For the petrol engines, the engine 

capacity has been increased from 0.7 to 1.0 litres. There are two 

naturally aspirated engine versions to choose from, delivering 

45 or 52 kW (61 / 71 bhp) respectively, and a turbo engine rated 

pulse equipment line 

The name stands for sportiness. The pulse also features a black tridion 

safety cell, however this is optionally available in silver. Its six-spoke alloy 

wheels with wide tyres (175/55 R 15 at front, 195/50 R 15 at rear) give it 

a beefy appearance. 

The interior of the pulse features an upholstery colour exclusively 

available for this model and matching fabric elements for the instrument 

panel, knee pads and door trim that create a pleasant homely atmosphere. 

A glance upwards reveals the sky through a new transparent roof made of 

polycarbonate. A black blind provides sun protection. 

The sporty character is emphasised by the rev counter and clock 

and a three-spoke steering wheel including steering wheel gearshift. 

Further standard features include electric windows, front fog lights and 

an additional storage compartment in the tailgate. 

passion equipment line 

The elegant and extensively equipped passion can always be identified by 

its silver tridion cell. The door mirrors and radiator grille are also painted 

silver. Further features include a panoramic roof made of polycarbonate 

and twelve-spoke alloy wheels (front tyres 155/65 R 15, rear tyres 175/60 

R 15). 

Like the pulse, the fabric elements on the instrument panel, knee pad 

and door trim match the colour of the upholstery. Three different colours 

with a special fabric design are available. 

Further standard equipment includes air conditioning with temperature 

control, a leather steering wheel, the automatic softouch gear programme 

and the panoramic glass roof made of polycarbonate. 

Like the pulse, the passion features electric windows and an additional 

compartment in the tailgate, and also a luggage compartment cover 

including a net bag. 

Options 

l tridion safety cell in silver (option for pulse, standard for passion) 

l Transparent polycarbonate roof with sunblind (option for pure, standard for 

pulse and passion) 

l Heated leather seats (option for pulse and passion) 

l Lockable glove compartment 

l Luggage compartment cover including net (standard for passion) 

l Smoker’s kit 

l Three-spoke leather steering wheel with steering wheel gearshift incl. leather 

gear knob (standard for pulse, option for passion) 

l Comfort/light package (electrically adjustable and heated door mirrors, rain and 

light sensor, coming home function) 

l softouch five-speed transmission with automatic function (option for pure and 

pulse, standard for passion) 

l Electric power steering 

l Air conditioning with automatic temperature control incl. combined filter (option 

for pure and pulse, standard for passion) 

l Electric windows with comfort function (option for pure) 

l Electrically adjustable and heated door mirrors 

l Heated seats 

l Front fog lights (option for pure and passion, standard for pulse) 

l Anti-theft alarm system 

l Audio package: smart radio 9 (RDS radio CD, two loudspeakers), smart sound 

system (two tweeters, two mid-range speakers, subwoofer, smart MP3 

interface) 

l Provision for radio installation (incl. road aerial and two loudspeakers) 

l smart radio 9 (RDS radio CD, two loudspeakers) 

l smart radio 10 (RDS radio with CD changer for 6 CDs, MP3 compatible, incl. two 

loudspeakers) 

l smart sound system 

l Portable smart navigation system 

l Head/thorax side airbag 

l Breakdown kit 

l Isofix child seat fastener incl. manual airbag deactivation 

l Nine-spoke 15 inch alloy wheels, 155/65 R 15 at front, 175/60 R 15 at rear 

(option for pure and passion) 

The colours 

The new smart fortwo also features the two-colour concept typical of 

smart. In addition to the tridion safety cell that is available in black or 

silver, bodypanels are available in six colours. The basic colours are 

black, yellow and white. The metallic colours blue, red and silver are 

available subject to an additional charge. 

at 62 kW (84 bhp). In addition to the increase in power, the 

maximum speed has also been increased – to 145 km/h. 

The all-aluminium engine was developed in cooperation with 

Mitsubishi, and is produced in Japan. It has been further 

developed for use in the new smart fortwo. 

The engine is mounted transversally in front of the rear 

axle, and is slanted at an angle of 45 degrees towards the rear. 

The cylinder barrels take the form of grey cast iron liners. Gas 

exchange is controlled by four valves per combustion chamber. 

The valves are controlled by separate intake and exhaust 

camshafts, via bucket tappets. 

To allow high torque to be developed even at low engine 

speeds, the intake camshafts can be twisted electrohydraulically 

against the exhaust camshafts (variable valve control). The 

camshafts are driven via a maintenance-free timing chain. 

Because the masses being moved are low, there is no 

need for a balancer shaft – which would reduce the output of 

the engine. However, in the turbo version there is a torsional 

vibration damper on the crankshaft. 

The maximum charge pressure is 0.5 bar, with control taking 

place via a wastegate valve in the turbocharger. To ensure a long 

service life, the charger is fitted with a water cooling system, 

while the charge air cooler is based on air/air technology and is 

located behind the transmission. 

Both petrol engines comply with exhaust gas standard Euro 

4. The naturally aspirated engine’s compression ratio is 11.5:1, 

while in the turbo engine it is 10:1. They offer torques of 92 and 

120 Nm. The three-cylinder engine is one of the most economical 

engines in its segment. The naturally aspirated engine as well as 

the turbo version consume less than five litres over 100 km. 

Diesel: at present there is no more economical way to drive 

The highly-focused reengineering of the engine has resulted in a 

performance increase of ten percent, and the engine now has an 

output of 33 kW (45 bhp). In terms of emission levels, it complies 

with Euro 4. 

The new smart fortwo cdi achieves the coveted “threelitre 

car” status. It emits just 90 grams of carbon dioxide per 

kilometre, meaning it consumes less than 3.5 litres of fuel per 

100 km. At present there is no more economical car than the 

smart fortwo cdi. 

Its diesel particle filter (open system), which stops more than 

40 percent of soot emissions, is unique in its segment. As of 2008, 

the smart fortwo cdi will be available with a closed system. 

The new automated manual transmission: change gears 

without the need for a clutch. 

In future, smart fortwo drivers will benefit from a newlydeveloped 

transmission that they will get used to straight away. 

Instead of the previous six gears, the transmission produced by 



This improves the driving dynamics and reduces the likelihood 

of pitching and rolling. The very perceptible result is that the 

new smart is more agile, sportier – and at the same time more 

comfortable. 

Front axle 

At the front, a classic McPherson construction has been used. 

The damper strut is directly hinged to the wishbone, to ensure 

far better responsiveness. The diameter of the stabiliser is 18.5 

millimetres, and it very effectively prevents the vehicle body 

from rolling in bends. At the factory, tyres of size 155/60 R 15 

are fitted to 4.5 inch rims with a wheel offset of 23.5 millimetres. 

The pulse equipment variant comes with tyres of size 175/55 R 

15 (front) and 195/50 R 15 (rear). 

the specialist Getrag now has five gears, and offers considerable 

advantages in terms of comfort, fuel consumption and agility. 

In the new smart fortwo there is once again no clutch pedal, 

as this task is performed by an electric motor. If the shift lever on 

the centre console is briefly tapped forwards, the transmission 

will switch up a gear, and if it is drawn back, down a gear. Steering 

wheel gearshift allowing the gears can be changed by means of 

paddles on the steering wheel is available as an option (standard 

for pulse). 

To the right of the manual level, marked with a plus and 

minus sign, is the neutral position, N. Reverse gear is engaged 

by pulling the shift lever backwards from this position. 

The smart fortwo passion comes with the automated gear 

programme (softouch) as standard (optional for pure and pulse). 

It can be recognised by a small button on the shift lever. 

When this is pressed down, the transmission switches 

over from manual gear shifting (softip) to the automatic gear 

programme. It’s the ideal solution for use in stop-and-go traffic. 

As soon as the driver moves the shift lever manually, the system 

returns to manual gear-changing mode. 

The developers have also greatly improved the shift delays. 

Shift delays have been reduced by more than half compared 

to the previous model. This is particularly beneficial when the 

driver wants to shift down two gears at once. This, coupled with 

the considerably increased torque, makes for even greater ride 

comfort. 

To improve ride comfort even more, the transmission has a 

kickdown function. This allows the driver to use the accelerator 

pedal to shift down two gears at once, in both manual and 

automatic mode. Incorrect gear changing and overrevving are 

impossible, because the electronics will only accept reasonable 

gear changes. 

Rear axle 

The tried-and-tested DeDion construction has been kept. The 

position of the central mount has been changed (moved higher), 

which has had a positive effect on the manoeuvrability of the 

fortwo. The springs are now further out than in the previous 

model, thereby supporting the vehicle body even more effectively 

against rolling. The size of the tyres on the rear axle in the basic 

version is 175/55 R 15 on 5.5 inch rims with a wheel offset of 22 

millimetres. 

Steering 

The smart fortwo has rack-and-pinion steering. The transmission 

ratio is 22:1. Thus the steering is transmitted almost ten percent 

more directly than that of its predecessor. The turning circle is 

just 8.75 metres – a figure unmatched by any other small car. 

This makes manoeuvring extremely easy. It allows turning in 

places where any other car would have to shunt to and fro. And 

it’s just 3.5 turns of the wheel from stop to stop. 

Electric power steering is available for the smart at an extra 

charge. Its transmission ratio is just 21:1. It operates on a linear 

basis and gives the fortwo astonishingly agile handling. The 

electric boost power varies according to vehicle speed, steering 

angle and the amount of force applied to the steering wheel. The 

servo effect decreases noticeably as the vehicle’s speed goes up. 

The servo power really comes into its own during parking and 

manoeuvring around town. 

Wheels and tyres 

The basic tyres for the smart fortwo measure 155/60 R 15 at the 

front and 175/55 R 15 at the rear. In the case of the pure they 

are fitted to steel rims, while for the passion they are mounted 

on aluminium rims. The pulse is the sporty exception to the rule. 

It zips along on alloy wheels with tyres measuring 175/55 R 15 at 

the front and 195/50 R 15 at the rear. 

Brakes 

Because the electronically limited maximum speed has been 

increased, the smart fortwo’s brakes have grown as well. Disc 

brakes are fitted at the front, while drum brakes are fitted at 

the rear. The electronic stability programme esp with integrated 

abs and electronic brake-force distribution are included in the 

standard spec, as is a hydraulic brake booster. 

The fortwo is the only car in its class to come with brake 

assist. When it detects abrupt emergency braking, brake assist 

automatically provides full brake pressure in order to ensure 

optimum deceleration. It offers a helping hand in those situations 

where the driver has pressed the brake pedal quickly, but not 

firmly enough. 

Longer wheelbase, more agility, more comfort 

The developers devoted a great deal of attention to the 

suspension. Their aim was to make the smart substantially more 

agile, yet at the same time more comfortable. Quite the technical 

balancing act. 

Their success in this area is reflected not least in the geometry 

of the new smart. The wheelbase has increased by 55, the front 

track widths by 11, and the rear track widths by 31 millimetres. 

Driving dynamics 

Thanks to extensive changes to its suspension, and its new 

geometry (wheelbase, track widths, pivot points), handling of 

the smart has been significantly improved. It is considerably 

more agile and responsive than its predecessor. However, 

despite the car’s more sporty design, no compromises are 

made on comfort. And longer journeys present no problem at 

all for the new smart fortwo. 


17


Safety: The new smart 

fortwo is even safer 

Body 

The smart fortwo has always been a car whose design people 

immediately associated with a high level of safety. It is a real 

trendsetter in terms of safety developments in small cars. And 

that applies to the new version too. The smart fortwo has been 

subjected to extensive tests to ensure that it complies with the 

tough standards of the Mercedes Car Group. 

These include not only the requirements of EuroNCAP, 

but also the (in some cases different) standards applicable in 

America. The little two-seater had to withstand, for example, 

front and side impacts as well as a rollover test and rear crash 

(80 km/h). 

The tridion safety cell protects its occupants like the hard 

shell around a nut. In addition, the metal housing is additionally 

reinforced at strategically important points with high-strength 

steel. This makes up more than 50 percent of the shell. 

The tridion safety cell’s longitudinal and transverse members 

activate the crumple zone of the other vehicle involved in the 

accident and distribute the impact energy evenly over the car’s 

body. And in case of a collision, the wheels also take on the 

function of crumple zones. When this happens, the front wheels 

are supported by the side members. 

esp 

After the seatbelt, esp – and not, as many people believe, the 

airbag – is lifesaver no. 2. Studies by German insurers have 

revealed that a quarter of all car accidents involving personal 

injuries and 40 percent of all fatal motor accidents could have 

been less severe with esp. 

In other words: every year, 37,000 accidents in which people 

are injured and 1,100 accidents involving fatalities in Germany 

could be prevented, or at least their severity reduced. But only 

58 percent of models available in Germany today come with esp 

as standard. And for one in every five, an electronic stability 

programme is not even available for an additional charge. 

Not so for the smart fortwo: the new model, too, offers esp 

as standard, whereas other manufacturers in this segment only 

offer it at an extra charge – if at all. 

If the car should ever start to lose control, esp will kick 

in within a matter of milliseconds. The electronics brake the 

individual wheels as necessary, and throttle the engine power. 

esp also includes an integrated hill start assist function. This 

prevents the vehicle from rolling backwards as it moves off on 

an uphill slope. 

The integrated hydraulic brake assist function also comes as 

standard. It automatically triggers controlled emergency braking 

as soon as the electronics register that the driver has pressed the 

brake pedal quickly, but not firmly enough. This can considerably 

reduce the car’s braking distance. 

abs 

The anti-lock braking system prevents the wheels from blocking during 

emergency braking. This reduces the braking distance, and allows the 

smart to remain steerable even in this emergency situation. Because it 

is a component of the esp, abs comes as standard in every version of the 

smart fortwo, and also features electronic brake-force distribution. 


Pedestrian protection 

The engineers also put plenty of thought into 

pedestrian protection. The front-end section 

is now 72 millimetres longer. The impact 

zone at the front is a little steeper and a few 

centimetres higher than that of the previous 

model. 

The axes of the windscreen wipers, which 

have a clap-hands design and come with soft aero wiper blades (unique 

in the small car segment), are in a concealed position. The service panel 

(front lid) is made from elastic plastic. The front spoiler is backed with 

foam five centimetres thick at impact height. 

The headlamp housing is a particularly important safety feature. 

Because its upper part is located in the potential head impact zone, but 

there is not enough room in the front section of the car for the module 

to be moved to another position, the developers have applied break 

points to allow the component to collapse in case of an impact in that 

area. 

Side protection 

Sitting approximately 200 millimetres higher than in a comparable 

small car usually means better protection in tricky situations. 

Thanks to the sandwich-type construction of the tridion safety cell, 

the passengers are usually somewhat above the direct danger zone 

in the event of a side impact. 

The smart’s wheels perform a safety function here as well. 

If the smart fortwo is hit from the side, its compact design is of 

considerable advantage. Thanks to the smart’s relatively short 

wheelbase of 1867 millimetres, the other car will almost always hit 

an axle, which can then absorb the impact energy. 

All interior trims have been optimised to prevent injuries to 

occupants – even those who may not be wearing a seatbelt. The side 

roof bars, for example, have been made even slimmer to provide 

more headroom. And the soft foam-backed lower instrument panel 

(kneepad) offers a great deal more protection for the passengers’ 

knees and lower legs. 

To comply with yet more stringent crash requirements and 

additional US standards, the door structure of the new smart fortwo 

is now made of steel, instead of the aluminium used previously. The 

doors for the coupé and cabrio are identical. High-strength sheet 

metal has been welded in at critical points. Overall the doors are 2.5 

kilos heavier than those of the previous fortwo. 

EuroNCAP 

The new smart fortwo has been designed to achieve four 

EuroNCAP stars - and this has been demonstrated in internal 

crash tests. The vehicle also fulfils all of the applicable American 

crash legislation. 

Airbags 

Every smart comes with a 

full-size airbag for driver and 

passenger as standard. The 

passenger airbag (volume: 130 

litres) is now located at the top of 

the instrument panel, to enable it 

to intercept passengers who are 

not perfectly in position in the car, 

or may even not be wearing a seatbelt. 

If a child seat has been fitted using an Isofix fastener (optional), 

the passenger airbag can be deactivated with the ignition key. The 

keyhole is situated on the right side of the instrument panel. A red light 

will appear on the roof frame next to the interior light as a warning that 

the airbag is deactivated. 

Also available as an option are new head/thorax side airbags, 

which are housed in the sides of the seat backrests. These protect both 

the upper body and the head. 

Belts 

Belt tensioners and belt-force limiters are standard features in the smart. 

In case of a frontal impact greater than a defined level of severity, the 

belt tensioners will reduce any slack in a matter of milliseconds. The 

belt force-limiter carefully releases more belt before too much pressure 

is exerted on the chest, allowing the occupants to participate in the 

deceleration.


Ecology: Even lower fuel 

consumption 

Production 

The smart fortwo is produced at “smartville” in Hambach, 

France. System partners on site deliver the prefabricated modules 

directly to the production line. The production process has 

been optimised to such an extent that the entire final assembly 

process, which previously only took 4.5 hours, now takes just 

3.5 hours. 

Environmental protection is a high priority in Hambach. For 

example, for the smart’s three basic colours – black, white and 

yellow – only water-soluble paints are used. Painting of the 

tridion safety cell takes the form of a powder-coating process. 

This removes the need for solvents. The bodypanels, with 

moulded-in colour, are fully recyclable. 

Parts of the underbody and the inner wheelhouses are produced 

entirely from recyclates. The instrument panel is made 

partly from the renewable raw material flax. 

Parking spaces/multi-storey car parks 

Though the new smart fortwo is 19.5 centimetres longer than 

its predecessor, it is still unbeatable in terms of the amount 

of parking space it requires. Where any other small car would 

have to pass on by, the smart fits in. No other car in its class 

takes up less space on the road. 

It’s even still possible to park perpendicular to the flow of traffic. 

No more than 2.50 metres of the car will ever project into 

the road, provided that the wheels are right up against the kerb 

so that part of the vehicle’s body (either at the front or back) 

extends over it. 

The lower levels of air pollution that the smart produces in town 

are also worth a mention. While drivers of other cars need to 

drive around at length, producing unnecessary emissions, until 

they find a suitable parking space, the driver of a smart fortwo 

can generally find a parking space straight away. 

Car park operators often offer special smart parking spaces, 

which would be too small for other cars, at a reduced price. 

smart fortwo cdi with “three-litre” status 

The smart fortwo is one of the most economical cars on the 

road today. The petrol version engines consume less than five 

litres per 100 kilometres. 

The diesel version, with its common-rail direct injection, remains 

unbeatable. Despite its slightly increased weight compared 

to that of its predecessor, the engine engineers have 

succeeded in reducing yet further the fuel consumption of this 

three-cylinder diesel engine. Its carbon dioxide (CO2) emission 

amounts to just 90 grams per kilometre, which corresponds to 

a fuel consumption of less than 3.5 litres. 

The petrol engines and the diesel engine all comply with 

exhaust gas standard Euro 4. Furthermore, a diesel particle 

filter (open system) is available for the smart fortwo cdi, which 

stops some 40 percent of soot emissions. As of 2008, the smart 

fortwo cdi will be available with a closed system. 

From the end of 2007, a version of the 52 kW petrol engine with 

a starter generator will be available. This allows fuel consumption 

in city traffic to be reduced by up to 13 percent. 

Ease of repair 

The new smart fortwo is again characterised by a sturdy tridion 

safety cell with an outer skin made from elastic plastic components 

(bodypanels). The smart comes away completely undamaged 

by small parking bumps, which for many other cars would 

immediately mean expensive repairs. 

The white, black or yellow panels are flexible and the colour is 

moulded-in, so scratches go virtually unnoticed. If the worst 

comes to the worst, they can simply be replaced quickly and 

inexpensively. There’s no need for repainting. 

