I wanted more up-to-date car reliability information that included actual repair rates. So in late 2005 I started getting people together to make this possible. TrueDelta now updates actual repair frequencies, not just dots, four times a year, to track cars closely as they age.
We recently updated results for the smart fortwo to include owner experiences through December 31, 2009. In terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:
2009: 54
2008: 52
Both model years started out worse than average, and have now improved to average. These cars appear to have some initial problems, then few additional problems once those are fixed.
We have two additional statistics, "Nada-odds" and "Lemon-odds," to indicate the percentage of cars with no repairs in the past year and those that required 3+ trips to the repair shop.
In the case of the 2008 fortwo, the percentage with no repairs is about 65, and the percentage of lemons is about 3.
We'll have further updates in May and August. The more participants we have, the better the information we can provide.
[url=http://www.truedelta.com/car-reliability.php?stage=pt&bd=smart&mc=389]smart fortwo reliability comparisons[/url]
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Herb Bell on -
Your statistics sound about right. It took three visits to the repair shop to eliminate the "infant mortality" troubles in my 2008 SMART. This is exactly why European cars always seem to be "black-balled" by Consumer Reports Magazine.
- Factory QA is weak or non-existent.
- Dealer desire to root out and fix said troubles is the same.
Why is this? I've been told (and even experienced) that European Engineers are given the royal treatment by their employers just because they have a COLLEGE DEGREE! In Italy and Germany, they invariably are addressed with an honorific such as "Engenieri" and "Herr Ingeniour". While working in Field Service for Olivetti, I discovered that these God-like engineers couldn't figure their way out of a brown paper bag! (it's a long story). American Technicians were smarter by a long shot. Goes to show you how an "old-boy's" system of protection, like our medical AMA, is used to protect the incompetent morons who end up causing real damage, even death.
I would suggest that every SMART car owner react to indifference from the repair shops with a really hard attitude to match what whey are receiving in the form of brush-offs.
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We have updated results for the smart fortwo to include owner experiences through March 31, 2010. In terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:
2009: 39
2008: 44
Both model years started out worse than average, and have now improved to about average and are even nearly "better than average." These cars appear to have some initial problems, then few additional problems once those are fixed.
We have two additional statistics, "Nada-odds" and "Lemon-odds," to indicate the percentage of cars with no repairs in the past year and those that required 3+ trips to the repair shop.
In the case of the 2008 fortwo, the percentage with no repairs is about 67, and the percentage of lemons is about 2.
A big thank you to this forum and everyone who has been helping. We'll have further updates in August and November. The more participants we have, the better the information we can provide.
smart fortwo reliability comparisons
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I got my smart in April of 2008. I now have 27000 miles on it and no problems. Really a fun, unique little car. Not for everybody, but I sure like it. You kind of have to like a different kind of driving experience. If you just want an "appliance" car, don't get this. But if you like to think a little when you drive, you'd probably like it.
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I got my 2008 about the same time. I have 36,000 miles + on it and have had no problems. I have the reverse glitch sometimes but nothing major. I do all my own maintenance. I enjoy the "smallness" of it but of course a few years back I drove a Suzuki Samuari.
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Permalink Reply by Herb Bell on
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Reply by Jack Diehl 1 day ago
I got my smart in April of 2008. I now have 27000 miles on it and no problems. Really a fun, unique little car. Not for everybody, but I sure like it. You kind of have to like a different kind of driving experience. If you just want an "appliance" car, don't get this. But if you like to think a little when you drive, you'd probably like it.
Agree with you assessment of Smart's fun factor. You were lucky with your car. This isn't everyone's experience, however. See Michael Karesh's statistics. My car is smack in the middle (average) in reliability, with 3 repairs to finally fix the weird behaviors. Since the third repair, it runs like a Swatch .
After it went past 20,000 miles, something changed in the performance - it improved noticeably. Another poster said this was due to the way the computers in the car were programmed, and not even the dealers were in on this joke, that it was done at the factory to allow the cars to break in at reduced performance until they passed 20K miles. A noble sentiment, but should it have been kept a secret from the paying customers?
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Could you explain what you noticed about your performance.
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Permalink Reply by Herb Bell on
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Hi, Luca;
You asked what I noticed about my Smart that was different after 20,000 miles.
1.- Transmission now kicks down easily (more like trannies in American cars) and spends less time "hung up" in gear under hard acceleration.
2.- Acceleration has improved. I haven't timed acceleration yet, but will report back when I do.
3.- Gas mileage has improved by 2-3 mpg even though I'm driving the car harder.
4.- No more alarms from the computers. All anomalous behaviors are gone.
If the car continues working like this into the future, I will indeed be a happy camper.
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We have updated results for the smart fortwo to include owner experiences through June 30, 2010. Other sources of car reliability information won't cover the more recent months until the summer or even fall of next year.
Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:
2009: 41
2008: 54
Both are about average.
We have two additional statistics, "Nada-odds" and "Lemon-odds," to indicate the percentage of cars with no repairs in the past year and those that required 3+ trips to the repair shop.
In the case of the fortwo, the percentage with no repairs is about 60 for the 2008 and 65 for the 2009, and the percentage of lemons is less than one in both cases.
Thank you, once again, to everyone who has been helping. We'll have further updates in November and February.
To see how other cars compare, and to sign up to help:
smart fortwo reliability comparisons
