2008 Was A Year For Smartsizing
February 27, 2009
Did you ever notice the best solutions or courses of actions are usually the simplest? We make sure we go out of our way to either over-think or over-complicate just about any decision. A simple solution is an elegant one.
I decided last year it was time to start pruning the little things that added no value to life. Many of us carry multiple devices that do so many different things. I was carrying my cell phone, a music player, a personal digital assistant (PDA), along with my laptop and all of its accessories. I had many “man-bags” in which to carry the multiple iterations of junk listed above supposedly needed on a day-to-day basis. It was getting to the point that being “portable” meant you had so much stuff that it was not even worth working remotely. It was a temple-building effort just to move from my home office to the back porch if I wanted to work outside. I could not imagine going off-site to work without buying one of those roll around luggage bags to tote all of my stuff.
Again, life does not have to be this hard.
Did you ever notice that the smart is an elegant solution in getting from one point to another? The car has just enough instrumentation to tell the driver only what is necessary. The dome light gently radiates when entering or exiting the car, the radio light only comes on when the radio is on, and there are only three settings for the windshield wipers. Take a look around the engine compartment and tell me if that is not simplicity as an art form. The oil filter and drainage plug are close together for ease of maintenance. Therefore, why does an oil change cost $160?
All you need is:
- 24mm socket
- 3-1/2 quarts of Mobil-1 5w-30
- Oil filter (Smart 132 180 00 10 –or- Mitsubishi 1230A040 –or- Purolator Plus L14612 –or- Bosch 3300 –or- AC Delco Ultragard Gold UPF44)
Note: Thanks to the smart community for its many posts on this topic. I will most
likely buy one of each and do a comparison in a future article. Also, an oil drainage pan and funnel would probably be helpful in the above task. It is 13 degrees outside now so this may wait until April.
I got tired of carrying a cell phone, music player, and Palm PDA so these three devices were replaced by a BlackBerry Curve. One easy to use device is great and the web browser does a great job accessing the Smartimes Mobile Edition. The built-in browser is alright, but I think Opera Mini does a better job. Opera is also available for other operating systems and I like the simple fact that no matter how I access the internet, using Opera is the common interface. The BlackBerry also has a headphone jack useful for plugging it into the fortwo’s radio. Copy music or books into the smart phone, plug into the smart car, and select the [SRC] button for [AUX]. If it is not loud enough, then increase the volume on the phone first and the radio next. You will get the optimum volume if both are adjusted correctly.
My current laptop is still the workhorse, but I needed something a little more transportable. Netbooks are small laptops that are designed to run a user’s essential applications such as e-mail, web browsing, and composing documents. It must also be able to host presentations and have a long batter life. My current netbook is the ASUS eeepc and it has worked flawlessly for the past several months. There are two reasons that I bring up a computer in a car-related forum. The first is the ASUS will fit in the pouches of the fortwo’s rear cargo cover very well. The second is the netbook runs Linux which is an Open Source operating system along with all the applications that I need. As you may have noticed, I’ve been using Linux for years.
Things to consider:
- Open Your Mind
- Open Source
- Simplify Your Life, but Live smartly?
Owning the fortwo is not like owning a normal car. It allows you and a passenger to get from one destination to another in a different fashion. My wife tells me she has an almost Zen-like experience when doing the most mundane of errands. She has commented that a feeling of happiness comes over her when driving it. I have found this to be true when it is pleasant out and the top is down or even when it is a negative twelve degrees outside. The fortwo constantly delivers a calming or Zen-like experience.
Get out and drive it. It belongs on the road.
-Tony Godfrey
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Smartimes…Time To Blaze…
February 23, 2009
Hello…welcome to Smartimes…time to blaze…
My name is Tony Godfrey and I have been a Smart enthusiast for almost two years now. I am really not sure how it got started, but maybe it was one of those things that found me. Maybe like Karma? Fate? Who knows?
The idea of a something a little more “green” came to mind several months ago and I started looking at alternatives of getting from point A to point B. I have an SUV and it is actually used, gets dirty, and fits in perfectly when originally purchased. The vehicle still has a place and I do not see getting rid of it anytime soon.