Further protection against damage is provided by an aluminium 

support located transversally behind the bumper, and crash 

boxes, which absorb deformation energy and protect the vehicle 

body itself. The boxes are bolted on and can be replaced 

inexpensively if necessary. 

Stability of value 

After eight years on the market, the smart fortwo is one of the 

most value-stable cars there is - not just in its class. This is 

probably thanks to its cult status. 

The new smart fortwo looks well set to continue setting standards 

in terms of value stability: it is even more comfortable, 

even more agile, even safer and even more ecological than its 

predecessor. 


19


smart fortwo: Technical data 

smart fortwo cdi 

Engine 

Type 

diesel 

Number of 

cylinders/configuration three in-line 

Valves 

two per cylinder 

Capacity (cc) 799 

Bore x stroke (mm) 65.5 x 79 

Rated output (kW/bhp) 33/45 

Fuel delivery 

common-rail direct injection 

Power transmission 

Clutch 

Transmission 

Running gear 

Front axle 

Rear axle 

Brake system 

Steering 

Wheels and tyres front/rear 

single-plate dry clutch 

automated manual five-speed 

transmission 

wishbone, McPherson strut, antiroll 

bar 

DeDion rear axle, coil springs, 

telescopic shock absorbers 

electronic stability programme 

esp with hill start assist 

anti-lock braking system abs 

with electronic brake-force 

distribution, acceleration skid 

control, electronic brake assist 

dual-circuit brake system with 

tandem servo assistance, disc 

brakes at front, drum brakes at 

rear 

rack-and-pinion steering 

pure: 155/60R15 auf 4.5Jx15 

(front), 175/55R15 on 5.5Jx15 

(rear) 

pulse: 175/55R15 on 5Jx15 

(front), 195/50R15 on 6.5Jx15 

(rear) 

passion: 155/60R15 on 4.5Jx15 

(front), 175/55R15 on 5.5Jx15 

(rear) 

Dimensions and weights 

Wheelbase (mm) 1,867 

Track width front (mm) 1,283 

Track width rear (mm) 1,385 

Length (mm) 2,695 

Width (mm) 1,559 

Height (mm) 1,542 

Turning circle (m) 8.75 


capacity (l) 

220 to waist line / 340 to roof 

Weight without driver (kg) 780 (cabrio: 820) 

Payload (kg) 270 (cabrio: 230) 

Permissible total weight (kg) 1,050 

Fuel tank capacity/reserve (l) 33/5 

Performance 

Maximum speed (km/h) 135 

smart fortwo 45 kW 

Engine 

Type 

petrol engine 

Number of 


Valves 

four per cylinder 

Engine capacity (cc) 999 

Bore x stroke (mm) 72 x 81.8 


Max. torque /Nm) 89 

Fuel delivery 

electr. multipoint injection 


Clutch 

Transmission 

Running gear 

Front axle 

Rear axle 

Brake system 

Steering 




transmission 


bar 



Electronic stability programme 

esp with hill start assist anti-lock 

braking system abs with 

electronic brake-force 






rear 


155/60R15 on 4.5Jx15 (front), 

175/55R15 on 5.5Jx15 (rear) 










capacity (l) 






Performance 


Fuel consumption (l/100 km)/Euro-premium 

in acc. with NEDC 

Combined cycle < 5.0 

Emission class 

EU4 

Fuel consumption (l / 100 km) / diesel 


Combined < 3.5 


EU4 




Engine 

Type 

petrol engine 

Number of 


Valves 





Max. torque (Nm) 92 

Fuel delivery 



Engine 

Type petrol 

engine 

Number of 


Valves 





Max. torque (Nm) 121 

Fuel delivery 



Clutch 

Transmission 



transmission 


Clutch 

Transmission 



transmission 

Running gear 

Front axle 

Rear axle 

Brake system 

Steering 



bar 










tandem 

servo assistance, disc brakes at 

front, drum brakes at rear 


pure: 155/60R15 on 4.5Jx15 

(front), 175/55R15 on 5.5Jx15 

(rear) 

pulse: 175/55R15 on 5Jx15 

(front), 195/50R15 on 6.5Jx15 

(rear) 


(front), 175/55R15 on 5.5Jx15 

(rear) 










capacity (l) 






Performance 






EU4 

Running gear 

Front axle 

Rear axle 

Brake system 

Steering 



bar 












rear 


pulse: 175/55R15 on 5Jx15 

(front), 195/50R15 on 6.5Jx15 

(rear) 


(front), 175/55R15 on 5.5Jx15 

(rear) 










capacity (l) 






Performance 






EU4 


21

OZ 

Update 

Colin (DOC) 

Robinson 

Smartimes is please to welcome new OZ correspondent 

Colin (Doc) Robinson. Colin is not only a big smart 

enthusiast, he also runs his own motorbike club. We look 

forward to hearing what’s going on down under in Colin’s 

regular column. 

SMART CARS DOWN UNDER 

Spring is in the air here in Australia, and the smart 

car revolution is really yet to move into top gear, 

so come on Aussies “Get Smart” join in the fun, 

and jump aboard the band wagon that is sweeping 

Europe, and even now into the USA. 

Our family has four smart cars, my wife Lesley and I 

have a roadster, my son and daughter in law have a forfour, 

my daughter and her friend (might as well adopt him) have 

fortwo’s. We often travel the Highways together between 

the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast here in Queensland, 

and certainly turn some heads. The picture included is our 

latest trip through the Glasshouse Mountains to Beerwah, 

approximately 60 kms from Brisbane. It was an amazing 

day, several stops along the way to chat to various folks 

and even bumped into some friends Robyn and Warren 

Hamilton in their (LYR) Little Yellow Rocket roadster going 

the opposite way out for the weekend cruise. 

There is a “smart Car Cruise” being organised by 

our Local smart Centre, Mercedes Benz Of Brisbane in 

Fortitude Valley, the day is being coordinated by Tom 

Bebbington and Eric Bolivar, so if you are interested in 

being part of this huge day which will have Media coverage 

give Tom or Eric a call on (07) 3251 6666 or call in for 

a coffee; the folks down there are the friendliest in the 

business. 

If any other folks in Australia have pictures or other 

smart news please email me Colin (DOC) Robinson at 

medic1@bigpond.net.au or drop a line if you are passing 

through Brisbane, it’s always good to meet other smart 

owners. 

Lesley and I hope to really get smarts out there and 

we will do our best to keep you up to date with any “smart 

Happenings” from around Brisbane and Australia. 

So let’s get out there and spread the word. 

For those with a passion for dress up and 

performance 

Please also let us know of any smart Parts for dress up or 

performance, we have a contact here in Brisbane, Ernie 

Parry, soon to be “Smarts Down Under” … If it’s smart 

Performance parts or need something imported, or even a 

car Ernie is your man, very helpful, and a nice bloke in the 

bargain. 

smart cars, the rest is just Traffic… 

Col & Lesley Robinson…Brisbane Queensland... 


Justin and Edward are car enthusiasts and 

specifically smart car enthusiasts. smart 

cars have now been in Canada have for 

two fantastic years, and both Justin and 

Ed have been around from the beginning. 

Justin started his smart car career with 

smart Centre Mississauga ( 905 363-3322 

) in September 2004, and Edward joined 

the dealership network two months later. 

Working out of smart on Mavis Road in 

Mississauga, Ontario, they both believe they 

have been fortunate putting so many smart 

fortwo automobiles in Toronto and area 

driveways and car parks. Both amenable 

guys run the smart car division of the 

Mavis Mercedes and smart dealership and 

are the chief-cooks-and-bottle-washers of 

this growing, vital, number one smart car 

franchise in the country. Both men come 

from a car tuning background and see the 

smart fortwo model and smart brand as a 

tuners delight. “Its unique architecture, 

attention to detail and all out wow factor, 

make it a must for any buyer who wants 

to stand out from the crowd”, they both 

echo. Justin says that the buyers of smarts 

at his dealership are vast and varied. “We 

sell to students and CEOs and everyone in 

between”. What is unique about the smart 

buyer is that they are in fact unique and 

cannot be easily pigeon holed. 

Both Justin and Edward feel that it is 

important to provide an opportunity for their 

smart owners to meet up. In this regard, 

they recently hosted a successful event 

welcoming their enthusiastic customers 

on Sunday, October 1st. The meet this 

year was sponsored by conservation of 

Halton, and 48 fortwo cars and their owners 

gathered at Hilton Falls conservation area, in 

Milton, for a great day of chatting, BBQ lunch 

and door prizes. 

This event was a ‘thank-you’ from 

Justin Sookraj and Edward Garcia to their 

customers for making the past year their 

most successful yet. 

“We keep in touch with our customers, 

and it’s always great to have them all 

together like this. It’s a place to see the 

cars, the unique personalized touches they 

add, and the enthusiasm which makes them 

proud smart owners”, spouts Edward. 

Food and prizes were given to 

attendees, as well as admission for them to 

tour the trails of the park and see the falls. 

A good time was had by all, and the weather, 

which was forecasted to rain, even held out 

all day! 

If you are interested in smart, don’t 

hesitate to contact Justin and Edward, as 

they would love to meet and talk fortwos. 

They can be reached through smart Centre 

Mississauga, at 905 363 0385. 

smart Canadian EH? 

smart boys 

meet smart 

owners 

by James Gillam 


23

Bolderwood New Forest 9 th July 2006. 

Oh what a perfect day 

Back in June Georgie and I (Den, Spotty 

Smart) were at the Andover meet (The 

Oak at Smannel) and the whole group 

decided that it was time that someone 

should organise a meet (guess who lost 

the toss). We had been to Bolderwood, 

in the New Forest, Hampshire a couple of 

weeks previously and had noticed that, 

the picnic tables had metal plates fixed for 

disposable barbies and the Forest Rangers 

feed the deer at 2pm, so I thought this 

would be a great venue. Out came the 

diaries and we came up with the date of the 

Sunday 9th July (we got that a bit wrong at 

first but that’s another story). So, I came 

home and posted on smartmaniacs and 

thesmartclub sites, with just the location 

of Bolderwood in the New Forest, with no 

references as to exactly where it was, just 

to make it a little more fun, and to bring 

your own barbie, food and drink. 

On the Saturday evening the heavens opened 

and it rained hard all night; I didn’t think anyone 

would turn out in that sort of weather. It was 

grey and overcast as we made our way to 

Bolderwood, but the rain finally stopped and it 

was beginning to look a bit brighter, if just a bit 

windy. Flower Power (Sylvia) had followed us 

down and, when we arrived, Georgie and Sylvia 

started to unload our goodies and in a short 

space of time we were joined by Binxy and co. 

It was not long before there were quite a few 

cars gathering including members of the BASS 

group and the Bristol group, plus Stripy Nick all 

the way from South Wales - and as they arrived, 

thankfully, the weather was improving. 

As more smarts from the Kent and London 

areas arrived, to our amazement and pleasure, 

another car club passed through Bolderwood. 

The Morris club were venturing further into the 

forest for their own get-together and picnic. 

We all lit our barbies (all varieties, some 

disposable and some cheated by bringing gas) 

and in no time we were all eating. After the 

food almost everyone went to see the deer 

being fed. This was just a few metres across 

the track from our picnic area. Sylvia, an old 

hand at organising group events, had made up 

a couple of quizzes which everyone took part in, 

and prizes were presented to the winners. One 

of our group had brought along what can only be 

described as a ‘bomb’ (a low impact sponge toy) 

and great fun was had throwing it to each other 

around the clearing. 

Really what more can I say, other than a 

fantastic time was had by everyone. In all there 

were 31 cars, some 48 people, and I must admit 

I felt a little bit chuffed that the day went so 

well. 

Den “Spotty Smart” 

Photos courtesy of 

Nick Wilcock and Steve “Zippie” 


More photos on next page

Bolderwood New Forest 9 th July 2006. 

Above front: Den Grace. 

Behind: NavRog 


25

Bexhill Car Show 

Bexhill 100 Motoring Club - Classic and 

Custom Car Show 

Bexhill-on-Sea – August Bank Holiday 

Monday 

Unbeknown to a lot of people, Bexhill-on-Sea is not only famous 

as a seaside resort but the home to the very first automobile 

racing on British soil. In May 1902, the 8th Earl De La Warr 

colluded with the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland 

to organise this auspicious event. Straight sprint races were 

run from east to west against the clock, but cars also raced 

side by side in the opposite direction, similar to the start of 

Grand Prix races today. With more than 200 entries competing 

in that inaugural meeting, Bexhill saw an influx of thousands 

of spectators to witness these new fangled motor cars racing 

at speeds in excess of 50mph for the first time in Britain, when 

the speed limit of the day was an astonishing 12mph! 

The huge success of the meeting encouraged Earl De La 

Warr to make Bexhill the motoring centre for British racing 

drivers of the day. By 1906 plans were drawn up for a brand 

new racing circuit almost reaching Beachy Head, along with 

garages, restaurants and hotel accommodation. The circuit 

unfortunately never saw the light of day, and the motoring set 

moved to the new Brooklands circuit in 1907. A few attempts 

were made to resurrect the races and the last competition was 

held in 1925, after which the Royal Automobile Club withdrew 

permits on public highways. 

In 1990, four local motoring enthusiasts decided to celebrate this 

little known piece of motoring history and started “The Bexhill 

100 Classic and Custom Car Show” on the sea front, along the 

road where the motor racing was originally introduced. In May 

1995, Bexhill-on-Sea was finally recognised as the ‘Birthplace 

of British Motor Racing’, and road signs were erected at the 

entrances to Bexhill, along with obelisks that are appropriately 

placed along the sea front to indicate the start and finish lines 

of the infamous races run in 1902. The reformed Bexhill 100 

Car Show attracted thousands of spectators in previous years 

but it is now held at the Polgrove Sports Ground, and not the 

entire sea, front due to a lack of funds and rising costs. 

Bexhill’s other claim to fame is that it was also one of the first 

places smarts where imported privately in this country. Thus, 

you have Bexhill to blame for s2trash seeing a smart for the 

first time, getting obsessed by the marque and becoming the 

legendary pain in the rear he is today! 

Although not strictly classed as Classic cars, the 

smarts were invited when s2trash contacted the organisers 

to enquire if they would be interested in a group of them 

attending; particularly having a connection with Bexhill 

regarding it being one of the first places the cars were to be 

seen on our shores. 

A tentative post was made on the smart website forums to 

see if there were any folks who might be interested and within 

a few days, there were enough cars to go ahead and make 

plans. 

Bank Holiday Monday 

Confronted by rain was most disheartening. All of that hard 

graft car cleaning the previous day had been in vain. Feeling 

positive that the rain would desist before long, both s2trash 

and Miss P were ready and raring to go by 8am when Paul and 

Kate arrived. They had offered to apply their trade plates to 

s2trash’s car in order for it to be legally taken to the show. 

As the now, unavoidably soiled smarts arrived on the 

sea front, there were already some others that had arrived 

earlier and parked up with owners in the sea front café having 

breakfast. Brabusmatt Nosmallo, Bubski, Vicky, Binxyboo and 

her boyfriend Martin had all stayed overnight in a B&B. 

Still fretting that his car appeared less than pristine, s2trash’s 

demeanour brightened somewhat once he spotted t1ny.w roll 

up looking like he had taken his car ‘off road’ to get there. It 

was no exaggeration to say that he could have grown spuds on 

his rear wheel arches! 

Vicky had cleverly thought to bring with her a bucket 

and a magic gravity-feed hose with a brush on the end, which 

she kindly lent t1iny.w to clean his car. S2trash had also 

amazingly thought ahead, and went off in search of water with 

which to fill both his and t1iny.w’s buckets. Twenty minutes 

later carrying a bucket dry as a bone, he returned with a show 

marshal who was sure that there was a tap hidden in the hedge 

near to where the smarts were parked. On closer inspection 

the pipe work was there but the tap was non existent - the 

council having forgotten to install it for the event! Oops! 


After a few moments of head scratching, t1ny.w and s2trash came 

up with a cunning plan. 

They chatted up the barman in the sports club pavilion who 

consented to them filling their buckets in the men’s showers! 

Just as they finished washing the cars, the rain stopped and the 

sun came out. Talk about good timing! Miss Polkadot, who owns a 

genuine five foot smart flag, commandeered a new smart owner 

to hammer a stake into the ground so that she could erect the 

flag on a fifteen foot carbon carp pole in the middle of the parked 

smarts. It certainly added a little bit of prestige to the colourful 

group of cars. 

Just as a few folks got out their fold up chairs and picnic 

sets, another show marshal wandered over to question why the 

group was so far from the rest of the show. Explaining that they 

had only been following orders, they agreed to decamp, and at 

the risk of getting the cars dirty again, moved closer to the rest 

of the show. 

Later on in the afternoon, s2trash, Miss P and the other owners 

had the privilege of being introduced to the Mayor and Mayoress 

of Bexhill. The Mayor was interested to know if it would be possible 

for s2trash to arrange a much larger smart car event in Bexhill 

in the near future. It was apparent that the Mayor was rather 

taken with not just the cars but the group of owners too. Being 

an obvious car enthusiast, the Mayor was very keen to see as 

many smarts as possible gracing his seafront. Not one to miss an 

opportunity of promoting smarts whilst having a good time into 

the bargain, s2trash’s brain began to splutter into action and he 

spent several hours trying to formulate a plan. 

Organising as he does, the Bexhill Beach party event, s2trash had 

an idea to maybe combine the proposed meet on the seafront 

with that one and hold it over the August Bank Holiday weekend. 

This could be a great combination as it will be the 5th Beach Party 

meeting at Bexhill, the beach party would be held in a slightly 

more prestigious location, with an appearance at the Bexhill 100 

Car Show and the camping still at Cobb’s Farm. Watch this space 

for further details. 

Back at the car show, the weather turned in their favour 

with blue skies, fluffy clouds and sunshine, causing some to get 

mild sunburn. Visitors to the car show made a bee-line to see the 

smarts, encouraged by the numerous announcements made over 

the PA system by the show marshals. 

Despite the fickle weather some amazing classic and 

customed cars of all shapes sizes and ages had turned up, but 

the main topic of conversation was the smart invasion of 12 cars, 

the biggest single group of the same make of car appearing at the 

show. They certainly had made an impact. 

Bubski was unanimously volunteered to help judge ‘The 

Best Car in Show’ as they had a three-way tie. Armed with a ‘99’ 

ice cream he had just bought with his pocket money, he shuffled 

off muttering “Why me, man?” 

An announcement of apology was then made by the car show 

officials concerning the fact that the belly dancers that had been 

booked for the afternoon entertainment couldn’t make it. By 

way of a fill in, two members of the Bexhill 100 Club offered to 

demonstrate a Salsa routine, and an official pleaded for more 

people to join them, homing in the smart owners lounging around 

chilling out and looking cool. Suddenly, everyone switched on 

their invisibility cloaks and sank down as far as they could into 

their seats – everyone except t1ny.w… 

Across the PA system, for all to hear, one of the marshals had 

jokingly asked if there was a dancing smart among the group 

willing to join in. He had obviously not seen t1ny.w’s car in action 

with his newly installed hydraulics. Suddenly, the invisibility 

cloaks were thrown off and everyone’s fingers pointed at t1ny.w 

shouting “Yes, we really do have a dancing smart!” 

Blushing ever so slightly behind his cool dude shades, t1ny.w 

drove his car over to the main arena. Positioning the car beside 

the two dancers, t1ny.w performed his magic by remote control, 

making the car bump and grind to the sounds of Ricky Martin, and 

to rapturous applause of the growing audience. It was definitely 

one of those ‘you had to have been there’ moments, and one that 

will never be forgotten! 

Like all good things the day came to an end, and the 

little smarts were one of the last groups of cars to leave the 

showground, waving and tooting to those left behind. Each car 

was stopped at the exit gates upon leaving and presented with 

a complimentary commemorative plaque, which was a lovely 

gesture and touching memento of a great day out. 

