Smart Roadster – pitfalls?

We’ve got our daughter a Smart Roadster. Lovely little car with low mileage.

However at the weekend it got itself immobilised* – turned out it needed new batteries in both the keys. That was a good “gotcha” and from what I’ve read we were lucky it wasn’t worse.

Any other quirks we can expect?

*What a steaming pile of poo that turned out to be. Thought we were going to have to get it towed.

Is there any way to remove the immobiliser or bypass it?

I don’t like the idea of a vehicle that is so thief proof the owner cannot drive it with their own keys.

Brakes are crap but then the car is slow so that shouldn’t be a problem. Worst aspect is the woeful gearbox that is slow and jerky. Other than that they’re quite good, I’d have one with a manual box.

It can be bypassed with a working key.

don’t pay much heed to internet stories, nobody goes onto the net to say their car is perfect.

if you search any car, you will easily find scare stories about how bad they are.

obviously, with a smart car if your daughter is doing an 80mile Mway commute, it won’t be much good at that, but there are plenty of them around, so they can’t be that bad surely?

have a look for a smart forum, there is bound to be lots of helpful advice out there.

Seals around the windows and removable roof are pretty crap and we’re a dealer recall, if it leaks they’ve not been done.

Gearbox can be sluggish,  but that depends on how you drive it. Can be fixed by a re-map, you might want to get a stage 1 remap done on it too to help with midrange and help get a few more mpg out of it.

Great cars, quirky but fun and she’ll either love it to death or sell it quickly.

I’ve owned Fortwos in the past (had 6, business run) all had stage 1 remaps to sort mid range and gearbox changes. I loved them, I think they’re a fun and funky cheap and easy to park vehicle.

I had a Brabus which was hilarious, but too stiff for everyday driving (IMO)

HTHs.

Edit; hasn’t cynic-al got a smart roadster ???

*whoosh*

I do indeed – in fact I suggested one to OP on his MX5 thread.

There is a good guide to buying one on theroadster.net*. If you didn’t do all the checks before buying, no harm in doing so now.  Leaks/electrics are common, various other wee niggles too. *Great community there and on FB for sorting them also. Evilution website is worth the £10 membership.

There’s little point comparing them to other cars, they are unique.

Wet SAM / Ecu is a known issue.

Turbos are built onto the manifold and can crack due to the weight of the turbo hanging off without support.

I had a Brabus roadster which I had tuned to 140 hp. Not much but pretty good from a 700cc 3 pot.

There was an article about them in the issue of autocar I bought on holiday last week. Pm me your email address and I’ll scan it over to you of you like. It’s a buying guide really, but highlights common faults.

Made me want one 😎

There’s little point comparing them to other cars, they are unique.

Honda Beat?

Suzuki Cappuccino?

Mazda Autozam AZ-1?

Daihatsu Copen?

Need I go on?

😛

I think you need to go on as they are not the same as those cars.  The Honda, Suzuki and Daihatsu are similar to each other but not the Smart.

I had a roadster coupe for around a year back in 2004 and loved it.  Didn’t have any problems but it was almost brand new and had a few thousand miles on it so would hope not to.

Suzuki Cappuccino

I had had one of them, bloody brilliantl car kind of what the Smart tries to be but gets no where near.

OP batteries do wear out in remotes, that’s normal in any car

It’s not a very masculine car, so others have the tendency to pull out on you

We seem to have found all the Smart forums. 🙂

It’s mainly the electrics that worry me. I really don’t like that the car was stuck immovable in our driveway for a few days. The logic behind an immobiliser is crap if it inconveniences the owner or leads to unnecessary expense.

If a remote key battery wears out, then the only consequence should be that you have to manually unlock the car, not that it should be immobilised.

If I had a proper wiring diagram I could figure it out.

Leaks are what I’d expect in any open car, but I’ll chase down all the water access points.

The car will be driven on north Highlands roads, so I doubt the power or the gearbox will be a problem for her.

I do expect her to take it into the scenery at some point, so I’m hoping the safety features are up to scratch. The advantage of a 2 seater is she can’t take 5 of her daft mates with her into that scenery.

We have just had it serviced and checked over, there’s no problems other than some very slight play in the top suspension mounts. We’ll fix that in the next week. and it’s getting new tyres this week purely as a precaution.

As for comparable cars, the drive I have had in it reminds me of the 1960s MG Midget (BMC version).

If its teh same engine as our old Fourtwo, stay on top of teh servicing and oil changes. Its not uncommon for the cylinder bores to go oval and it starts eating oil. Our car’s engine developed this fault at 52k miles.

Otherwise a brilliant little car.

sbob as said those are quite different, zero luggage space once you take the roof down and some are known rust buckets.

Epicyclo you have taken it to a Smart expert? Other garages will be pretty useless (horror stories abound). Tyres are a good idea as the fronts esp perish before wearing out as there’s so little weight on them.

As for leaks if the carpets are dry (and it’s been stored outside) that’s a good sign. May be an idea to disconnect the SAM and check it for corrosion, dry joints and creeping solder.

If a remote key battery wears out, then the only consequence should be that you have to manually unlock the car, not that it should be immobilised.

IIRC its a legal requirement to have a manual door lock release in the even of a flat battery. There should be a cover/plug/bung near the handle, or part of the assembly that you can remove to get to the key hole. I’ve had to use it hundreds of times at work. Often with ear defenders on for the alarm.

If I had a proper wiring diagram I could figure it out.