Other considerations went from small cars, to hybrids, and to even a scooter. About this time I saw the famous YouTube video of the Smart hitting the concrete barrier at over 75-miles per hour and thought about doing some investigative research. The idea for the car was originally conceived by the Swatch Watch Company. The then-CEO Nicolas Hayek started shopping his idea around for an automaker to build it. General Motors and Volkswagen turned down the idea, but Daimler-Benz eventually saw value in the small car.
Smart is short for Swatch Mercedes ART. The original design was for the car to be eco-friendly and city-friendly. The ForTwo is 85% recyclable, offers great visibility, and is also gas pump friendly only requiring less than eight gallons of fuel. The more I found out really got me excited by the vehicle and after months of deliberation, I finally put down my $99 reservation down at the beginning of August 2007. I was told it would probably be in the States within the next year.
Smart does a very good job of keeping potential owners in the loop via e-mail and their website updates. Several months elapsed and I started thinking maybe this was not going to happen. At the end of July 2008, the local dealer called and said my car was in. What? This could not be true so I asked the salesperson to read my order back to me just to make sure. She said my order for the black with silver tridon and red interior with blah-blah options had come in and she would like to arrange a date for pick-up. I said I would call back in bit having to confer with my wife first.
I called my wife and said the Smart car was in and asked what were we going to do about it? She said we will probably make an appointment to get it and have lunch afterwards. What is it with Ladies and Lunch? Anyway, I called the salesperson back and we setup an appointment for that Saturday. The finance person then called and we started doing the paperwork over the phone (Mercedes efficiency?) to save some time. I could not get over the fact how easy this was going.
When we got to the dealership, the car was inside and next to a table for the final signing and such. My wife and I had a snack with “Angus” as paperwork flew and the salesperson went over all the aspects of the Smart. I could not get over the friendliness of purchasing a car and the staging that went into it. While the finance guy was tying up the last few items, my wife and I requested the floor mats, cargo net kit, rear cargo cover, hats, t-shirt, keychain…..yeah, yeah….just put it all on the tab.
We left the dealership not believing the car was actually here and headed to lunch (…ladies and lunch…). It was a beautiful July weekend and the car had its top down almost the entire time. The little guy gets LOTS of attention and it can almost become too much and we actually didn’t drive it for a couple of weeks that September. I have been stopped at red lights, mall parking lots, gas stations, airports, my driveway, and the list keeps growing. This was especially true when gasoline prices were over four dollars per gallon. It is just something that Smart car owners will have to grin and bear.
It is winter time in northeastern Ohio and I was only scared to take it out the first time. Angus does very well in the snow and negative temperatures and he comes from Europe, so this should not have been a concern. I still cannot get over the fact of how quiet the car is, not only inside, but outside as well. The interior is massive and I am still considering a small putting green for those slow times.
Now to Smartimes….
The Smartimes website was found when researching all-things Smart. I went through the website and started downloading past issues of the magazine. These were gone through in short order and I really enjoyed them. My wife and I have a few small cars including a 1968 MGB, 1970 MG Midget, 1992 GEO Metro, and the 2008 ForTwo. I wonder if the people at Smartimes would like a simple piece comparing the four and how a small car has been defined. Put something together and see what happens.
The first response back was from Jennifer saying she liked what she read and she would be speaking with the editorial staff soon. I thanked her for the input and a few days later received an e-mail from Trevor saying he liked what he read as well. We exchanged a few more e-mails and now you are reading the results. They are really great, down-to-earth people and I look forward to a long relationship with them.
It was decided to see what happens with this section. So, let’s talk about the Smart life-style and go from there. I recently planned the first annual “Honey Smart Wine” tour for my wife which we did this past weekend. This was a big success since it was “for her” and not because a holiday was coming up. The ForTwo is a car and should be on the road regardless of the weather, even if it is negative twelve degrees. I recently purchased a BMW first aid kit box to install under the Smart seat to maximize storage. There are a few things every Smart owner should have for normal maintenance that cost very little. Let’s take the little guy to his first Christmas party that the dealership was putting on. Later on this year, he will have a chance to do a parade lap at the MidOhio race course. A parade lab means no more than 40 miles per hour, but its still MidOhio and I’m quite sure it has not been done before.
Now, let’s start blazing that new trail…
Tony Godfrey
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