Bexhill Car Show 

Written by Julie Saltmarsh 

Photography by Tom Crawford 

© Spotty Badger Productions 2006 


27

Smart Cars invade Woodward Detroit USA 

The Woodward Dream Cruise celebrates the 

heydays of the ‘50s and ‘60s, when Woodward 

Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, was the heart and 

soul of cruising in the city that put America on 

wheels. Combined with music and fashions of the 

era, the Dream Cruise celebrates the nostalgia 

of bygone days in the cars that made them so 

special. The Woodward Dream Cruise is sponsored 

by a volunteer committee that coordinates the 

efforts of the nine host cities. 

You are probably asking yourself why, in 

smartimes magazine is there an article about cars 

of the 50’s and 60’s and even more importantly 

muscle cars at that! Well my smart friends and smart 

enthusiasts, this year, the second in a row, smart cars 

from Canada decided it was time for a showdown. 

This weekend long, Dream Cruise started at 

Woodward Avenue where magnificent classic and 

custom automobiles could be heard seen and felt. It’s 

a 16-mile long car show that is educational, historic 

and fun for all ages. It is the world’s largest one-day 

celebration of car culture attracting over 1.9 million 

visitors this year and more than 40,000 muscle cars, 

street rods, custom, collector and special interest 

vehicles; and this year – a few brave smart cars! 

Surprisingly, this year our Canadian smarts were joined 

by some American smart cars – yes – America is finally 

getting “smart”. 

Battling wind and rain we arrived at the show 

on Saturday, August 20th, 2005, to begin ten full hours of 

cruising up and down legendary Woodward Avenue through 

the nine communities of Berkley, Birmingham, Bloomfield 

Hills, Bloomfield Township, Ferndale, Huntington Woods, 

Pleasant Ridge, Pontiac and Royal Oak. 

Media news coverage extended from the local to 

international organizations. Automotive specialty magazines 

such as Auto Week, Cars & Parts, Muscle Car Review, Super 

Chevy, Automobile and our very own Smartimes Magazine 

where there covering the hottest stories in town. 

smart owners had a lot of fun at this event and we 

hope to have even more participants next year … lots of fun 

comments made by everyone …. A few choice memories that can be repeated included; 

Ooo yikes, Dave and Pam aren’t back yet?!? Or are they sleeping now on that mattress that is 

twice the size of their tent? 

Okay, so maybe half an hour after we got across the border (First Question: 

“Woodward?” “How’d you guess? Have fun!” - never had a US custom guard so nice!!), 

I had to pee something fierce! So I radioed up to Glenn and we took a fatal exit.... in 

construction, with no on ramps in sight! I thought “Well I’ve got this handy GPS unit! So I’ll 

lead, and we will just ignore those pesky detour signs.” So we took a 20-minute tour of that 

particular region before ending up EXACTLY WHERE WE STARTED. Glenn took the lead after 

that. We started following the detour signs... and ended up right back under the bridge! 

All our smarts diving down the sidewalk - CLASSIC because it was right by the water and 

there were a hundred people there screaming and pointing, just confused beyond belief! I 

can’t imagine the reactions or conversations our debauchery was causing. We made quite the 

impression just in that little stunt alone! 

We finally did make it into Detroit, and scared the c..p out of Matt with some of the 

areas we drove through. You just know he was reaching for the lock shoehorn on the dash 

every 2 seconds to make sure. 

We stopped at a Tim Horton’s for like SEVEN HOURS where everyone cleaned and 

cleaned and cleaned. And cleaned and cleaned then it started to rain again. 

I think it stopped though once we reached the section of Woodward where people 

started lining the roads. It ... was ... CRAZY. Soooooo busy, we had two smarts per lane for a 

good chunk of the way just to stay together and tight 

Several people kept saying to me “...you really drive this? This is your car?” Some dude 

asked me what the mileage was, then said “....and it’s electric?” “Yes, it gets 75 miles per 

gallon of electrolyte.” 

I think the others were getting tired of it too,... I heard rumours that Jim up front was 

creeping up the “mileage” number and told someone he got 180 mpg and she believed him! 

We stopped at a very nice A+W classic drive in off the beaten path to eat. Very relaxing 

time there, we all parked in a cluster on the grass and sat around to relax. It was getting kind 

of late and we were all starting to feel really tired, so after that and maybe another half-hour 

or so of doing the gig we decided to head back 

Oh yeah - but getting back to the street was awesome, too - because we didn’t want to 

make a left onto Woodward (which would have been suicide), we went straight through, pulled 

a U-ie, then turned right. Seems simple, right? WELL NOT WHEN WE DON’T USE THE U-TURN 

LANE! We got up to the next intersection, and right as the first car Dave got through, it went 

amber. BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM 6 more smarts rapid firing pulling tighter and tighter radii 

ending with me, careening into oncoming traffic, pedestrians, honking and squealing, ESP 

barking.... ohhhhhh insanity!! 

Well it was one hell of a trip, enjoy the photos! 

By James Gillam 

Check out James latest kit action adventure series at 

www.jaxjanssen.com 


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Possibly the largest selection of used smart fortwo’s, 

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Full dealer facilities including 

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Call 01273 73 70 70 

or visit us at 

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South West area update 

South West smarties 

The amount of Smarts in the South 

West of the UK seems to keep 

growing, with more people 

attending the various meets 

and events across the region. 

In addition to the regular local 

events, in the last couple of 

months I have done well over 3000 miles, through 

Europe to the Austria event, up to the lake district 

for Smartzstock and on the London to Brighton run 

to name a few! 

We are continuing (at 

least until the end of the year) 

with the Gloucester meeting 

at ‘The Whittle Inn’ on the 

first Sunday of the month… 

December will be our Christmas 

meal here, so if you haven’t 

booked yet please get in touch 

with me now and I’ll try to get 

you in! 

The venue for the Bristol meeting (on the second 

Sunday every month) has been changed to the ‘Blue 

Bowl’ at West Harptree, where there will be a special 

Christmas meal, on the 10th December, probably 

followed by a trip out for a bowling contest, in the 

evening. At the time of writing this has to be confirmed, 

so please check first. 

Local independent Wellsmart are continuing to 

develop some interesting cars, their loan car having some 

unique paintwork and a few different engine mods, so 

you get to drive something interesting, while they are 

working on yours! They have also converted a RHD car to 

diesel power, which involves more work than you would 

think…but if you like the idea of 80+ mpg, give them a 

call. 

Stripey Nick is now organising a South Wales 

meet on a fairly regular basis (on the third Sunday of the 

month), and the Welsh smartie owners don’t mind visitors 

from England joining them! But please bring your own 

sheep! 

Devon meets have been held on the fourth 

Sunday, so there you go, if you are living in the area or 

just visiting, there is somewhere to go every weekend! 

Please check on www.swsmarties.co.uk for details on 

any of the above events. (Note the .com site is no longer 

operational) 

On a personal note, I would like to say thank 

you to Paul at Wellsmart, for sorting out a re-map for 

‘The Brit’ I had been using a sRu re-map since I bought 

the car, but after adding a larger turbo just over a year 

ago, I thought that the performance wasn’t right. On a 

borrowed x-gauge I timed acceleration 0 - 60 mph, 14.9 

seconds, which was better than standard but not brilliant. 

The first Wellsmart map installed improved the low speed 

response, and knocked a second off 0 – 60 time, but it 

seemed to struggle at higher speeds, so after returning 

from Austria, Paul experimented installing some different 

maps, we eventually settled on one for a Mk6 coupe on 

my Mk5, this has made such a difference, it feels like a 

totally different car! Pulling well from low speed, plus 

cruises easily at autobahn speeds, without using too 

much fuel, and the 0 – 60 time, current best (tested on 

the same piece of road as before) 11.9 seconds! So when 

the next person tells you all re-maps are pretty similar, 

don’t believe them and try different providers before you 

buy! 

Ian Dolpin, UK Southwest smartimes correspondent 

and member of SW smarties 


29

Have Smart will Travel 

By James Gillam and Robert and Beverly McBride 

Having operated supersmart for over a year now Adam 

Bedell and I have added many features and customizing 

options from parts4smarts and smartmovez, Michalak 

and smann to our once A and B service shop. Located 

in beautiful southern Ontario we have been fortunate to 

service smart fortwo cars and have meet many wonderful 

owners, from as far away as Toronto and Barry, to London, 

Kitchener and Guelph. Given that we are centrally located 

in the small burrow on Stoney Creek, bordering the half 

million population of Hamilton, has turned out to be an 

ideal location. We have seen customers come from St 

Catherine’s and Niagara Falls, Canada but we had one latesummer 

customer come to us from much further away. 

Through the wonder of the internet and email, I met up with a 

smart car enthusiast, Robert McBride from Virginia. Yes, that 

is a long ways away and a long way to come for your first smart 

service but … 

This tale stated with a conversation with Robert over the 

internet and then moved on to many telephone chats and, finally, 

meeting up in person with him and his lovely wife, Beverly. 

Robert says … “We had been interested in getting a smart 

car for the past few years and have watched the news around the 

possibility that they would be available in North America, perhaps 

the USA. We have an interest in micro cars and, being members 

of the Vintage micro-minicar club of America with our 1957 BMW 

Isetta, we got to see our first smart up close when a Canadian 

drove to the 2005 national microcar meet in Boston. We loved it!” 

Robert said that when Zap cars were approved for sale this 

past May, he and his wife immediately found the list of dealers. 

He told me that they called a few but quickly realized that there 

was a waiting list for the convertible smart fortwo. 

Not to be halted in the quest for a USA smart car, Robert 

called Ferennte motors in Pennsylvania. They had smart cars 

- coupes, but there was a waiting list of ten people. Bob and Bev 

wanted a cabrio model but were told, “wait list”. A short and 

surprising two weeks later, the phone rang. The dealership had a 

river silver cabrio with 8 miles on the odometer... SOLD! 

Robert and Bev eagerly planned to rent a car and drive up 

to pickup their soon to be pride and joy. It was an 8 hour drive 

from Norfolk Virginia and they arrived excited but exhausted 

at 2 am. They drove straight to the dealership. 

Looking through the windows of the well lit showroom 

they could see it ... their cabrio smart – river silver metallic, 

glinting on the high gloss flooring – it was so close but still out 

of reach. 

Getting almost no sleep at the motel Robert paced 

excitedly, Beverly ever patient … they waited till morning, ate 

breakfast and headed to the dealership to close the deal. 

Dropping off their rental car at the airport, they drove 

home on what Bev says was “the most beautiful drive thru 

the mountains”. Robert continues …”we started counting the 

number of thumbs up signals from other drivers...by the time 

we got home I think it was around 68 thumbs up!” 

Robert says that the smart has been nothing less that a 

joy to drive. He quickly became aware of Canadian smart sites 

and the wealth of knowledge that is available for the smart car 

owner and enthusiast. He jokingly says that, “it wasn’t long 

before I was turning over my paychecks to the various smart 

parts dealers, and people on German eBay selling aftermarket 

performance parts.” 

What has Robert done to his smart? The more 

appropriate question may be, what has Robert not done to his 

smart? 

Delipped the intake, adding the K&N filter package. Bob 

says that he immediately noticed the care breathed much 

easier. Next came a beautiful performance exhaust from 

Germany and a smann air scoop. He says his gas fueled smart 

fortwo seems to be faster and smoother thru the gears...He 

has since installed a set of the stainless intercooler pipes and 

noticed even more power and smoothness. 

Robert 

focused his 

attention to the 

exterior of his 

smart fitting the 

wide star fender 

package with 

16/17 Brabus 

wheels and 

Continued... 


upgraded rear shocks. 

”When they arrived on 

my doorstep,” he says, 

“I couldn’t wait to 

mount them”. At the 

same time he installed 

a Lorinser front air 

dam and upgraded 

the interior, with a 

full alloy setup on 

the vents and control 

knobs, with a tasteful 

wood dash kit from 

Germany. 

Beverly says that getting the smart car has even had an 

affect on vacation planning. With all the communications with 

the Canadian smarties and with supersmart located in Stoney 

Have Smart will Travel 

Creek, they decided to vacation in Niagara Falls. Robert and 

Bev enjoyed the camaraderie of other smart car owners from 

Canada and did buy some goodies from Mercedes/smart 

dealer - floor mats, and baseball caps. 

Robert and Beverly said they had a memorable trip and 

we are planning to take a spring vacation and head back to 

Ontario. They are going to plan their trip around Cleo and 

James, “Niagara Falls Wine Tour and smart Cruise” sponsored 

by supersmart. This past year this annual event saw 104 

smart cars signed up to attend. Supersmart, “Home of the 

Cruise”, is planning to have an even bigger event, more 

prizes, more events, more participants, more sponsors, more 

fun, more excitement more, more, more … for this coming 

springtime. 

If you live in the area or even if you don’t. Stay tuned 

to all the smart news and find out what Cleo, James and the 

smart enthusiasts have in store for this coming spring of 2007 

– it will be the best yet. 

We can count on one very enthusiastic couple coming 

from Virginia to the cruise, and certainly everyone who met 

up with Robert and Beverly are looking forward to rekindling 

friendships and creating new ones. 

James Gillam and Robert and Beverly McBride 

James Gillam is a published author and his new children’s series is a big hit in 

Canadian Schools …for more information go to www.jaxjanssen.com or write james@ 

jameshgillam.com 

SUPERSMART is owned by Adam Bedell and James Gillam. For further information 

on what supersmart can do for you call 905 923-0107 or visit www.supersmart.ca 

For further information on Cleo and James Annual “Niagara Falls Wine Tour and 

Smart Cruise keep an eye out at www.drivingsmart.com for upcoming information, 

news and events. 

BLINDSCHLEICHE 

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Diesel smart car 

NOW Available in Canada 

Visit our web site for full details 

www.BlindyCDI.com 


31

smartimes at smart times 06 

The morning of Friday August 25th, 2006, 

dawned clear and bright in Salzburg, and 

some of the thesmartclub party of 14 smarts 

decided to drive to the top of the Gaisburg, 

for the views over the City. We were due to 

leave for Zell am See at 12:30. The views 

across the river valley towards the Alps 

were breathtaking with the mountain tops 

appearing and disappearing in the clouds. 

Entertainment was provided by para gliders 

flinging themselves off the top. 

Having arrived in Salzburg the previous 

afternoon (where we were joined by Ernie and 

Shona), a little relaxation was welcome after the 

two-day drive across France and Germany. The 

first night of our holiday was in Dover and the 

second in Etlingen in Germany - what a contrast. 

Bright airy bedroom, a fantastic buffet supper, 

with the whole party of 25 sat around one big 

table, and breakfast in the atrium. That was 

Etlingen by the way. Our arrival at the Austrian 

border required a stop at the largest fuel 

station I’ve ever seen, to pick up the vignette, 

which allows travel on the Austrian motorways. 

Organised with thesmartclubs’s usual efficiency 

it was just a case of collecting the ‘ticket’ from Al 

Young. 

To say the journey was ‘exhausting’ would 

be to exaggerate - but the only car problems 

were with exhausts! One fortwo exhaust needed 

first aid in the form of a weld from the friendly 

Salzburg smart centre - now relocated to the 

airport - and a roadster which started out with a 

quad exit exhaust, was down to ‘bi’ exit. 

The journey from Salzburg to Zell passed 

uneventfully and, once off the motorway, was on 

a very pleasant road winding through a valley 

dotted with tunnels of varying length carved 

through solid rock. We all managed to arrive, 

more or less, together at the airfield where the 

event was based. This first visit was to book 

in and collect our ID tags, parking permits and 

information and safety pack (in German!), from 

the very large marquee used as the HQ; have a 

quick wander round, then go find the hotel. 

Back at the airfield that evening saw the 

official opening of the event, with speeches (in 

German) and a welcome to the people from 

each country represented. All except us Brits 

who were overlooked until Jeanette W ran over 

to the organisers and made her feelings known 

- which resulted in a great cheer when the error 

was corrected. The smartclub party was in the 

VIP section so we were treated to free drinks 

and some very nice ice cream. The celebrations 

continued at a bar in Zell but most of us got an 

early night, in preparation for the following day. 

In contrast to Friday, Saturday was grey 

with low cloud to start with but did brighten up 

a little. This was the day of the Grossglockner 

Alpine Road mountain tour. We arrived early at 

the airfield, to form up with the hundreds of other 

smarts from all over Europe, including Ian Dolphin 

and company who had travelled independently 

from the UK. It seemed like an age before we 

were finally let lose. The Grossglockner road is 

about 40 kilometres in length and climbs to a 

height of 3798m, with the Pasterzen glacier at 

the top. Passing through the villages on lower 

parts of the road, we were amazed and delighted 

to see villagers, young and old, waving, cheering 

and applauding as we passed. We were waved 

through at the toll barrier and started the serious 

climb. The views on this switchback road were 

obscured in places by layers of cloud and in fact 

at one point we drove through sleet. (We learned 


afterward that people ascending later on drove 

through snow!). However, we kept going to the 

top, albeit slowly at times, where we were directed 

into a ... multi storey car park! Yes, a multi store 

car park at 3798m. The glacier was actually below 

the cloud level and at one point some very watery 

sunshine glinted on the surface. After a traditional 

Austrian sausage (wurst) and fries lunch, it was time 

to return to the airfield for my second treat of the 

day. The descent was made mostly in sunshine with 

patchy cloud, which gave us the chance to see the 

engineering marvel that this road is; with hairpin 

bend followed by a hairpin bend then a curved bit 

then a hairpin bend followed by a hairpin bend then 

... you get the idea! 

Back at the airfield, I quickly made my way to 

an area set apart for testing, for my appointment 

with the smart Brabus biturbo! This six cylinder, 

twin turbo beast has been the source of much talk 

in the smart community, and now, for the modest 

sum of 3 euros - a donation to the Franz Klammer 

Foundation - I had the chance to be a passenger; no 

not the driver. After showing my reservation I was 

escorted to one of the two cars in use, and shown 

how to adjust and don the full racing harness which 

was attached to the full racing seat. The driver got 

in and belted up and, after checking that I was OK 

tried to start the engine - apparently they are a b.... 

r to start, especially when hot. Eventually, with the 

engine running the overwhelming sensation is one 

of noise - not from the engine but the cooling fans 

that run all the time. I’ve been driving a roadster 

for over two years now and am quite used to the 

power of the normal engine at full throttle but 

this was something else. Over the short distances 

involved the acceleration seemed to be not much 

different - it was the cornering and stopping power 

that impressed. Thrown around cones set up 

as a continuous chicane you are literally thrown 

from one shoulder belt to the other. Travelling at 

speed towards a concrete barrier concentrates the 

mind, but the driver hit the brakes and the car just 

stopped. In fact, I’m sure it stopped in less than 

its own length. After three runs it was all over, and 

I emerged smiling broadly, almost as much as the 

driver in fact. 

The evening’s Gala event included a live act, 

Brainstorm, and a disco and, more importantly, free 

food and drink for those lucky enough to be in the 

VIP section. 

Some of us decided to join one of the optional 

excursions to the Mooserboden dam complex, near 

Kaprun. So, on Sunday morning we set out to drive 

the few miles to the site. The ‘dam’ turned out to 

be two very large reservoirs, in tandem, separated 

by a dam and about 250 metres of height. The 

upper of the two lakes, Mooserboden, is fed by melt 

water straight off the surrounding glaciers, which 

is stored, used to generates electricity and passes 

into the lower reservoir, Wassfallboden. The water 

is used again to generate more electricity, and can 

also be pumped back up to the higher reservoir. The 

journey from the car park at the bottom is by coach 

to a funicular railway which is a large open platform. 

After the climb it’s back onto single decker busses 

(which were actually transported to this higher 

level on the railway platform) for a very interesting 

guided tour, which included a walk through the 

upper dam from one side to the other. A quick visit 

to the museum and it was back on the bus and down 

through the tunnel complex for the return trip on the 

funicular. 