Unlikely, it’s mostly software in one of two or three modules (or more depending on the age of the car!) you’re more likely to permanently immobilise if you start mucking around with the wiring.

sbob as said those are quite different

Probably different colours as well.

ghostlymachine

IIRC its a legal requirement to have a manual door lock release in the even of a flat battery. There should be a cover/plug/bung near the handle, or part of the assembly that you can remove to get to the key hole…

It’s got that, but the car itself remains immobilised. Couldn’t start it. Couldn’t move it off the road, even pushing it.

That’s a crap system. I’m sure the dealers love it though, money for jam… 🙂

As for software, at some stage there is a wire that goes to a dohickey which then switches a relay to allow current to pass to whatever needs it, eg ignition, fuel pump, starter motor etc… If you find those wires, then you can bypass the gates erected by the software. I did this with the fuel injection on one of my BMW motorbikes – it was much too lean at low revs so used to lurch at slow speeds. Fool the signal a wee bit, and problem solved. Anyhow it’s not something I’d try without a full wiring diagram.

Alternatively, if I can find out what signal is being sent by the key, there must be a way to spoof that. Is there an app? – probably on a car thieves forum:)

The Smart is from this century. And (fairly) advanced electrics for it’s day and cost.

You’ll probably need to rip out most of the electrics to find the wire and the doohickey. Unless of course it was done properly, in which case there are half a dozen doohickeys and it uses the same wires for everything. Both the immobiliser and actually making the car go. So bypassing will be fraught with hilarity and electrical gremlins. And escaping smoke.)

ghostlymachine

You’ll probably need to rip out most of the electrics to find the wire and the doohickey….escaping smoke

Indeed, and would probably involve bending double in cramped spaces trying to access them, something I’m no longer good at.

I suspect that fooling the system may be a better idea. The Japanese model uses an infrared key, which suggests that the receiving unit must be a separate component. I’m going to see if I can get my hands on one and unmantle it to see how it’s made. That may give a few clues.

Progress report on immobiliser.

After finding all sort of useful gadgets, eg CANBUS sniffers, and getting mentally prepared for the hassles, I realised I was forgetting the golden rule – KISS.

No need to rip out wires etc. The problem lies with the wee transmitter in the key.

The simple thing is to modify a key. Remove the circuit board and its case from the key, modify it to take a rechargeable battery, and draw the power to keep it charged through the auxiliary power port. That way it will be unlikely in the car’s lifetime to ever experience an immobilisation again. I can fiddle around with perfecting that without affecting the car.

Alternatively, and the more obvious solution, would be to replace one of the new batteries in the keys in 6 months time. That way they would be unlikely to go flat simultaneously, so there’s always one key that would work. There’s a good reason I can’t rely on that though. 🙂

Thanks for the advice folks.

Spoke too soon.

Daughter got stranded. Immobilised itself.

Pain in the arse.

What petrol for arson attack on own car, leaded or unleaded?

The simple thing is to modify a key. Remove the circuit board and its case from the key, modify it to take a rechargeable battery, and draw the power to keep it charged through the auxiliary power port. That way it will be unlikely in the car’s lifetime to ever experience an immobilisation again. I can fiddle around with perfecting that without affecting the car.

surely the simple thing is just for her to chuck a spare battery in her handbag..?

Done that. The keys have new batteries in them and the car still immobilised itself.

Once the car has immobilised itself, the key does not work.

I think I now know why the car has a genuine low mileage…

And twice again…. 🙁

(including a flatbed recovery)

Someone, somewhere, must have got fed up enough of this to have ripped out the slectronics and replaced them with something user friendly.

I haven’t found him yet… 🙂

It’s a lovely wee car, but ruined by crap electronics and dumb programming of them.

Whatever you do, be smart enough not to buy a Smart.

Someone, somewhere, must have got fed up enough of this to have ripped out the slectronics and replaced them with something user friendly

Yeah, an MX5…. 😉

I’ll give you £50 for it;-)

Once you get it working again, my mate found his to be as visible to other road users as a cyclist. Got fed up after the second bodyshop visit, so sold it.

sobriety

I’ll give you £50 for it

In all conscience I couldn’t rip you off like that. 🙂

I know where I can get a Hayabusa engine, and it’s a long time since I built a Frankencar…

They are great wee cars mechanically from what I can see, but the design of the electronics is illogical. I reckon they need ripped out and replaced with something that works and is logical.

Hyabusa/ZZR engine would be my plan too, that or a Merc diagnostic laptop to get to the bottom of it, but they were a grand when I last looked, as I was considering buying one cheap with an intermittently dead ECU….

May have fixed it.

The unit containing the antenna for the RFID had corroded connections and has been bodged in the past. Pulled it out and cleaned it. Unable to replicate immobilisation problem, so maybe, just maybe it’s fixed.

I’m going to modify it so corrosion can’t happen again. A visit to a marine chandlers coming up.

It’s a wee rocket on winding Highland single lane roads. Everyone should have a fun car like this.

The engines are a bit chocolate teapot but you can sort them , I’d watch out for damp on the Ecu thou that’s real pain, clutch actuator need to be kept greased.

There’s  6 spark plugs 3 in middle 3 in top .

I’ve had the fortwo 600 and now got an old a1litre turbo fortwo which is giggly.

Evils sites a must.

I’ve seen reasonably cheap hyabusu subframe kits on eBay which would make it easier to convert but probably still a fair bit of work to not have a turd and I’m not sure it would make a good daily driver,you can get plates to put discs on back as well.