On return to the airfield at Zell am See we 

were once again treated to a free food in the form 

of brunch which was superb - hot food cooked right 

in front of you if you so wished. The members of 



33


our party slowly gathered for our journey back to 

Salzburg for two more nights. 

In Salzburg, we decided to join a small 

group to attend a piano recital that evening. As 

it is Mozart’s 250th anniversary this year, and the 

recital was in a room that Mozart played in, it 

seemed like the thing to do - and so it turned out. 

After a three-course meal, included in the price, 

we enjoyed a superb evening of music. Thanks to 

Alison for arranging it. 

Monday was a free day, and once again a 

small group decided to go to Berchtesgaden and 

the Eagle’s Nest. The whole area where Hitler 

and his cronies lived was flattened in air raids at 

the end of WWII. The Eagle’s Nest, which as its 

name suggests is built high up on a rock outcrop, 

survived but apparently Hitler used it only twice. 

The approach is by bus from a car park, near 

to the flattened site of Hitler’s residence, up a 

winding, single-track mountain road. At the top, 

a short walk through a tunnel leads to a very 

elaborate and surprisingly large, fast moving lift. 

The views from the top are stunning. The lovely 

town of Berchtesgaden was visited on the way 

back to Salzburg, where our last evening was 

spent at the Augustinerbräu. The Augustinerbräu 

Brewery and the Bräustübl Tavern at the Mülln 

monastery have been in existence since 1621. 

This is where beer straight from the barrel is 

the order of the day, with a wide variety food 

available from outlets in the stands corridor. The 

Bräustübl Tavern is Austria’s largest beer tavern 

(with a working area of over 5,000 m² in several 

large halls), and an additional 1,500 seats in 

the beer garden. Our party occupied two large 

tables adjacent to the garden under part of the 

overhanging building, which sheltered us from 

the rain. 

So our holiday came to a close. Just the 

journey home to come, with a stop at the fabulous 

Victor’s Residence hotel in Saarbrucken, before 

the ferry from Calais on the following day. 

Thanks to all at thesmartclub - Al and 

Fiona, Peter and Amanda, Ernie and Shona 

for the usual superb organisation, and also to 

all the other participants who made it such 

an enjoyable experience - Mick & Dot, David 

& Jananne, Alan & Alison, Geoff & Jeanette, 

Claire & Ian, Helen & Michael, Den & Georgie, 

Sylvie, Andy & Jen, Damian & Hazel. 

NavRog 


Leif’s collectors edition 

Leif Hansen from Norway sent 

us these photos of his new Collector’s 

Edition based on the 

BRABUS Roadster Coupe Xclusive 

Edition. Available in pure 

Lamborghini gold metallic, or 

Speedsilver metallic, only 5 were 

produced! Leif purchased the 

last available for NKR. 270000 

with just 17 km on the clock. 


35

The ‘alternative’ Austria Tour! 

We found out about the Smart Times event in Austria, via our Dutch 

friend, Simon Speets (of www.smartfreaks.nl) way before anything 

was announced on the Smart Club site in the UK…and started looking 

at routes hotels etc around August last year! We decided to make the 

trip a European tour…visiting 8 countries in as many days…… 

I booked all the hotels/ferries via the internet, and on the 23rd August 

our small group (Tony, Dave & myself and Sonya in fortwos and Mark & Cathy 

in their roadie) assembled in Dover for the Norfolk Line crossing to Dunkirk. 

Tony was on a mission to buy chocolates from every country we went 

through, so as we entered Belgium he ventured 

off to seek a chocolate (and tobacco) shop, as 

the rest of us continued through Belgium to our 

hotel in Luxembourg. This was located right next 

to the airport, but was so well soundproofed, you 

would never have known. Somewhere along the 

way, we formed our own ‘Fools & Smarts’ (as 

opposed to only fools & horses)group…starting 

with Dave becoming ‘Rodney’ (you’ll understand 

if you’ve seen the programme!)…Mark & Cathy 

were ‘Boycie & Marlene’…me & Sonya were ‘Del 

Boy & Raquel’…& Tony, ‘Uncle Albert’!!! 

After a good breakfast we were back on 

the road the following morning, heading for 

Germany. After a few hundred miles of watching 

the changing scenery, along the Autobahns we 

took the road along the edge of the Boden-See 

to our destination at Lindau. Here we stopped at 

the Hotel Café Ebner, a really comfortable place… 

we were made to feel very welcome (the owner 

had his own Smart!!), great selection of cakes/ 

chocolates and coffee in the café! Lindau 

Island, which is a really pretty place with lots 

of very old building and narrow streets…if 

you are visiting the area I would recommend 

a visit here. 

Friday morning and the Austrian 

border was just a few miles away, where 

we knew we had to stop to buy the Austrian 

motorway toll stickers …… shame we went 

past the entrance and had to reverse back 

up the exit slip road!!!! OOPS! Boycie 

decided he wasn’t going to make this slightly 

illegal move, and carried on to turn round 

somewhere….despite waiting a while, that 

was the last we saw of him until we reached 

Zell am See! (Well he had sat-nav as well, so 

we knew he’d be OK!) 

This is where the roads started to get a 

lot more interesting, as we opted for the 

mountain pass route rather than the ‘direct’ 

one! We were quite surprised when we 

stopped near the top of one pass to find 

a railway station, about 1500m above sea 

level. 

We reached Zell am See, in the heart of the 

Austrian Tyrol, about 4.00pm and found 

our guest house (thank you sat-nav!), 

which Simon had booked for us, nestled a 

few miles outside of town, on the side of a 

mountain. Zell am See itself is surrounded 

by mountains, a beautiful location for a 

Smart meet…and the town has one of the 

best ice cream shops we have ever found!!! 

There were a few cars on the meeting 

site on the Friday evening, but when we returned for the trip up the 

Grossglockner (one of the highest passes in Europe) on Saturday morning 

they were everywhere!!! Cars had come from all over Europe (except we only 

saw ONE French registered car!), for the weekend and this trip up the pass 

was the highlight of the event! 

As the convoy started leaving, it was clear this was going to take some time 

to get all the cars up the mountain!....Despite a few hairy moments (when 

we came to a standstill on some quite steep roads…would the clutch cope 

with pulling away again???), everyone made it to the glacier…and the multistory 

car park…at the top of the pass, at around 3000m this has to be seen 

to be believed! The trip down was a lot easier as, by now, all the cars had 

split up into smaller groups and were stopping to take pictures at regular 

intervals. 

With not a lot planned for the Sunday, we had a trip in the cable car to the 

top of a mountain in the morning and went on the ferry across the lake in the 

afternoon, which was very relaxing after the previous day. 

Monday morning we settled our bill at the guest house (20 euros each per 

night, inc breakfast!), said our goodbyes to Simon & his wife and Hans….and 

headed off for Italy. 

We opted to use the road that passes through the Felber tunnel to 

Lienz, then into Italy, through Bolzano (where we lost Uncle Albert, as he 

went down the motorway) and over a great mountain pass road, towards 

our next destination at Gravedona on Lake Como. All went well until we 

were about 5 miles away, when the sat nav told us to stay right where 

there was a concrete barrier blocking that side of the road!.....we had to 

go about 15 miles, through lots of tunnels under the mountains, before we 

could make a ‘u turn’ and get back to where we wanted to be! 

The Hotel Regina at Gravedona was our resting place for the night, and 

at 95 euros for a double room, inc breakfasts, was very good value as it 

was a very impressive hotel, right on the shore of Lake Como, about 10 

minutes walk from the centre of town, where 

we went for an evening meal together. Three 

of us opted for a red wine with our meal, so we 

ordered 2 litres…a bit of a shock when we got 

the bill for 80euros for it…but it was quite nice! 

After a large ice cream, at about 11.00pm(!!), 

we returned to the hotel to consume some 

cheaper vino!!! 

By 8.00am the following morning, the sun was 

up and we went for a stroll along the lake shore 

before breakfast…even at this time it was warm 

enough for just T-shirts! 

Back on the road and across into Switzerland, 

the route I had chosen looked ‘interesting’ 

on the map (lots of hairpin bends over the 

mountain). This proved to be even better 

than I had imagined, the border crossing 

into Switzerland being right at the top of the 

mountain, and the road on the other side was 

one of the most spectacular I have ever seen…. 

we counted 17 hairpin bends in the space of 

about 3 miles, and you could see them 

all from the top as you descended….great 

fun!!! 

We stopped off at lunchtime at Roland’s 

house (Welte Engineering) to pick up my 

new x-gauge. He took us to a nearby town 

for coffee & cakes, and a walk round in the 

rain. Had to get back on the road again and 

off towards France, after negotiating some 

horrendous traffic in Zurich & as we crossed 

the border at Basel, we finally made it to 

our last stop at Colmar by about 7.00pm. 

This was to be the only hotel I had booked, 

that I wouldn’t recommend (OK it was a 

cheap place, at 41euros inc breakfasts, for 

2 people), as Rodney & Uncle Albert were 

woken up at about 3.00 in the morning, 

by an argument between a ‘lady’ and her 

‘customer’ in the room next door!!!!! 

The final day was to be a long 

blast up the Autoroutes of France to get to 

Boulogne for the fast ferry back to Dover. 

Having been up early the others decided 

to leave early, and Boycie wanted to try 

and get an early ferry, as he had work the 

night…so we were left on our own for the 

day, which started badly as my sat nav 

decided to close itself down, just when I 

should have turned off the main road!....I 

took the next exit, as I got it back working 

again and not having a clue where we were 

decided just to follow its instructions. We 

were led by this electronic device through 

the middle of a vineyard, along what could 

best be described as a track, before eventually finding the way back to a 

‘D’ road, and after a couple of hours onto a motorway!! Once on a proper 

road we stuck to about 85 – 90 mph most of the way back (and the fuel 

consumption went down to about 35mpg!!) 

We made it to Boulogne with plenty of time to have a wander round in the 

walled part of the city and do some essential shopping (wine etc) at a local 

supermarket, before heading for the ferry terminal….and surprise surprise 

we were the first ones there!!! (Evidently Boycie had got there a lot earlier, 

but as they had no room on the ferry, he was told to come back later!) 

The bad news was the ferry was running late, and it was gone 10.00pm by 

the time we docked at Dover (it was due in at 8.15), so we got back home 

totally exhausted at about 2.00am, having covered over 650 miles on the 

final day! 

Over 8 days (inc 2 ½ in Austria) we had visited a total of 8 countries, 

covered 2315 miles and used 217 litres of fuel. Our average fuel consumption 

was 48.7mpg (best 68mpg, worst 34mpg). The car had used no oil and ran 

perfectly, even when over 2500m above sea level up the mountains. 

My pictures from the week can be seen at: http://ian-dolphin.fotopic.net/ 

c1070659.html 

So would we do it again????.....You bet….the roads and the 

scenery are worth it! 


The FQ101.co.uk crew had their own stand 

at the finishing point at this years London 

to Brighton Rally. To top this, they all 

took part in the actual Rally starting at 

Brooklands. 

FQ101.co.uk have their own smart 

modification web site hosting many technical 

“how to guides” covering; servicing, engine 

upgrades, interior modifications and ICE 

installation for both fortwo and roadster. 

SmartSparky, Justrules, Racing Snake 

and Jimmy Wong founders of FQ101 are also 

regulars at many monthly smart meets such as; 

Berkshire, Walton, Andover and Otterbourne 

near Southampton in the south of England. 

Always with something new to show other 

smart owners or discussing future possible 

modification. The FQ101 breathe fresh life in to 

the smart club scene here in the UK. 

Check out www.fq101.co.uk there is 

something for everyone, from the simple to a 

full engine change. 

Photos courtesy of FQ101. 

Massive 

FQ101 do the London to Brighton 

At the start 

In the cue 

Their off 

Early morning start 

All cleaned and ready 

On the road 

At the Brighton Finish 

One for the album 


37

London to Brighton Rally - start 

London to Brighton 2006, 25th September: 

This year’s annual smart London to Brighton 

Rally saw a huge turn out at the new start 

venue, Mercedes-Benz Centre that is under 

construction at the old Brooklands. Race 

circuit. 

With its new Centre at Brooklands, 

Mercedes-Benz is creating a link to an earlier 

chapter in its own racing history, as well as 

building on the historic foundations of motor 

sport in general. After all, cars built by Daimler- 

Motoren-Gesellschaft, Benz & Cie. and – after 

the amalgamation of the two companies in 1926 

– Daimler-Benz were a regular sight at the circuit 

in its heyday. 

The Gottlieb Daimler Memorial Plate was 

awarded at the Brooklands circuit’s inauguration 

event in 1907 – a Daimler taking the race victory, 

as it happened, almost a lap ahead of the 

competition. In the Montague Cup the same day, 

a 120 hp Mercedes crossed the line first. There 

was no official time, but estimates put the car’s 

average speed at approx. 132 km/h (82 mph). 

Another 120 hp Mercedes came home second. 

Mercedes lead the way with £2800 in prize money 

from that first season, and the company’s cars 

continued to enjoy regular success over the 32- 

year lifespan of the circuit. Indeed, Mercedes- 

Benz has a prominent place in the history of 

Brooklands. So, it made a perfect start venue 

giving smart owners the chance to see the 

development work in progress. 

With 1000+ smarts registered to take part 

in the rally the track parking soon swelled as 

can been seen in the aerial shot. The assembled 

fancy-dressed owners and cars started to leave 

at 10.30 am with blue skies and fair weather 

forecast for Brighton racecourse, the finishing 

point and venue for the competitions and trade 

stands. 

The distance between Brooklands and 

Brighton is approx 56 miles, shorter than the 

previous rallies starting from Kempton Park 

racecourse. This was just as well, as the numbers 

involved meant those at the back of the 792 

strong queue at Brooklands were still arriving in 

Brighton when the competitions started at 2pm. 

In addition to the competitions, Brighton 

had trade stands, smart games and smarts such 

as the EV electric smart on show. A further high 

point was the aerial photography using a remote 

control helicopter. David “Hogster” a smart 

enthusiast and electronics student at Surrey 

University, flew his amazing kit over both the 

start and finish venues. These amazing shots give 

an insight into the day and numbers attending. 

On previous year’s numbers, and impression 

from the Brighton end of the Rally, there appeared 

to be less people finishing than had started. This 

may be due to the arrivals being spread out over a 

longer period, with many of those arriving earlier 

moving on quickly to home or the sea front. 

In all another successful London to Brighton, 

well organized and supported. I wonder, however, 

if it is not time for an alternative, perhaps Brighton 

to Brooklands? 

Massive 

Photos courtesy of, Hogster, Mike Bagley and Tom Crawford 


finish - London to Brighton Rally 


39

Craig Axe’s roadster 

When owning a highly modified car it is very 

difficult to remain humble and not to shout 

about it from the rooftops and get carried 

away with the work that you have done. In 

the case of roadster owner Craig Axe this is 

something that he has achieved perfectly. 

Craig purchased his roadster in November 

2003 to give him a project to focus on to distract 

him from his terminal illness of re-occurring brain 

tumours which was diagnosed in March 2003. 

Since then Craig has transformed the car in 

various stages and has achieved what is an almost 

impossible task. He has reached such a high-level 

of modifications but maintained an emphasis on 

purpose and quality that has resulted in the car 

being universally admired by fellow smart owners 

and other road users alike. 

Any way, enough of the introduction, the 

specification and photographs of the car can be 

seen on the following pages, but first here is Craig’s 

description of what he has done to the car … 

I have completed 80 modifications to date (in 

fact more than that, as I have removed some 

modifications along the way). The bhp has 

been increased from 82 to around 117 bhp, at 

the flywheel. One of my recent projects has 

been to strip out/reduce the overall weight. I 

have managed approx. 28 kilos so far. This of 

course increases the bhp per tonne, and has 

made my roadster more responsive and agile. 

To compliment this agility, I have lowered the 

suspension by 30mm, fitted Toyo T-1 tyres which 

has increased the grip, and increased the track 

(20mm front & rear 30mm) to make it corner like 

it’s on rails. 

The roadster is fantastic fun to drive. I just love 

the offbeat engine note, the induction sound 

(sounds like a mini Porsche) and the ability to 

fold the roof back. Out of all the 24 cars that I 

have owned, my roadster has drawn the most 

positive attention, and it continues to put a smile 

on my face whenever I take it out for a spin 

(sunny days only!). The novelty of all my previous 

cars wore off quite quickly, especially the more 

powerful and thirsty ones that liked living in 

petrol stations! 

There is quite a following for roadsters both at 

home and abroad, (especially in Germany) where 

there has been a growing number of smart tuning 

independents. The roadster is said to become 

an early classic (so the press would lead you to 

believe!). After its relatively short run, Daimler 

Chrysler decided to cease production. 

My roadster has generated a lot of interest 

on owners’ websites, both in the UK 

and abroad. Having spent the last three 

years attempting to get the best possible 

balance between performance, handling, comfort, 

reliability and appearance, I am very happy with 

it right now. However, with all the current active 

interest on the smart scene, new ideas and 

innovative modifications crop up all the time! 

What’s next? There is always another mod just 

waiting around the next corner! 

Watch this space: http://www.smartzplanet.com/ 

gallery/browseimages.php?c=19 

Philip Egan 


Craig Axe’s roadster 

Specification List 

Interior: 

• Michalak illuminated gear knob 

• Magnetic mobile phone holder 

• Corbeau “Sprint” grey kevlar racing seats 

• Aluminium effect floor mats 

• Michalak aluminium foot pedals 

• Polished alloy handbrake handle 

• Silver leather handbrake gaiter 

• Polished alloy heater knobs 

• Polished alloy light / wiper stalk ends 

• Polished alloy heater ring vents 

• Polished alloy rear heater button ring 

• Polished alloy mirror control arm ends 

• Polished alloy side demister trims 

• Ripspeed aluminium tax disc holder 

• Silver carbon fibre door handle trims 

• Polished stainless steel glove box trim 

• Polished stainless steel centre console trim 

• Silver carbon fibre instrument covers 

• smart rear shelf storage box 

• smart logo badge to rear shelf storage box lid 

• console between seats in silver carbon fibre 

• Talex GPS and speed camera detector 

• X Gauge housed in fortwo clock pod 

• Silver carbon fibre X Gauge cover 

• Polished alloy front trim ring to X Gauge pod 

• Xenon LED interior light bulb 

Exterior: 

• Aluminium silver mesh front grill 

• Rear panel colour coded in star blue 

• Brabus rear spoiler colour coded in star blue 

• Aluminium black mesh rear grill to lower engine bay 

• Bosch aerotwin wiper blades 

• Brabus front splitter colour coded in star blue 

• Door handle depressions colour coded in tridion silver 

• Door mirror covers (Tridion silver over chrome) 

• Headlamp pods colour coded in star blue 

• Carbon fibre rear arch guards 

• Centre exit exhaust valance colour coded in star blue 

• Lower side sills colour coded in star blue 

• Centre brake light “ROADSTER” decal 

• Aluminium silver mesh side intake grills 

• Boot hinges colour coded in star blue 

• Removable roof bars colour coded in tridion silver 

• Polished chrome fuel lid 

• smart badge to chrome fuel lid 

• Chrome side repeater surrounds 

• Carbon fibre headlamp stone protection guards 

• Paint protection film to front valance 

Suspension, Wheels, Brakes, and Axles: 

• Eibach lowering springs (30mm) 

• 17” ATS Titan 9 spoke alloy wheels 

• Toyo T1-R tyres 

• RedDot drilled and grooved discs 

• RedDot black brake pads 

• Rear brake drums painted silver 

• 30mm Eibach wheel spacers fitted to front wheels 

• 20mm Eibach wheel spacers fitted to rear wheels 

• Front disc hubs painted silver 

Engine & Engine bay: 

• BIG “Monster” turbo 

• Collins dump valve sized to fit turbo intake 

• Dump valve oil catch filter 

• Blindschleiche twin centre exit stainless steel exhaust 

• Polished stainless steel custom made tail pipes 

• BIG front mounted oil cooling system 

• SW Exclusive 115PS ECU remap 

• Pipercross Venom induction kit 

• Left intake grill vented 

• Air feed pipe from left side intake 

• “Mercedes Suprex Turbo” polished aluminium plate 

• Custom made intercooler scoop 

• Janspeed polished stainless steel intercooler pipes 

• Polished aluminium oil filler cap 

• Mercedes emblem for throttle body 

• “Quickshift racing” aluminium badge 

• BIG heat lagged stainless steel TIK pipe 

• Michalak design polished alloy coolant cap cover 

• Chrome oil filter cover 

• Bosch 4 bar fuel pressure regulator 

• “Berlin Tuning” badge to engine bay 

Security: 

• Microscan alarm system 

Other: 

• Stripped out / reduced weight by 28 kilos 


41

smart with wings - updated 

Rob Baker 

Rob Baker’s “smart with 

wings” was first featured in 

smartimes winter 04 edition. 

Since that feature Rob has 

been appointed Manager of 

smartarse design’s Watford, 

having worked along side 

Sasha at their Romsey unit 

through the summer of 2005. 

The “smart with wings” 

has gone through further 

development over the last few 

years and has been shown at 

Maxpower and this years London 

to Brighton Rally. 

The original specification of 

the car is available as mentioned 

above in our winter 04 issue. 

Here are the updates to that list: 

Exterior: 

Schmidt 16” rims with 195/40 

Toyo Proxy R tyres. 

BRABUS Widestar rear arches 

with MS side skirts cut to blend. 

Quick release panel fixings. 

Rear carbon fibre adjustable wing 

cut to width. 

Front wing carbon fibre air 

spliters. 

Front wing flame motif, back lit 

with fibre optics. 

Programmable multi colour, under 

car neons. 

Revised side air intake. 

Interior: 

All plastic panels and dash colour 

matched in Black and Red. 

Red Corbeau rally seats with 

full harness safety belts, using 

rear stainless steel roll cage 

mounting. 

Ignition Starter button. 

Electrical Power cut-off safety 

switch. 

Massive 


smart with wings updated 

Rob Baker is manager of smartarse-design Watford 

Tel: 01923 288199 


43

alien smart 

“Alien” - Owner David Hunt, 

body shop technician at 

Smarts-R-Us 

David’s smart first materialized 

at the Newark, smartbeat 

event in the summer. A 

really unique custom 

smart with a distinctive 

green paint job and highly 

modified body styling. Still 

a work in progress, “Alien” 

turned more than a few 

heads. 

Reappearing at the London to 

Brighton rally, “Alien” was on 

the Smarts-R-Us display next 

to our own smartimes stand. 

We had a good look around and 

thought it out of this world. It had 

now been sighted by a large numbers 

of humans so, was proof that “Alien” 

life exists - if only in the outer reaches of 

Nottingham, David’s home town. 

Specifications: 

Body work: Mynheer bodykit with much custom blending of panels and fitment of 

Peugeot 206 lights. The paint is Triumph Roulette green with a Phosphorescent tint in the 

lacquer so that it glows in the dark. 

Wheels: Toora T-350 8x18’s on rear, 7x17’s on the front and custom painted in satin 

Jaguar Titanium paint with hand polished spokes. 

Suspension: Spax fully adjustable RSX coilovers. 

Exhaust: Modified ART carbon motorbike can. 

Next on the “Alien” agenda is the ICE install, which by all accounts will be galactic. 

Photos courtesy of 

Jimmy Wong and 

Tom Crawford 

Alien smart 



45

Mac in smart - Turkey 

I have been using Mac laptops throughout my college years in USA. 

When I first saw the smart during a holiday in Istanbul, Turkey, I 

planned to buy a smart fortwo. After my college life from USA, I 

moved back to my country of birth Turkey. 

When I moved to Istanbul, the biggest city of Turkey, I bought 2005 Mercedes 

SL 350. It was a big car for Istanbul. But when I planned to modify a smart 

fortwo with Mac Mini theme, I started to search for a smart fortwo at the 

dealers. I really wanted to build a Mac inside a mini car. I sold my SL 350 and 

purchased a smart fortwo. Interesting, huh! 

Before explaining what I changed in car, I just want to thank Savni Okcu and 

his team for all the help. Installation was organized with the help of OKCU 

(www.okcu.net), I allowed fifteen days for this job. 

The name smart is an amalgamation of names: S for Swatch, M for Mercedes 

and Art for art’s sake. The reason I created this kind of car is I am a big fan of 

Macs and I just wanted to show how a Mac Fan’s life is to everybody. 

Several other reasons: 

1. The Intel Mac Mini package is incredibly small. You get a computer, memory, DVD/ 

CD player all in one tiny box. Also Intel Mac is the only machine out there that can run 

Mac OS X and Windows XP systems right now. 

2. The box fits inside a single DIN head unit space, except for the cables sticking 

out the back. You can add both Bluetooth and wireless inside of one small computer. 

With the introduction of Apple’s Mac mini, a whole new realm of inexpensive in-car 

computing and entertainment is now possible. The small form factor of the Mac mini 

makes it a perfect solution for installation in areas with limited space - like a car. The 

robust feature set of the Mac mini, along with the multi-media power of Mac OS X, 

makes for an excellent platform to create a complete mobile media system. 

3. The Carnetix P1900 gives you an excellent power solution for comparable price as 

the Mac. The Mini gives you sleep and nearly-instant on that works very well. About 3 

seconds from car start to music playing and the USB devices work well. Again, you can 

get this on the PC as well, but the Mini does it very well. 

4. I have over 17,000 songs and over 300 music videos in iTunes, which provide invehicle 

entertainment. I don’t change one music CD to other while I am driving. All my 

entertainment stuff is in my Mac Mini. 

5. Apple’s Front Row and iTunes are running on the Mac mini for video and audio 

playback. My Nokia 9300i Bluetooth cell phone uses Apple’s Address Book to display 

the caller ID and their pictures on the screen when a call comes in. I can simply 

answer or ignore the call via the touch screen - no more looking down at the phone. 

6. The Mac mini’s built-in AirPort WiFi connection is used for wireless web access. 

When I am not in rage of a WiFi connection the Nokia 9300i’s Bluetooth dial-up 

connection and GSM operator keep me connected. 

MAIN UNIT: 

1. Computer: My Mac Mini (1.5 GHz CPU, 1 GB Ram, 100 GB HDD, 

SuperDrive) is equipped with Bluetooth to allow wireless 

mouse and keyboard, and a built in Airport card to permit 

connecting to hotspots for internet access while on the go. 

2. Screen: Xenarc 1020 TSV 10.4” Touchscreen. It capable with Mac OS X 

3. Power Supply: Currently, there is only one supplier of DC-DC power 

supplies for the Mini - Carnetix P1900 DC-DC power supply. 

Running the Mac mini in constant sleep mode. The CPU 

wakes automatically from sleep when the ignition is turned 

on (in approximately 3 seconds). The P1900 puts the Mac mini 

into sleep mode when the ignition is turned off (approximately 

10 seconds). The Mac mini is in sleep mode when car is 

turned off. The P1900 also powers Xenarch monitor (turns 

on/off with ignition). 

INTERIOR MODIFICATIONS: 

1. The original centre console was removed and a custom one constructed. We made 

brackets inside the console to have the Mac Mini and touch screen fit in just right, yet 

the Mac Mini is quick and simple to remove. All you have to do to remove the Mac is 

just open up the console lid, unplug the cables from it, and pull it out. 

2. Front, rear and door speakers panels custom designed. 

We have already completely removed the existing upgraded stereo and are replacing 

it with a dedicated two Rockford Fosgate amplifiers, new MB Quart speakers, and 

a powered sub-woofer. 10 pieces of MB Quart speakers installed to my smart; four 

speakers and four tweeters behind the driver and passenger seats, two speakers in 

the doors. Additionally, we added a powered Rockford Fosgate Punch for some extra 

bass to front of passenger seat. 


Front Speakers: MB Quart DSE 213 

Door Speakers: MB Quart RCE 164 

Behind Speakers: MB Quart RCE 210 

Amplifiers : 1. Rockford Fosgate Punch P450.4 

2. Rockford Fosgate Punch P250.2 

Subwoofer: Rockford Fosgate P210S4 

Signal Processor: Rockford Fosgate 3.sixty 

Capacitor: Rockfrod Fosgate 

Mac in smart - Turkey 

3. Griffin Powermate controls volume for the entire system and 

casts a cool-looking blue glow that contrasts nicely at night. 

4. On the road, an external reader is the ideal companion for 

your digital media. Imagine being able to put away your digital 

camera USB cable and simply copy pictures via a card by opening 

up a direct with my Mac Mini. Multimedia Card Reader to Mac Mini 

(compact flash / micro drive / smart media / secure digital card / 

memory stick / memory stick PRO / XD-picture) 

5. 3-port USB HUB used as USB cable concentrator and a bridge 

between Mac’s USB host controller and USB devices. 

6. External Av-In to Xenarch Touch screen for PSP, PS2 or other 

products with AV-Out 

7. Check out the Apple logo designed into the front speaker panel 

- a nice touch! 

8. The smart is not narrow but the lack of passenger window 

control on the driver’s side is unforgivable. We add small controller 

for passenger window. Power windows are one-touch down and up 

9. All standard buttons under the dash moved to right side of 

steering wheel. 

10. Both windows tinted 

11. We don’t want to buy everything on iTunes, that is not 

economical. Luckily, Miglia has brought TV Tuner portability into 

the forefront with TV Micro, which will enable you to record all of 

your favourite shows right on your Mac. It has a big size remote 

control. We connected it under the dash. TV Micro delivers a great 

picture and is compact enough to take with you on any journey. 

TVMicro uses USB2.0, connect your antenna or cable and start 

watching TV! 

12. Input devices: Freedom Mini Bluetooth Keyboard, Apple 

Remote, Griffin Powermate, Nokia 9300i 

13. Standard Handbrake doesn’t have gaiter. We made one from 

real leather. 

SOFTWARES: 

1. Apple Front Row : Easiest and fastest way to open pictures and 

music while driving. 

2. Salling Clicker: to control system via Nokia 9300i 

3. TouchStrokes KeyStrokes: I am using mostly Bluetooth 

Freedom mini keyboard but I sometimes need to use touch 

screen keyboard. 

4. BluePhoneElite : Display signal and battery meters in the dock 

or menu bar including roam and charge status and the current 

network name. Send/Receive SMS messages easily using SMS 

Chat. Retrieves caller ID using the phone or AddressBook 

(including photo, if available) 

EXTERIOR MODIFICATIONS: 

1. Both front brake pad covers painted to stream green (original 

of my fortwo stream green colour) and wrote smart on cover. 

2. Original smart wipers changed to Silicone Wipers 

3. Big Apple Logo top of back wheels 

4. Apple Logo and Mac OS Dock (with Genie Effect) on back 

window 

5. Turkish flag (iTunes registered logo) 

6. Turkmac logo -like Mac Finder logo but mine is with moustache 

(www.turkmac.com Turkish Mac user’s web site) 

7. Two line front to the back with black sticker 

8. Web page address sticker (www.MACinsmart.com) 

9. Some funny iPod icons. 

man Drinking water with iPod, man Throwing trash with iPod, 

man Escaping from fire with iPod, man Running man with iPod 

Bahaeddin Nakiboglu 

Gaziantep, Turkey 


47

SMINT’s roadster diary 

by Philip Egan 

Whirlpool 

I’m so dizzy, my head is spinning 

Like a whirlpool, it never ends 

And it’s you girl, making it spin 

You’re making me dizzy 

I wasn’t sure where to begin with this instalment of 

the diary but I thought that the above lyrics summed 

up my last few months of roadster ownership 

perfectly. 

I have gone from extremes of sweet and sour to 

sweet again since submitting my last diary and 

I think that the best way to explain the different 

sequence of events on this occasion is by taking 

things in chronological order. 

First of all I should warn you that my latest 

instalment is not entirely smart-based – haters of 

other vehicle marques look away now! 

21 st July 2006 

Following a lovely week of perfect sunny weather on holiday 

in Padstow, Cornwall I decided that when it was time to 

buy a family car in a few years time I would buy an early 

Volkswagen camper van so that I could own a vehicle with 

more than two seats yet still be unique enough to fit in with 

my personality and quest for individuality. 

6th August 2006 

I joined a couple of couple of VW Camper forums to find 

out if owning a camper and driving one on a daily basis was 

a practical idea and that I would be able to afford one in 

good condition before setting my heart on the idea. Joining 

camper forums turned out to be a very dangerous move! 

Regular readers may realise by now that I don’t do things 

by halves and when I get an idea into my head I can’t let 

things lie. 

20th August 2006 

Attended my first VW Camper show, just to find out a bit 

more information on what the different ages and models 

offer so that when ready to purchase one in a few years 

I would know what to look out for. Going to the show 

seemed to be even more risky than joining a forum. By 

the end of the day I knew exactly what model and age of 

camper I would want, and the trouble was I wanted one 

NOW! 

31 st August 2006 

By this stage I had got to the point of randomly offering my 

car to sellers of suitable campers on a part exchange basis 

and I was getting nowhere fast. I decided that the only way 


that I would find out once and for all if a camper 

was a realistic proposition would be to put my car 

up for sale on eBay to see if it would sell for the 

price that I needed it to sell for. 

9 th September 2006 

I attended my second camper show, which 

was Vanfest at the Three Counties showground 

in Malvern. The show was absolutely huge in 

comparison to even the biggest smart events that 

I have attended; this of course is mainly down to 

the fact that the VW scene has been around for a 

lot longer than the smart scene! This show brought 

home reality to me that even the vans that are in 

my price range have certainly seen better days. It 

was at this point that I realised that I would only be 

happy if I could get a fully refurbished camper. 

Despite having some very firm interest, which was 

not followed up by changing hands of money and 

car, the auction did not reach my reserve price. 

I had very mixed emotions – I was gutted I 

wouldn’t be able to live the dream of having a 

camper but I had also fallen back in love with 

my car after spending lots of time getting it 

immaculate inside and out ready for the sale. 

I also had lots more ideas for my car for the future, 

however I had ordered an engagement ring by this 

stage with the intention to propose to Carla within 

the near future so any plans would have to be put 

on hold for at least a year. 


Did you read the last paragraph about putting plans 

on hold for at least a year? 

Well that was the plan until I happened to 

be catching up on the latest posts on the 

smartmaniacs site in the early morning when I 

noticed that Craig Axe had upgraded the turbo 

on his 80bhp roadster to a larger turbo by BIG 

Performance. 

I contacted Craig to congratulate him on his latest 

batch of modifications and thought that I would find 

out if he was planning on selling the immaculate 

80bhp turbo that he had removed from his car. 

He replied to say that he would sell his turbo and 

that I because I was the first to contact him I 

would get first refusal. 

Within four days I had gone from having some 

plans for my car in 2008, none of which were to 

do with the performance of my car, to committing 

myself to buying a new turbo! 


As part of my mission to raise cash for the turbo, 

my starting point was advertising the self-amplified 

sub that had been fitted in my car. Despite being 

very happy with this sub it was something that I

SMINT’s roadster diary 

by Philip Egan 

Whirlpool 

had removed to prepare my car for it’s sale any 

way and I knew it would sell quickly due to it’s 

quality and desirability. As it happens I sold it to 

fellow 

smartimes contributor Ian Dolphin who was very 

pleased with the sound when I installed it in his car 

as part of the deal. 


As this was the last weekend before the London 

to Brighton event I wanted to make sure that I 

had done everything I could possibly do to ensure 

there weren’t any imperfections in my car. The 

only things that were preying on my mind were the 

dirty / rusty look of my brake drums, callipers, and 

wheel nuts so I set about removing each wheel in 

turn and painting the relevant parts in Hammerite 

smooth paint in black. This was to improve the 

look as well as prevent further rusting in future. 


I arrived at my office to read an e-mail saying 

that I had not made it into the short-list for the 

most modified competition. I was frustrated and 

disappointed that my car had not been classed as 

one of the top seven most modified roadsters that 

had entered the competition. Of course me being 

me I couldn’t keep my frustration to myself and I 

posted my feelings on the various UK smart forums 

within minutes, as well as e-mailing the people who 

were making the decisions to find out if there was 

an appeal process. 

21 st September 2006 

I arrived at my office after being at a customer’s 

site for a day and a half to be a little embarrassed 

by the fact that I had received a reply to my e-mail 

regarding an appeal to find out that I had been 

accepted after a re-think. 

23 rd September 2006 

Carla and me had booked into one of the 

Travelodge’s at the Heston services on the M4 

along with countless other smart owners to avoid 

a long drive straight to the Brooklands start point 

for the London to Brighton event on the Sunday 

morning. The good thing about doing this was that 

it extended the event as it gave us chance to catch 

up and meet people on the Saturday evening who 

we hadn’t met before. 


The morning of the London to Brighton could 

not have started any worse - there was 

torrential rain, we had emerged from the 

hotel just as the convoy was leaving, and we 

got lost on the way to the start point! Luckily 

a helpful shopkeeper pointed us in the right 

direction and by the time we had arrived at 

Brooklands and not entered the Aston Martin 

area the weather had brightened up and there 

wasn’t a cloud in the sky which gave us chance 

to give the car a quick wipe down ready for 

photographs to be taken by one of the official 

DCUK photographers. 

The convoy to the finish point at Brighton Race Course all went 

to plan and the organisation and directions seemed much more 

improved compared to previous London to Brighton events that I 

have attended. 

When we arrived at Brighton Race Course I was even more 

embarrassed by my complaints at not making the most-modified 

short list as I discovered that there were only seven modified smarts 

in total – not just seven roadsters! 

Although I was obviously pleased that my car had made it to the list I 

felt more than a little guilty about the other excellent cars that were 

not on display. I think that for future events there should be a larger 

area dedicated so show cars even if they are not judged because 

as the years go by there will only be an increase in the number of 

modified cars and getting a chance to see what has been done to the 

various cars is what makes the day for most owners. 

I must say a quick hello to the various members who I met for the 

first time over the weekend as well as those who I have known for 

a while now. It was good to catch up with people and put names 

to faces and thanks to those who wished me all the best in the 

competition. 

Things were to get better during the evening as we had booked into a 

mod-themed room at a funky hotel in Brighton called Hotel Pelirocco. 

It was here where I decided to propose to Carla and thankfully she 

said yes, mind you if she had said no I could have sold the ring to 

raise cash for more modifications to the roadster. (This is a joke by 

the way!!!) 


We spent the following day shopping in the various independent 

shops in the lanes of Brighton during which Carla spotted a small 

woollen “Julius” monkey created by fashion house Paul Frank that 

happened to be in an identical colour to my roadster. This monkey 

is now fixed to the rear of my passenger seat looking out at following 

traffic. 

Summary 

Well there you have it, a list of events spanning 

almost two months which is very typical of my 

roadster ownership so far, involving me changing 

decisions from one week to the next and doing every 

thing apart from what I had got planned. 

As you can imagine with a wedding to plan and 

finance my car will be taking a back seat over the 

coming 12 months but by the time you read this I will 

have sold most of my belongings on ebay, with the 

exception of my car, and I will hopefully have a box of 

nice shiny performance parts ready to be fitted when 

time and finances will allow. 

That’s the plan any way, who knows whether I will 

stick to my plans this time… 


49

smartboy and his smartcar – trial and error 

It has been a busy fall with regard to “modding” 

my smart fortwo. Going through a number of 

changes there have been of course trial and 

error and mistakes – some good – some not 

so good. 

The dual exhaust that was purchased to go on 

the car lasted only a few weeks before the down 

pipe cracked in three spots. This CDI “Blindy” 

exhaust didn’t stand up well. Looking at the 

design, inflexibility for the torque of the CDI engine 

was the suspected cause. Not good news, but it 

does open up the market for other manufacturers 

who may have a better “fit” for our Canadian CDI 

engines. Certainly the sporty “look” of my smart 

was welcomed, as was the throaty exhaust note and 

extra performance… so, the search and testing of 

better designed mufflers continues. 

Leather was always something that I wanted on my 

smart car. When I received my car, after a seven 

month wait, I went for what I could get. Bungee 

Red interior was my choice although I always wished 

Mercedes had made colour leathers other than simply 

grey. Finding a fantastic leather artisan, I now have 

stark white leather seats. I’m not done of course, as 

I will be combining Leather and Bungee Red Doors 

and Dash for the next issue of smartimes. I have 

to say the leather quality is beautiful – rich, deep 

and soft. Overstuffed, the seats feel wonderful with 

burned orange stitching to match the bungee red 

interior (which we all know is really orange). Next, 

as I said, leather dash, cloth and leather doors, and 

a few more tasteful leather surprises. 

To add to the interior look I have added Michalak 

River Silver Dash Trim pieces – love em - and the fit 

and finish is simply outstanding. 

Keeping with the interior upgrades, I am now 

sporting a new cruise control unit. This model was 

easy to install and works like a charm. This option is 

not available on Canadian smarts but should be. Set 

for “North American” standards it’s easy to use and 

functions as a stock cruise control should … Start, 

Stop, Resume, Accelerate and Decelerate – love the 

cruise. 

At the same time I installed, with a DIY kit, the 

chrome and brushed-metal starter button. With 

a simple and light touch the CDI burbles to life, 

sounding like a clothes dryer full of ball bearings. 

With a #1 and #2 setting there is no fear of using 

the push button start in our very cold winters and 

warming glow plugs. 

Moving to the exterior I’ve upgraded my 15” Brabus 

rims, and 15X55X15 rear wheels, to beautiful 16” 

Michalak rims wearing 195X15X40 series tires all the 

way round. The car handles like it is now “on rails” 

and holds the course and straight line amazingly 

well, even in cross winds. The tires while giving a 

firmer ride are not punishing. Come the spring will 

see this set up enhanced with lowered springs. 

Continuing with exterior modifications (and after 

seeing the movie Tokyo Drift) I decided that some 

door decals and new thick white striping for the car 

was in order. Cut out of vinyl these stickers have 

a warranty of five years – I am sure I’ll change the 

design long before then. 

There are many more changes in store for my smart 

but it’s been a busy fall … stay tuned … 

smartboy 


more speakers 

Over the summer we made some improvements to 

the ICE installation in the project car. The Alpine 

dash speakers were producing such good quality 

sound the JBL 5.25 door speakers were just out 

classed and added little but infill. 

We sources the Alpine: SPR-17LP - 16.5cm 

coaxial speakers to match the Alpine: SPR-17LS 

- 16.5cm components used on the dash from www. 

caraudiosecurity.com. 

The fitting proved straight forward as the 

JBL’s had been recessed in to the door 

pocket mouldings. The Alpines were flush 

mounted, the recess allowing for the 

greater diameter and the additional depth 

for the larger magnate on the Alpines. 

At this point we also replace the 4 channel 

amp which had suffered during its many 

removals and repositioning with in the car. 

We selected the Voodoo Warrior 4 Channel 

Amplifier 400W RMS from http://www. 

voodoocaraudio.co.uk This had been 

recommended to us and on listening to an 

install in a roadster were impressed enough 

to purchase it the same day. 

With the new components installed we 

wanted to set-up the system correctly, 

testing the speakers and balancing out put. 

Mike Northeast supplied a competition setup 

CD and we spent an hour or so adjusting 

the install for range and frequency, balance 

and effect. 

Given that out custom sub box is not 

optimised for the 12” sub, the over results 

of the complete install are exceptional, now 

showing the imperfections in original CD 

recording quality. 

Door speakers upgraded with matching Alpine’s to 

complement dash set-up and balance performance 

What next? Well you will have to wait and 

see, but I may just look at additional rears. 

Massive 

reward yourself with our 

fantastic fortwo offers 

As the largest independent retailer group of smart in the UK, 

we are able to offer you fantastic deals on retailer stock fortwo. 

Just call - that’s all. Nationwide service. 

Not to be missed? 

Text ’inchcape’ to 64244 

smart of Coventry Wheler Road, Off Humber Road, Whitley, Coventry CV3 4LA Call 0845 850 4704 

smart of Derby St. Christophers Way, Pride Park, Derby DE24 8JY Call 0845 850 4713 

smart of Liverpool 66-68 Pall Mall, Liverpool L3 7DB Call 0845 125 7401 

smart of Nottingham Enterprise Way, NG2 Business Park, Nottingham NG2 1EN Call 0845 850 4725 

smart of Oxford Langford Lane, Oxford Motor Park, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1HT Call 0845 124 0991 

www.smartofcoventry.co.uk/offers 

www.smartofderby.co.uk/offers 

www.smartofliverpool.co.uk/offers 

www.smartofnottingham.co.uk/offers 

www.smartofoxford.co.uk/offers 

smart-a brand of DaimlerChrysler 

OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT FUEL CONSUMPTION FIGURES SMART FORTWO CABRIO PASSION (MPG/LITRES PER 100KM): URBAN 43.5/6.5, EXTRA URBAN 61.4/4.6, COMBINED 53.3/5.3. 

C02 EMISSIONS (G/KM) 116. Car featured is a smart fortwo passion cabrio at £10,065 on the road. Prices are on the road and include VAT, delivery, 12 months’ road fund licence, 

number plates, first registration fee and a full tank of fuel. Prices correct at time of going to print (07/06). Terms and conditions apply. Offer subject to availability. 


51

Suspension PSS adjustment 

We installed the Bilstien PSS 

suspension kit back in spring 

this year and featured them in 

our summer issue. At the time 

we were running the project car 

on 195 x 40 x 16 all round. The 

system was set low and hard. 

BEFORE 

In the autumn issue we added the 

widestar rear arches and swaped 

the wheels for 195x45x16 front and 

245x45x17 rear. After running the 

car for a few weeks we notice some 

scrubbing on the rear and fawling 

on the front when on full lock. 

Normaly this would mean a new set 

of suspension or reverting back to 

the smaller wheels. The Bilstien 

PSS however is adjustable. So we 

took the wheels off and adjusted 

the black locking nut upward 20mm 

effectively shortening and 

compressing the springs on the front 

dampers. On the rear we again 

wound the lock nuts up 20mm. 

AFTER 

The overall effect was perfect. the 

scrubbing etc was cured, with the ride effectively 

softened slightly due to the nature of the progressive 

damping making the car more comfortable than before. 

4 

A few weeks later I was asked about the handling on 

the car and while discussing this I had to admit that 

the front felt a bit light for my style of driving. I really 

wanted the height but more tension from the front 

dampers. 

The next step would mean fully adjustable kits like 

SPAX, Koni and KW. Way to expensive for us. Then a 

lifeline, KW had a fortwo kit to test, the first in the UK. 

What an opportunity! We will be working with KW and 

smartarse design over the next month to develop the 

standard kit for modified wheel sizes. A full report 

in our next issue 

Massive 

Call or check out our website for all the latest offers 

on new & approved used roadster - including special 

edition models. Nationwide service. 

Want to try? Text ’inchcape’ to 64244 












OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT FUEL CONSUMPTION FIGURES SMART ROADSTER (MPG/LITRES PER 100KM): URBAN 43.5/6.5, EXTRA URBAN 62.8/4.5, COMBINED 54.3/5.2. C02 EMISSIONS 

(G/KM) 121. Car featured is a smart roadster with optional sports package at £14,140 on the road. Prices are on the road and include VAT, delivery, 12 months’ road fund licence, 

number plates, first registration fee and a full tank of fuel. Prices correct at time of going to print (07/06). Terms and conditions apply. Offer subject to availability. 


Armourfend is known in the UK for vehicle 

paint protection, using 3M film. Smartarse 

Design are authorised sellers and installers 

having recently under gone full training by 

Armourfend. 

The new services was demonstrated in a 

unique way at the open day on the 28th Oct at 

their Watford unit. The 3M film was applied to the 

glass roof of Ian Dolphin’s Brit-Tiny. The film will 

protect against stone damage and the shattering 

of the panoramic glass roof. The shattering, once 

the topic of a investigative television program on 

the BBC has long been a hot topic on the fortwo. 

Ian is also having the front of Brit-Tiny’s 

Union Jack paint work protected with the 3M 

film. The amazing custom paint is a work of 

art and worth the investment. Keeping it 

in the best possible condition for all those 

smart meets and events Brit-Tiny attends. 

The CAD template for the smart body 

allows the film to be cut by machine, 

ensuring a perfect fit. 

Armourfend-protection for your smart 

Massive 

The film is treated and moved into position The film is manipulated into shape Final trimming to shape and job done 

we know we’re good 

Drive away a forfour for less than you think. We have fantastic 

finance offers on selected models (including BRABUS) with small 

monthly payments and typical APR of 1%. Nationwide service. 

Interested? Text ’inchcape’ to 64244 












OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT FUEL CONSUMPTION FIGURES SMART FORFOUR RANGE (MPG/LITRES PER 100KM): URBAN 34.9-44.8/6.3-8.1, EXTRA URBAN 55.4-68.9/4.1-5.1, COMBINED 45.6- 

58.8/47.1-6.2. C02 EMISSIONS (G/KM) 116-133. Car featured is a smart forfour pulse 1.1 with optional ‘moveline’ alloy wheels at £9,430 on the road. Prices are on the road and include VAT, delivery, 12 

months’ road fund licence, number plates, first registration fee and a full tank of fuel. Prices correct at time of going to print (07/06). Terms and conditions apply. Offer subject to availability. 


53

Tints? vinyl finishing 

In the last 

issue of 

smartimes 

(Autumn 06) we 

showed the vinyl 

design for our rear 

quarter windows. 

These were 

conceived as a neat way 

to hide the bubbled edging 

of the tinting. The bubbling 

occurs over a period of time, 

due to the gases produced by the 

plastic material the rear quarter 

windows are made from. This is a 

well known issue, which is at present un 

predictable during the application process 

and can manifest itself days or weeks after 

application of the tint film. 

The design we produced matches 

the front wing cut outs, developed from the 

Michalak head light kit on the car. The final 

results are stunning, giving a complete black 

look with no rough edges or bubbling to be 

seen from the tinting. We are so impressed 

with the result, we have looked at offering a 

range of these stickers in different designs in 

black, silver or glass etch. 

A solid design would make a cheap 

alternative to tinting the rear quarter windows 

in the first place. While we believe cut designs 

would work very well on standard un tinted 

windows. It is also possible to have custom 

designs cut at an extra cost. 

Standard designs £ 29.95 inc UK P&P 

Custom £39.95 dependent on complexity. 

If you like the idea then email us at info@ 

smartimes.co.uk for further information. 

Note: the stickers will reduce the vision 

through the window. 

Massive 

Whether your smart needs a new tyre, a service, MOT or bodyshop 

attention, we can look after it. We have competitive prices too. 

And to suit your lifestyle, via our new online webshop can supply 

smartware, smartcare, Bantam Trailers & accessories (inc. BRABUS). 

Does yours need some love? 

Call or click today 













Welte Engineering’s X-Gauge 

the X-Gauge 

In 1597, Francis Bacon said, “Knowledge is power”. 

Over 400 years later he is still very right! 

The smart ECU knows almost everything about the car it is in. 

Hundreds of times a second, it correlates data from countless 

sensors throughout the car. It finely balances all the figures to 

make the car drive in the way it is supposed to and keeps the 

whole thing efficient. 

The information is there, but what good is information if you can’t 

access it? 

The ECU may know the coolant is too hot and may damage the 

engine. It may know the airflow rate is down, in fact it might 

know a lot of things but what is it going to do about the problems 

that occur? It will show a light or make a beeping sound at you 

like you are supposed to understand what it wants. 

Computers are fine until something goes wrong and then you 

have to get a human involved. One way to fix your smart was to 

take it to a smart dealer where they would plug in another dumb 

computer and tell you there was no fault. The other way was to 

change a few things and hope it sorted the problem out. 

The fact is that all the information you need occurs while driving 

and that is why the X-Gauge is the most important smart product 

this year and probably next year as well! 

Let’s take a look at the parameters it can call from the ECU: 

1 Trouble codes 

2 Fuel system status 

3 Engine load 

4 Coolant temperature 

5 Short term fuel trim 

6 Long term fuel trim 

7 Intake absolute pressure 

8 Engine RPM 

9 Vehicle speed 

10 Ignition timing advance 

11 Air intake temperature 

12 Air flow rate 

13 Absolute throttle position 

14 Secondary air status 

15 Lambda sensor 1 voltage 

16 Lambda sensor 2 voltage 

It may not be obvious for the novice user how this information can 

be used, so I will go into possibilities later on. 

In addition to the ECU parameters, the X-Gauge can also produce 

a few of its own calculated parameters usually working from 

information taken from the ECU: 

1 Current fuel consumption 

2 Average fuel consumption 

3 Maximum speed 

4 Acceleration 

5 Maximum acceleration 

6 Turbo cool down time 

These parameters are a bit more useful for every day driving. 

The X-Gauge can also show four non-ECU parameters: 

1 Time 

2 Date 

3 Battery voltage 

4 Inside temperature 

How to use the X-Gauge 

How you use the X-Gauge is up to you. Many will purchase it 

for use as a boost gauge, a clock or a rev counter but the more 

in depth you go the more it can help you. 

The initial test that I performed was to try to get better miles 

per gallon from my smart. I selected the following parameters 

to be displayed: 

1 Engine load 

2 Short term fuel trim 

3 Long term fuel trim 

4 Intake pressure 

5 Throttle position 

6 Battery voltage 

7 Time 

A full tank of petrol usually lasts me 10 days and for the first 5 

days I drove as I would normally. I kept an eye on the readings 

given out by the X-Gauge and was happy with the mpg I was 

getting. 

In those 5 days I had noticed that keeping the car out of the 

boost range increased mpg dramatically and that lifting the 

accelerator by only 5mm would help enormously. For the 

remainder of the tank of fuel by keeping out of the boost range 

and being less heavy on the accelerator I managed an extra 

20mpg and the petrol that should have lasted 5 days eventually 

lasted 7. 

The main problem was I was driving like a grandma! Although 

I didn’t care as I was more intent on bettering my mpg on 

every run. 

Prove your mods 

I then considered how the X-Gauge would help the modifiers in 

the smart community. The X-Gauge can be set up to give you 

quite accurate 0 – 60 times which is OK for the “mine is faster 

than yours” type of modifier. 

Imagine you fit a performance air filter. How would you know 

if it was better than the original smart one? You could read the 

info on the website and believe it all and come away actually 

knowing nothing, or you could use the X-Gauge to monitor 

the airflow into the engine before and after fitting. The same 

parameter can be used for new intercooler pipes, TIK pipes, air 

scoops and turbos. 

Air inlet temperature can tell you if the cold feed from the air 

filter is actually sucking up cold air or if the new intercooler 

scoop is doing its job properly. Absolute air intake pressure 

can tell you if the new turbo is functioning as well or better 

than before, or if the remap you just had put on increases the 

boost. 

The possibilities for modifiers are endless and only limited by 

your own imagination. 

Continued... 


55

the X-Gauge continued... 

Troubleshooting your car 

Where the X-Gauge really excels is troubleshooting. If a warning 

light is shown on the dash, the ECU will log a fault code. The X- 

Gauge can read the fault codes which are then cross-referenced 

online to give you the cause of the problem. These error codes 

can also be deleted from the ECU. 

Alternators don’t tend to die overnight so keeping an eye on the 

battery voltage can predict a future problem, saving you the 

hassle of having a car that suddenly won’t start and having to 

run around trying to find somewhere to fit a new alternator. 

Coolant temperature can be monitored to determine airlocks 

or radiator faults. Turbo problems such as a cracked manifold 

can be diagnosed using absolute intake pressure. A blowing 

exhaust will show up as a slight variation on the lambda sensor 

voltages. A sticking throttle plate can be identified using the 

throttle position parameter. 

Again, the list goes on. As more people get the X-Gauge a 

database of parameters can be stored that could be used as a 

reference for other owners who are having troubles. 

It is much easier to determine a problem when you can state the 

facts and figures. 

Fitting the X-Gauge 

The icing on the cake of the X-Gauge is the ease of fitting and 

use. 

The X-Gauge PCB is housed in the clock pod that comes as 

standard with most smart city/fortwo models. Don’t fret about 

losing the clock as the X-Gauge can display the time also. 

Fitting is very easy and shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes 

even for a beginner and it doesn’t require any specialist tools 

to aid fitment. 

The original clock is disconnected and the internals removed. 

Nothing is done during fitting that cannot be reverted to 

standard. The X-Gauge wires are threaded out of the pod and 

the PCB can be pushed in place. A connector is pushed onto the 

new wires and connected to where the clock plug was originally 

plugged in. 

That is it for power to the X-Gauge. You now have to run the two 

wires to the OBD port. This can be in one of two places but both 

are easy to find and documented in the excellent 28 page fitting 

guide that comes with the X-Gauge. 

The two wires are inserted into a plug that comes with the kit 

and inserted into the OBD port and that is the job completed. 

Living with the X-Gauge 

On starting the car the X-Gauge springs to life in an amazing 

yellow aura, displays a few start-up pictures before settling on 

the information screen. The information can be laid out in a 

few ways and each of the parameters can be moved to one of 

several positions including one large central position for your 

most important bit of info. 

It is recommended you decide what parameters you want 

displayed before you drive off although it is very tempting to 

have a fiddle with the parameters whilst at a set of traffic lights. 

Don’t be surprised if you get beeped when you miss the traffic 

lights going green though! 

For a few days you will find you are mesmerised by its glow 

– the road really does come second so be careful. After those 

first few days you will start ignoring the glow and appreciating 

the information. It’s not long after that you can safely use the 

X-Gauge information for everyday driving. 

X-Gauge and the roadster 

Originally, it wasn’t expected to work with the roadster so I took 

my X-Gauge over to smart Lakeside and Nick James let me plug 

it into one of their customer returned roadsters. 

It worked 100% as it would do in the fortwo - just by plugging all 

of the wiring into the OBD port. This supplies the power so no 

other wiring is necessary. 

Two things need to be known by a roadster owner wanting to fit an 

X-Gauge: 

1. The screen will not dim when the lights are turned on, as that info 

is not available on the OBD port. Self dimming can be added by simply 

applying the correct wire to a light switched live but it’s down to you and 

not covered in the manual. 

UPDATE: A new and much simpler wiring solution has been found using 

the same connections as that on the fortwo. This means that the dimming 

feature now works correctly. Again, info can be found on www.evilution. 

co.uk and an update should soon be available from Welte Engineering. 

2. The X-Gauge is not designed to fit the roadster pods so a fortwo clock 

must be sourced and the positioning is up to you. 

At the time of writing there is a 3rd party looking at making a pod for 

the roadster but the price is very high at the present as they are all 

prototypes. 

Alternative fitments 

There is nothing to say that the X-Gauge has to go into a clock pod 

or indeed on the dashboard. I have already seen one mounted 

in the under stereo drawer and the newest firmware allows the 

screen to be flipped so a clock pod could be installed upside down 

from the roof. 

Home-made custom X-Gauge holders will eventually be abundant 

as there is no lack of parts or ideas when it comes to the smart 

community. 

Taking the X-Gauge a step further 

As soon as I got my X-Gauge my thoughts led to making a HUD 

(Head Up Display) as seen in military aircraft and some expensive 

cars. Luckily I managed to persuade Roland Welte, the maker of 

the X-Gauge, to include the reverse screen option in the menu 

making this project a lot easier to do. At the time of writing it 

is not a completed project but check out the progress at www. 

evilution.co.uk under the X-Gauge heading. 

Need more info? 

If you need to know more your first port of call should be the 

official website, http://www.welte-engineering.ch where you can 

download the newest installation guide and user manual. If your 

questions still aren’t answered you should head to www.evilution. 

co.uk and click on the forum heading. The forum has a dedicated 

area for X-Gauge questions and Roland is a moderator. 

The important extras 

The price of the unit doesn’t reflect how well it’s made or how 

good it actually is. 

The X-Gauge currently retails at €199 which is about £140 (plus 

postage and packaging). This is a steal compared to other units 

on the market. 

You can select 1 of 5 languages (English, German, French, Italian 

and Spanish). 

There are 5 different display modes which can be advantageous 

depending on which parameters you select. 

Conclusion 

Get one, don’t wait 

and don’t ask 

questions. Just 

get one. You’ll 

be glad you did. 

Kane 

“Evilution” 


Sussex Cars 

Storrington, West Sussex RH20 3AB 

Tel: 01903 745769 www.sussexcars.com 

See our web site for amazing deals on pre-registered 

smart fortwo, forfour and roadster models. 

Proud to be 

supporters of 

EBC 

New and Used cars/parts/accessories/servicing and 

The Edge Performance & Tuning - exclusive to 

Sussex Cars 

The Edge and Edge 2 plus NEW Thru Flow Exhaust with 

interchangeable tail pipes. Demonstrator fortwo and roadster 

now on site. 

The official Star Compact 3 diagnosis machine at Sussex Cars. 

Phone us to book your car in for a full check and service. 

PERFORMANCE FILTERS 

Sussex Cars 

Storrington, West Sussex RH20 3AB 

Tel: 01903 745769 www.sussexcars.com 


57

TomTom 510 

We have watched the satnav market develop over 

the last few years and have a TR30 speed camera 

system installed in the car. When we read that the 

new TomTom series of portable satnav systems 

featured navigation, speed camera and a Bluetooth 

hands free mobile phone system, we felt it was 

the right time to consolidate and have all these 

features in the car for both navigation and safety. 

We chose the TomTom GO 510 based on these 

features and price (£340) over the 710 and 910. 

Easy to use: 

Hands-Free Calling and Hi-Fi audio: 

• Clear & accurate spoken and visual instructions: Easy 

to follow, calm instructions given with plenty of notice mean 

that you can focus on your driving. 

• Plug & GO: Works straight out of the box. 

• Portable: Easy to take from car to car. 

• Touchscreen: Easy to operate. And no awkward buttons! 

• Extra wide LCD screen: 4 inch high quality LCD screen 

with crystal-clear 3D graphics, 480x272 pixels and 

64,000 colours. For optimal visibility. 

• Real-time weather reports: A real-time overview of the 

weather before you leave, including 5-day forecasts for the 

place you’re going. 

• Real-time traffic: Up-to-the-minute traffic information, 

jam alerts and road condition warnings. 1 month trial for 

free. 

• Safety cameras: Receive and report alerts when there are 

safety cameras coming up, fixed or mobile. 

Best routes: 

• The latest and most complete maps: Detailed maps of 

your region and the major roads of Europe, pre-installed on 

a SD card. For door-to-door navigation across your region 

and cross border navigation to any town in Europe. 

• Route choice: Plan your route to fit your requirements, 

such as: quickest, shortest, avoiding toll roads and 

congestion charge areas, by required arrival time, etc. 

• Points of Interest: Café, car park, cinema or petrol 

station. 1000’s of POIs pre-installed. Search by proximity to 

current location, on your route, near a specific city, etc. 

Clear instructions: 

• Huge choice: TomTom GO 510 speaks some 36 languages 

in over 50 different voices. 

Smart extras: 

• I-pod control: Connect your I-pod to your GO* to operate 

it via your GO 510 touchscreen and enjoy mp3s or Podcasts 

through the high quality speaker or via your car stereo. 

TomTom GO 510 supports the I-pod 3rd and higher 

generation (except the I-pod Shuffle). 

TomTom PLUS: 

Safety 

• TomTom is committed to make driving more safely on 

the roads. Our navigation systems encourage you to 

get from A to B as safely as possible: 

• Speeding alert: Alerts you that you’re speeding, even if 

you’re not in navigation mode. 

• Hands-Free car kit: TomTom GO 510 doubles as a handsfree 

car kit using Bluetooth technology. So you can make & 

receive calls as you drive via your touchscreen. 

Technical specifications: 

• 4.0 inch widescreen WQVGA screen (480x272 pixels, 64,000 

colors) 

• CPU 400 MHz 

• RAM 64MB 

• Lithium-Ion battery (4 hours operation) 

• SD card 

• High sensitivity SiRF Star 3 GPS chipset 

• Dimensions: 112x81x66 mm 

• Weight: 300 grams 

We purchased the unit on line from Dixons. 

Unfortunately, within days the unit died on us. However, 

we had been so impressed we returned the faulty unit 

for a refund and brought the same model from our local 

Halfords store. 

During the period we had the first unit, we tried 

a few mounting positions in the car. It is general 

knowledge that thieves look for the tell-tale sign of the 

mount ring on windscreens from satnav units. We did 

not want to encourage theft so preferred to mount the TomTom 510 

off the dash. To do this we had a metal plate cut. The plate slips 

under the edge of the centre dash, next to the existing clock (now 

X-Gauge) and rev counter and secured by one of the dash screws, 

clapping the plate flat. The plate was painted as best we could 

to match the grey plastic, finishing off the factory look. We also 

adjusted the position of the Clock (X-Gauge) to improve its visibility. 

The TomTom 510 has been in use for three weeks at the time of 

writing, and proved invaluable on the day of the London to Brighton 

Rally. It is easy to use and provides more than navigation, putting it 

into everyday use rather than just on long trips. The home software 

and docking station make it straight forward to maintain and 

extremely simple to program. 

We give the TomTom 510 top marks, 10/10. 

Massive 

The plate was painted to 

match the plastic trim 

The TomTom installed 

The XGauge moved 


I have been a 

sucker for a bit of 

Brabus Bling for 

a while now, and 

although many 

people don’t see 

the attraction, 

I’ve long believed 

that the only thing 

wrong with it is the 

price. 

If you are prepared to be patient and shop 

around on the internet, you can get these parts 

much cheaper than retail, and this has been my 

approach. 

Having already succumbed to temptation and 

bought and installed the Brabus handbrake lever 

and gearknob, I simply had to have the matching 

Brabus pedal covers. 

After many weeks searching a pair came up 

on eBay and were purchased for £30 less than the 

Smart retail price. Still more expensive than many 

third party items, but they match everything else, 

and do look the business. 

Parts Required: 

Brabus Pedal covers kit (part no. 

Q0015525V001C08B00) 

Kit includes two pedal 

covers and mounting 

screws and allen key 

shown above. 

You can see that two 

of the screws are self 

tapping, and the other 

three are actually small bolts. 

Tools Required: 

Drill = For drilling mounting holes in pedals. 

3.5mm HSS drillbit = For drilling holes!. 

Allen key (from kit) = For tightening screws. 

Pliers = For holding nuts in place. 

BRABUS pedal covers 

5) Now moving onto the brake 

pedal, which unfortunately is a 

little harder to install. 

6) Firstly remove the rubber 

brake pedal cover to reveal 

the medal pedal underneath. 

7) Now hold the new pedal cover 

in position over the metal 

brake pedal, and use the 

drill with the small drill bit 

to drill through the pedal 

cover into the metal below 

to mark the holes and position of the pedal. 

8) Now remove the pedal cover and using the 3.5mm drill bit you can drill 

through the pedals at the marked positions. 

Note: This is hard work!! Be carefull not to push too hard on the drill bit, 

otherwise it may snap. Take my word on this, and if you are sensible you’ll 

wear some eye protection. Normal glasses or Sunglasses are better than 

nothing, and you’ll look cool whilst doing it!! 

9) Once you have drilled all three 

holes (and hopefully not run out 

of drill bits!!) you’ll have a brake 

pedal ready as shown. 

10) Now place the pedal cover over 

the brake pedal, and push the 

three allen bolts into position to 

hold it in place. 

11) Taking the bolts one at a time, 

place the small washer and nut 

on the back of the bolt, and turn 

a couple of turns to hold the 

nut in place. 

12) Now using the pliers to hold the 

nut at the back of the pedal, 

tighten the allen bolt with the allen key. Repeat this 

process for all three bolts. 

Note: Once the pedal has been installed, check that it operates smoothly 

and does not catch on carpet etc. 

As well as the above 

you may need a 

second 3.5mm drill 

bit as these can break 

easily when drilling the 

pedal. A smaller drill 

bit can also be used to 

drill pilot holes or mark 

the position of the pedals. 

Installation: 

Before, So bland and dull, dull!! 

After, Palatial pedals make my feet 

want to party! (and bank manager 

weep!) 

The installation of the Brabus pedal covers is 

reasonably straight forward, but working in the 

footwell can get a little cramped!! 

1) Lets start by installing the accelerator pedal 

cover first. This is simply installed over the 

top of the exiting pedal. 

2) Hold the new pedal cover in position over the 

existing pedal, and using the drill with small 

drill bit installed drill two shallow holes 

through the holes in the pedal covers to mark 

their position. 

3) Next using the two self tapping allen screws 

and the allen key, tighten the screws through 

the pedal cover and into the accelerator pedal 

underneath. 

4) Once fully tightened check the operation of 

the accelerator pedal does not catch on the 

carpet and functions smoothly. 

Once completed stand back (as far as you can lying in the footwell!) and 

admire your handiwork. Almost a shame to put your feet on them! 

Conclusion: 

The whole installation took around one hour, with most of that time doing 

the drilling of the brake pedal, with occasional breaks to change the drill bit 

and swear a lot. 

The pedals look great and are a big improvement on the originals. I know 

it’s a lot of money, but they have the Brabus logo on them. What more do 

you want? 

Special thanks to the following 

people: smartypartsfast, for help 

with part numbers. 

Dazza(2006) 

IMPORTANT Note: This information is provided as 

editorial by a third party and does not constitute 

mechanics instructions. smartimes can take no 

responsibility for damage or miss-fitting related to 

published articles. 


59

C7 update 

The Michalak C7 smart kit car has been on show around the UK and Europe this 

year. The first kits are being built and the rag top has been released along with 

two versions of windscreen. smarts-R-us the UK distributor provide a build to 

order service so, if you have a old smart. You may want to give it some new cloths, 

designer style. 

Since the 1998 launch of the smart product, 

SW-Exclusive have been developing and 

designing tuning options for the smart. 

We have been professionally testing our 

tuning programmes at race circuits local to 

our German development headquarters in 

Wiesbaden, Germany. 

SW Exclusive’s full range of performance 

parts including: springs, sports clutch, 

turbos, filters, exhausts, wheels, remaps 

and tuning are now available to the UK 

via our new on-line store utilising fitting 

centres in the UK. 

Check out our web site for fortwo, 

roadster and forfour options and 

further details. 

“Our goal is to help the owners of smart 

cars, to have the ability to gain ultimate 

performance tuning, at an affordable cost.” 


We have arrived, www.sw-exclusive.co.uk

One thing that I’ve felt that is missing from my Smart 

is a one touch operation for the Windows. I have to use 

a pass for the car park at work, and after a year it was 

starting to annoy me having to hold the button down 

to open the window all the way. Obviously I am easily 

annoyed! 

Fortunately those clever chaps at Misterdotcom 

over in Germany have a solution to this problem in the shape 

of their window lifter kits (called tiptronic). These kits are 

modular, and can provide the following functions: 

Basic Module (Grundmodul) 

- One touch control of drivers window. 

- Window works with ignition off. 

- Auto close drivers window with keyfob/central locking. 

Auxiliary Module (Zusatzmodul): 

- Extra module for passenger side. 

- Window works with ignition off. 

- Auto close window with keyfob/central locking. 

Additional Control Cable (Zusätzliches Steuerkabel): 

- Extra cable to control passenger window from drivers door 

Offer Kit (Angebot): 

- Contains all three of the above kits. 

All the details can be found at their website: http://www. 

misterdotcom.de/ 

Unfortunately for me it’s all in German, but using Googles 

excellent free site translation service you can stumble you way 

through it: http://www.google.co.uk/language_tools?hl=en 

Extra wire = To extend 

cabling, around 2 ft 

needed. 

Crimped connectors = To 

extend wiring. 

Crimping tool = To 

strip wires and close 

connectors. 

Electrical tape = For 

covering connections. 

Scissors = For cutting 

tape. 

Wiring connector = To connect to wiring loom. 

Small screwdriver = For removing wiring guide. 

Window lifter 

You will also need a wire coat hanger or similar piece of wire to 

help with the routing of the cable. 

Installation: 

The installation of the window lifter kit falls neatly into two 

parts. Firstly you’ll need to install the basic window lifter 

module. Following this, if you have the drive lock function on 

your car, you’ll need to do some additional cabling. 

Note: You are installing electrical components and wiring. I 

would always recommend disconnecting the battery whilst 

working to avoid getting a shock or shorting out components. 

1) 

Note: If you want to order from the site, you’ll find that the 

translation service does not work. You can work around this by 

using the site in German and cutting and pasting the text into 

the Google translator to get the English version. It’s takes a 

little time but works! 

For the purpose of this article I have purchased and 

documented the install of the basic module only. 

Parts Required: 

In the Basic module kit 

you will get the following 

parts: 

1 x Short grey wire with 

connector. 

1 x Wire with fuse 

connectors (usually yellow 

or blue). 

1 x Module with grey wire/black connector. 

1 x Red wire with connector (not shown) 

2 x Wire connectors (scotch lock type, 1 shown) 

There are instructions available on the misterdotcom website, 

but they are currently only available in German. 

Tools Required: 

2) 

Firstly you will need to remove the door trim from 

inside the drivers door. Use the Torx drivers to 

remove the screws as shown. 

Cable Ties = For fixing 

module in car door. 

Pliers = Pulling cable ties 

tight. 

Scissors = For cutting 

cable ties. 

T20 and T25 Torx drivers 

= For removing door trim. 

Additionally if you have drive lock installed in your car you 

will need to install some additional wiring, and will need the 

following tools and parts as well: 

Once the screws have been removed you can put your 

fingers in the holes left by the door handle mounting 

points to gently remove the door trim. Once it has 

come loose at the top and bottom you’ll need to slide 

it forwards to remove. 

3) Now take the grey wire with the connector from the 

kit with one of the wire connectors. We will connect 

this to the grey wire in the bunch of wires running 

along the door near the top. You may need to cut 

away some of the tape binding this group of wires to 

separate the grey one. 


61

Window lifter 

4) 

Position the wire connector as shown in the diagram, 

and not too far back towards the lock of the door. 

The grey wire from the kit needs to connect to the 

module, and it is not very long! Use the pliers to close 

the wire connector over the two grey wires. 

5) Now feel behind the door panel to the back of the 

electric window switch and unplug the connector on 

the back of the switch. 

Note: Always pull on the connector when unplugging wires, and 

never the wires themselves. 

6) Take the plug from the back of the electric window 

switch and connect it to the window lifter module. 

Take the connector attached to the module and 

connect it to the back of the electric window switch. 

7) Now take the grey wire that you previously connected 

to the wiring loom in the door and connect this 

to the terminal marked “Anschluss - Zentral- 

Verriegelung” and the grey coloured square. 

8) Next take a couple of cable ties and locate and fix the 

into the fourth socket on the left hand edge of the 

fuse box. The fuse should be locating through the 

holder and into the fusebox. 

Note: If you find that 

the electric windows no 

longer work, either with 

or without the ignition 

turned on, then you 

may have located the 

fuse connector upside 

down!! This is easily 

done, but I will not be 

owning up to it!! 

Wrong way round = 

No working windows! 

13) With the ignition on you should be able to open and 

close the window. With the ignition off the window 

should still be working. Locking the car with the 

window open should close the window automatically. 

Cool!! 

14) At this stage the bulk of the install is complete. To 

finish off we need to run a cable from the window 

lifter module to an ignition switched supply. We’ll be 

using a wire from the wiper motor. 

Note: The module uses this to determine whether you are 

driving, otherwise if the drive lock function engaged or you 

locked the doors manually the windows would close!! 

15) 

window lifter module to the wiring loom at the top of 

the door just below the electric window switch. 

9) At this stage you can check the operation of the 

window lifter module. With the ignition on you 

should be able to open and close the window fully 

with a single touch of the button. A longer press still 

preserves the original electric window function so that 

you can partially open the window. 

10) Now we need to install the yellow cable from the kit 

with the fuse connector into the fuse box. 

11) On the front of the fuse box on the left there are 

four fuses marked up as 1-4. Remove the 30A fuse 

in position 4 and replace this with the fuse connector 

on the yellow wire. This connection is quite still and 

needs a solid push to fully locate in the fuse socket. 

12) Next put the fuse into the fuse holder, and push this 

Connect the red wire connector to the terminal on 

the module marked “Anschluss - DRIVE LOOK - 

Zündung EIN KL 15” with the red square. 

16) Open the drivers 

door and find the 

small grey cable 

guide. This is used to 

route cables between 

the door and the 

main car body, and 

prevents them from 

becoming twisted or 

trapped. 

17) Using a small 

screwdriver, insert 

into the top between 

the cable guide and 

the body to remove 

the cable guide. 

Then turn it over 

and unclip the small 

catches to open it 

up. You will now be 

able to remove it 

completely. 

18) Route the red wire from the window lifter module 

inside the door through the hole at the front of the 

door along with the other wires. 


19) 

Window lifter 

26) When routing the cable make sure that you tuck the 

cable below the rubber seal around the bodywork. 

This will prevent it rubbing against the body of the car 

and getting damaged. 

27) Inside the right hand service grill there is a large 

Now using a straightened wire coat hanger, insert 

it between the front body of the car and the tridium 

shell as shown.. 

20) This will need a bit of patience, but with the window 

down you should be able to feel for the end of the 

coat hanger with your fingers inside the body, by the 

door, whilst moving it around from the outside. 

21) 

22) 

Once you have guided the coat hanger out of the hole 

by the door, tape the end of the red wire to its end. 

connector near the top that is connected to the 

windscreen wiper motor. The pink/red cable is a 

switched supply. 

28) Using the scotch lock connector, connect up the 

routed red cable from the window lifter module to this 

pink/red cable from the wiper motor. Once connected 

wrap some electrical tape around this joint to give 

some protection. 

29) At this stage you should be ready to test everything 

out. Start the engine and open the drivers window 

(now hopefully one touch!). Drive off and when you 

hear the doors lock (or lock them manually), the 

window will stay open. If this is the case, then open 

the champagne. Although I’d advise waiting until you 

get home first! 30) Check the operation of the 

windscreen wipers. Ensuring that they work correctly 

at all settings with ignition on, and not at all with the 

ignition off. 

30) Replace the service grilles, not forgetting the plastic 

filter in the right hand side. 

31) Reassemble the door trim, not forgetting the cable 

guide on the front of the door. This simply clicks into 

place, but make sure the new red wire is enclosed in 

the guide. 

32) Now you can open the Champagne!! 

Conclusion: 

The whole installation was a little more involved that I had 

anticipated. However the installation of the basic window lifter 

module can be completed in less than an hour. 

Gently remove the coat hanger from the car, and the 

wire will follow! 

23) Now remove the two 

service grills on the 

front of the car to 

help route the cable 

along the front of the 

car. These are easily 

removed using a key 

or large flat screwdriver. Turn this in the slot on the 

front of the grill to unlock, then remove the grill. 

24) In the right hand grill 

there is a filter type 

plastic insert. Remove 

this gently as well. 

25) Now you should be 

able to route the red cable quite easily along the front 

of the car, although you will probably find it is a little 

too short to reach the right hand service grill. If this 

is the case you will need to lengthen the cable with 

the extra wire and crimped on bullet connectors. 

Note: If you do add connectors you should use the electrical 

tape to wrap up these connections to prevent water getting 

into the cabling. 

Overall the window lifter module is brilliant. Opening the 

window with one touch makes using car parks much, much 

easier, and having the window close using the central locking 

is cool! I usually leave my window open when parking just so I 

can see the window close when I use the keyfob. 

I love the gadget-ness and the fact that once installed 

everything looks totally standard. It is a very useful upgrade 

and I use it everyday. 

Remember that the install here is for the basic module which 

covers the drivers side only. For the passenger side you’ll 

need the auxiliary module (or offer kit), but the installation is 

exactly the same, just on the passenger side. To install the 

extra button to control the passenger window from the drivers 

door you’ll need the additional control cable (or offer kit), and 

use the cable routing sections of this procedure to help. 

Dazza (2006) 

IMPORTANT Note: This information is provided as 

editorial by a third party and does not constitute 

mechanics instructions. smartimes can take no 

responsibility for damage or miss-fitting related to 

published articles. 


63


As smart cars gain in popularity 

here in Canada, we are seeing more 

and more every day. Smarts are 

not only good commute cars, good 

long-distance cars, good winter 

driving cars but also good advertising 

vehicles. Their “wow factor” and 

design that screams look at me have 

attracted many local businesses. 

Joe Joseph, of Supreme Windows, is just 

one of these small businesses who is 

taking advantage of the smart fortwo and 

its “look at me” personality. Joe, as you 

can see, has been busy personalizing his 

smart car to meet both his transportation 

needs and double as a rolling billboard for 

his Window business. 

If you live local and would like further 

information on what Supreme Windows 

can do for you don’t hesitate to call Joe 

Joseph at 905 849-7800. 

smartboy 


catch-up on what you have missed in smartimes 

Check out what you may 

have missed in previous 

smartimes issues. 

Our £5 annual subscription 

pays for online access to all 

out of print and 2006 issues of 

smartimes. From 2007 we will 

make all issues available from 

our download area. 

If you subscribe you are also 

able to register for our monthly 

email newsletter. Check details 

on our home page at www. 

smartimes.co.uk 

SRING 2003 

Introduction -1st edition 3 

Club contact information 4 

Club meetings 5 

From the smart press room 

City & Cabrio - 2 nd generation 

offers even more comfort, safety, 

individuality and power 6-7 

Roadster -An intensive open-air 

motoring experience 8-11 

Forfour -Unmistakable features for 

every member of the smart product 

family 12 

A history of smart 13 

Club s 

A retrospective - Hambach & 

Gaydon 2002 14-15 

Cat and fiddle meet, Jan 2003 16 

Club chatrooms - words of 

wisdom 17 

Featured cars 

Bluecabby Swindon 18-19 

Dans smart 20-21 

Pink mean smartie machine 22-23 

smart car graphics 

jgr22 designer Logo 24-25 

How to section 

De lip the air intake 26 

Change the air filter 27 

Your smart car Photos 28-29 

Puzzle and word search fun 29 


Pander Pizza 31 

SUMMER 2003 

Introduction - 2nd edition 5 

club meetings and events 4 

from the smart press room 

special edition starblue 6 

500,000 smarts 6 

forfour pictures 7 

roadster with v6 biturbo 7 

articles 

thesmartclub - profile 8 

living with a roadster 9 

first official smartie in Oz 10 

smartville, a smart factory 11 

hambach tri 2003 12 

Funkysmart.co.uk - profile 13 

Billing, the smartstock event 14-17 

The unofficial L2B run 18-19 

a L1CKLE dairy 20-21 

TUG - a love story 22 

T255 JUG 23 

Susie saved in Yellowperil 

incident 24 

At last I have a smart! 25 

Delilah- my affair with a 

topless model 26 

photosho anel swops 27 

smartarse designs, 28-29 

featured cars 

Richard Caesar - Stormtrooper 30-31 

Martin Hunt - It’s an itsy bitsy teeny weeny 

yellow hotted-u machini ! 32-33 

Nicksmart - Switzerland 34-35 

Dave - the fastest binman in 

the south 36 

technical 

re-ma reviews, smarts-R-us 

and Digi-tec 37 

Dyno Day meeting, 38 

How to fit a scoop 39 

pure turbo ugrade 40 

smartronik gear change mod 42 

your smart cars 

readers smart car photos 44-45 


Hire a smart 46 

WINTER 2003 

Introduction - 3rd edition 5 

club meetings and events 4 

club contact information 5 

from the readers 6 

smart club Mexico 6 

Oz update 7 

Roadster-mod‘s on the cheap 8 

Smartarse Design open 

premisses 9 

The Forfour 10-11 

Bexhill beach arty 12 

funkysmart Aviators 13 

thesmartclub Roadster review 14 

Smartarse competition winner 15 

Roadster blues 16 

The birth of Sparky 17 

S2Blade 18 

Ian’s limited edition 18 

Profile - smarts-R-us 19 

Dover, France, Belgium and 

back in a day 20 

S600 JF the story so far 21 

shine’s dairy 23 

Leeds to Bridlington 24 

thesmartclub track day 25-26 

Profile - smartFX 27 

London to Brighton - start 28-29 

London to Brighton - finish 30-31 

featured cars 

Matt Hall - S2Gulf 32-33 

Dave Thomas - DaveMT 34-35 

Marco Dozie-smartclub Ticino 36-37 

technical/reviews 

Digi-tec stage 2 and 3 options 38 

Motoflow magnet 39 

EBC disks and ads 40 

Sorts exhaust 41 

Dyno Day results 42-43 

your smart cars+ 

readers smart car photos 44 

Christmas wishes from the Karrot 

Krunchers 45 


smart hypnosis 46 

SRING 2004 

Introduction - 4rd edition 5 



Sussex Christmas arty 6 

Billing 2004 - Event 7 

Goodwood Trackday -Event 8 

Smart wedding in Singapore 9 

Smartarse open day 10 

Michalak - Roadrunner 11 

Smart Brentford tour 12-13 

Brabus roadsters feature 14-15 

Are they smarts? - Sling Shot & Treo 16-17 

What’s happening at the dealers 18 

The Sringer Fleet 19 

Beaulieu meet pictorial 20-21 

OUCH! That Smarts 22 

Little Miss Bys 23 

Shine’s Diary - Five Minutes of Fame 24-25 

featured cars 

The Dawn of a New Era in Smart 

Performance - Pete Bee’s Z Car 26-27 

Cover Car - look what they did to 

sparky... Arizona Blaze 28-29 

Live and Simple - TomC 30 

Smart tart - Gillian Flynn 32-33 

Smartaccs - new smart 

accessories 34 

S2Wideboy 35 


MCC gets GS 36-37 

Dashboard Bling 38 

Headrest Speaker Mod 39 

Rear panels removed and 

replaced 41-43 


Readers smart car photos 44-45 


Minster Cleaning 46 

SUMMER 2004 

Introduction - 5th edition 4 



Oz update 7 

Canada gets smart 8-9 

Ticino or bust 10 

at the dealers 11 

a couple of days away to relax 12 

Cadbury World meet 13 

Brief encounter 14-15 

Jutta’s Euroean Dairy 15 

Michalak’s at Geneva show 17 

Back to Hambach 2004 18-19 

we drive the forfour 20-21 

smart ringer 22 

from the readers 24 

in brief - news 25 

Nick’s smart story 26-27 

smart of Bristol, smart dealer of 

the year 28-29 

smart wrapping, adsigns 30 

shine’s roadster diary 32-33 

featured cars 

Rob’s ink to Blue 34 

Piston Broke 35 

Brit Tiny 36-37 

Evil Twin Zcars roadster 39 

Sno2y’s little Scam 40 


Nottingham Dyno meet report 41-44 

Sidewinder Exhaust review 45 

Iridium spark lugs 46 

Fitting side skirts 47 

Front and door panel removal 49-51 


Readers smart car photos 52 

Sharon’s word search 52 

smart weddings 53 


Bettershred 54 

Winter 2004 

Introduction – 6th edition 4 


Lejog, Lands End to John O’Groats 

charity run 6 

Smartimes project car 2005 

7 Smart 

thinking…/dealer news 9 

From the readers 10 - 11 

Oz Udate by Pete Bender 12 - 13 

smart club Denmark calling 13 

Canada ER, ready and waiting 14 - 15 

smart dealer news 16 

Smartkid, the youngest smart driver ? 17 

Evil Twin news update 18 

FAK£RS movie release 18 

Smart media news 21 

Smart move - Canada 22 - 23 

A smart Euro trip pictorial 24 - 27 

Smart shark, smart of Hertford 28 

Summer in Sussex, we visit 

Sussex Cars 29 

The smart CDI 30 - 31 

The Blade – crossblade owner 32 - 33 

Snozy takes the high road to Scotland 34 - 35 

Rob Baker’s smart with wings 36 - 37 

Steve White’s Gumball 3000 38 - 39 

Billing smartfest 2004 pictorial 40 - 43 

Get smart about cancer, mile of smarts 44 

Bruntingthore track day 45 

We talk to the head of smart 

UK & Ireland 46 

Smart market launch in Canada 47 

London to Brighton rally 04’ 48 - 51 

Shine’s roadster diary, sounds good 54 - 55 

Extreme smart marathon in Canada 56 - 57 

Smart girl says hello from Canada 58 

S-MANN stealth smarts 59 

Fotfour sortstyle 61 

A tale of two roadsters 62 - 63 

Turbulent going’s on down in Hampshire 64 

Smart antenna stubby conversion 65 

Iridium spark lug update 66 

Magnex exhaust reviewed 67 

Your smart cars 68 - 69 

Working smarts - WA 


65

catch-up on what you have missed in smartimes 

SPRING 2005 

7th edition 4 



charity run 6 

smartimes project car 2005 7 

Oz Update by Pete Bender 8 

International new and old 9 

Road Dyno Charity Meet 10 

smartmania 11 

smart students 12 

BRABUS ‘SB3’ Power Kit 13 

smart of Hertford 14 


Beaulieu meet 2004 16-17 

Canada ER 18 

Bexhill Beach Party 19 

Greetings from an Ex Scot 20 

Sussex Christmas Meal 21 

Ace Café meet 22 

smart girl 23 

The Blade – crossblade owner 24 - 26 

Over the rainbow - featured car 27 

Chameleon roadster - featured car 28 - 29 

Ruby Maxed - featured car 32 - 33 

featured cars 

smartarse’s Mirage a Trois - 34 - 35 

Artful ECOnomy 36 - 37 

Moonrush - Fuel Cell 38 - 39 

smart boy 40 

Shine’s roadster dairy 41 

smart move 42 - 43 

Project Car - Bend it like Andy 45 

“Dude I need a service” 46 - 47 

Replacing your exhaust 48 - 49 

Check Your Oil ? 50 

Project Car - Red Dot Brakes 51 

Your cars and letters 52 

Project Car - wheels 53 

Working smarts - Koncept Hair 54 

SPRING 2006 

11th edition 4 


smart chat 6 

smart news 

Pink Limited Edition fortwo 7 

at the dealers and smart news 8 - 9 

BRABUS Concept forfour 10 

smart technology forum 11 


OZ update by Peter Bender 12 


Vic on tour, towing a smart 14 

BRABUS Factory Tour 16 - 17 

From the readers 18 

First Annual West Coast smart 

Car Show 19 

Annual Beaulieu Meet 20 - 21 

The smart Season 22 

thesmartclub 5th birthday review 23 

Smallest wonder meets 8th wonder 24 - 25 

TheBlade - Time to go home 26 - 27 

smartmove - America Calling 28 

Feature cars 

C7 - smart based kit car 29 

Binxyboo’s urban fairy 30 

Justrules - cover car 31 

Ross from Oz 32 - 33 

ICE smart a true winner 34 - 37 


Wonder wheels? 38 

Snow on the road - Tom Crawford 39 

MSM’s own smart 40 

smart’s flying tiger 41 

Retro fit fog lights 42 - 44 

Winter service for the smart 45 

Re-mapping 46 

Shine’s roadster diary 48 - 49 

fortwo oil cooler install 50 - 51 

Watford Dyno Meet 52 - 57 

roadster cam up-grade 58 

Working smarts - Wee Willy 59 

Wedding smart car 60 


SUMMER 2005 

8th edition 4 


Lejog, Lands End to John O’Groats charity run 

and auction announced 6 

Daimlerchrysler announcement 7 

International news 

Biggest Baddest bash in town. Toronto motor 

show 8 - 9 

Smart club Hong Kong 10 - 11 

Smarts were a hot ticket! 12 

Oz Update from Pete Bender 13 

BRABUS factory trip 14 

Smart and local news 

From the dealers 15-17 

The Happy Cheese lives on 18 

BRABUS forfour feature 19 - 21 

Features 

TheBlade reports from Florida 22 - 23 

Billing smartfest details 24 

Ferrina, my story 25 

Jez’s wooden smart 26 


Smartimes project car, stage two 

build photos 27 

Michalak’s C7 smart based kit car 28 - 29 

Project car – ICE install 32 

Project car – GPS for safer driving 34 

Project car – Button shift 35 

Project car – turbo upgrade 36 - 37 

Smartball 2005 charity run 38 - 39 

Shine’s dairy – rough with the smooth 41 

Smartboy – sound machine 42 - 43 

Smart move - survivor 44 - 45 

Project car - suspension 46 

Smart fluids – screen wash 47 

Janspeed Dyno Day 48 - 49 

Smart LPG conversion 50 - 51 

Your cars and letters 52 - 53 

smartquiz 53 

Working smarts – smart shoes 54 

SUMMER 2006 



smartbeat event 6 

smart news 

From the readers 7 - 9 

smartarse design 

incentive scheme 

Watford and 

10 


smart news and Geneva motor 

show 

12 - 15 

Zap on the road 16 



smart girl - Canada Concept 1 18 

smarts-R-us2 closed 19 

smart boys - Canada 19 

Brit Tiny - Welcome 20 

Canadian smart cars go to auto 

show 

21 

Justrules goes BRABUS 22 

C7 - A day in the park 23 

Evilution’s darth smart 24 

smart love and big Ben 25 

BASS do Brooklands 26 - 27 

smart trek 28 - 29 

Feature cars 

Intercepter 30 - 31 

Clever-end project 32 - 33 

Chilly Willy’s clever-end 33 


PIAA wiper blades 34 

under tray inter cooler scoop 35 

fortwo speaker up grade 36 - 41 

SW Exclusive remap review 42 

Shine’s SMINT’s roadster diary 44 - 47 

Stealth exhaust and custom 

remaping 

48 

Salisbury Dyno & Spring has 

arrived 

49 

Clarion SRV303 sub install (fortwo) 50 - 52 

South West smarties Dyno meet 53 - 54 

Viper side intake modification 55 - 56 

Bilstien PSS suspension up-grade 57 - 58 


Essex Police ‘crimestoppers’ 

smarts 

59 


Back issue content and smartimes 

infomation 

61 - 62 

AUTUMN 2005 

9th edition 4 



charity run from start to finish 6 - 9 

International news 

Canadian ER - smart car round up 10 - 11 

Oz Update from Pete Bender 12 

smart club Hong Kong 13 

smart meet Husum, North Germany 14 

smart meets and news 

Thesmartclub go to Hambach 15 

St. Ives - Camping weekend 16 

Karrots Do Battle 17 

M25 - Motorway Madness 2005 18 

Steam whistle brewery a smart success! 19 

82 Go Wild in Wells 20 

smartboy - Meets, Greets and Eats 21 

smart news 22 - 23 

Features 

The Blade’s penultimate report 

from Florida. 24 - 25 

Project car stage 3 in brief 26 

“The Affair” 27 

Funkysmart’s Billing smartfest 28 - 31 


Hello Again Smartimer’s from Robdot 33 

Project car – ICE install update 36-37 

To TINT or not to TINT 39 

Andy Guru - smartsport 40 

Project car – insurance 41 

Shine’s roadster dairy + competition 42 - 45 

Miracle dry wash - we used it 49 

Rob Baker joins Smartarse Design 49 

DIY Chassis End Caps 50 

Project Car - on board computer & 

cruse control 51 

Service in Canada 52 

Your cars and letters 53 

Working smarts – The Phat Red Arrow 

54 

Autumn 06 


smart news 

from the readers 6 - 7 


smart news and emotional drive 8 - 13 


St Ives, camping weekend 14 

South west Sunday in June 15 

Africa in a pulse 16 


smart girl - Niagara Helicopters 18 

Niagara wine tour 20 - 21 

first smart car in Illinois USA 22 

smart cullinan 23 

fashion cares 24 

Fete de la musique 25 

Canada find the code 26 

Scotish border meet 28 - 29 

smartbeat weekend 30 - 31 

Feature cars 

Limited edition widestar 32 

smartarri - crossblade 33 

Mono - Autotronics show car 34 - 35 

Clever-end project 36 - 37 


SMINT’s roadster diary 38 - 39 

smartboys summer madness 40 

LED interior lighting 41 

performance clutch 42 

performance HT leads 43 

Tint the backend 44 

Braided brake hoses 45 

Nokia’s CK7W car kit install 46 - 49 

smart cargo - half height storage net 50 

smart starter 51 

CDi muffler ends 53 


Ocean yachts 54 


Back issue content and smartimes 

infomation 55 - 56 

WINTER 2005 



smart chat 6 

Smart event hosted by Mercedes Benz 

and the Italian chamber commerce of 

Toronto 7 

at the dealers and smart news 8 - 9 

smart concept at IAA - crosstown 10 


OZ update by Peter Bender 12 

Route 66 the smart way 13 

Blackpool Lions Parade 14 

smartball - Kings Road crossblade meet 15 

A VERY happy birthday! - Gaydon 16 - 17 

The Daisy Project 18 

smartboy - American Muscle meet 

smart n’ Cute 19 

Six Go Mad in Cornwall 20 - 21 

Bexhill Beach Party ~ 2005 22 

Monte Carlo … not bust 23 

Features 

The Blade’s final report from Florida. 24 - 25 

London to Brighton run 26 - 27 

Fluff - NEMO smart 28 - 29 

smart classic - Something for the discerning 

smart enthusiast 30 - 31 

Forfour - Dutch Style 32 


Project car - ICE updated 33 

A BUD and his smart - survival 34 - 35 

She’s the smart one - fuel economy 36 - 37 

smart finish - scratches ? 39 

Inter cooler pipes and induction 40 - 41 

Shine’s roadster dairy 43 

Viper induction kit installed 44 - 45 

Essex Commemorative Lotus smart 46 - 47 

smart wheel arch extensions/trims 48 - 49 

It seemed so easy - side kick or skirts 51 

Project Car - round up 52 - 53 

Working smarts – Chilly Willy’s 54 

smartimes magazine was an 

concept discussed on the UK 

smart club message boards over 

December 02’ and January 03’. Out 

of these discussions the magazine 

was born and the first issue 

published on April 14th 2003. 

smartimes is a broad based smart 

focused publication providing news, 

views, events and product information 

along with third part accessories and 

services. 

Contributions from our readers 

are a core part of smartimes appeal. 

We welcome any stories, photos and 

technical material our readers want to 

provide for editorial. 

Our costs, which are extensive, 

were covered by our advertisers and 

cover price when published in paper 

form. Unfortunately we have been let 

down by a few of these companies 

and now offer smartimes free online. 

We therefore request donations 

to help with costs of overheads such 

as insurance, software and hosting. 

This also ensures our independence 

and impartiality. smartimes is run by 

volunteers and no salaries are paid. We 

are not a charity, we have registered 

as a company to protect our name and 

operate professionally with the highest 

standards possible, something the 

smartimes team take great pride in. 

Please help us provide smartimes 

free for you by making a small donation 

of £5.00 By PayPal or cheque. 

Thank You 

All the smartimes team 

smartimes ltd

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