URGENT: Smart car vs. Large Samsonite...

[Spinal]

I'm travelling in a few hours (well, 4am) and just realised that I booked a smart car at the other end.... and my suitcase is one of larger samsonite things...

Do smarts have any rear seats I can shove the suitcase on? I SERIOUSLY doubt it would fit in a smart boot.... totally guessing, I'de say the bag is about 1m x 60cm x 30/40cm....

Will it fit or do I need to repack a bit less ambitiously?

TIA,
Michele

 

[whitenemesis]

Is it a Smart by Four or the Two?

 

[Spinal]

For Two I believe... about 70% leaning towards a two... (but the company also has for-four... so I'm not 100% sure)

 

[whitenemesis]

There's no boot in a For Two..
Are you traveling alone? If so you may squeeze the luggage on the front seat.

 

[Spinal]

I'm not unfortunately! (but the person I'm travelling with only has a purse )

I just saw this on parkers:

How deep is that? (and does that plastic divider move/come off?) I reckon I might just be able to squuueeeeze it in...

 

[whitenemesis]

I'm sure you will manage somehow

You could possibly change the car at your destination?

 

[Spinal]

Repacked....

I've shoved everything into a (very) small bag that I usually use as a carryon (we don't have much in clothes - it's a shopping trip really). I then put that into a sports/gym bag. When I get there I can take it out and re-arrange stuff to fit...

On my return I'll be alone, so I can fill the sports bag with goodies and shove that on the seat... (and maybe even buy another bag if the need arises)

Thanks, you saved me quite some hassle! (I can immagine getting to the hotel with my huge suitcase on it's wheels rolling behind the car... "a-la-trailer") (Changing car isn't an option I insisted quite a bit on the smart Driving in Rome needs a Smart or an SLK imho )

Michele

 

[TonyVianoAmbiente]

Mrs300D and I hired a Smart FourTwo in Spain a couple of years ago. We had two medium/large suitcases and carry-on luggage.

The luggage area behind the seats swallowed all the bags. It was a little tight for us but it wasn't a problem and we aren't either of us small people. The passenger seat is located in a different fore-aft position to the driver's seat giving more room for luggage on one side.

For the second part of our trip we upgraded to a Mercedes A180 CDI Elegance which was a particularly impressive car, delivering over 53 mpg in a mixture of fast motorway and congested town driving. But the Smart probably impressed me more, being far more practical and comfortable than I would ever have expected of such a tiny car.

My only complaint was that the gearchange was jerky, whether in auto or "manual".

 

[Mudster]

I've got two suitcases into the back of Smart for Two, it's surprising what that little space swallows.

 

[Moylesey]

I wouldn't worry too much, the car will fit into your case no problem...

 

[PAPA]

Ive been to rome a few times and TBH I would not even try to drive, Its a nightmare..... Taxi for me every time

 

[MikeL]

There's no boot in a For Two..
Are you traveling alone? If so you may squeeze the luggage on the front seat.

Remember the new ForTwo is 150mm longer than the old one and a lot of that is boot space - so you might get lucky.

Mike

 

[Diesel Benz]

It could be a cabrio, would take a good pile of luggage.

 

[ALFIE CONN]

We have a Smart Car, (2 seater four two, we love it.)

The easiest way around your problem would have been to put the Smart in the Samsonite

 

[miro]

I'm travelling in a few hours (well, 4am) and just realised that I booked a smart car at the other end.... and my suitcase is one of larger samsonite things...

Do smarts have any rear seats I can shove the suitcase on? I SERIOUSLY doubt it would fit in a smart boot.... totally guessing, I'de say the bag is about 1m x 60cm x 30/40cm....

Will it fit or do I need to repack a bit less ambitiously?

TIA,
Michele

How many Smart do you think can fit in the suitcase ?

 

[janner]

From the thread title I was expecting a crash test involving a Smart car and a briefcase. I was going to have a fiver on the case

 

[Diesel Benz]

From the thread title I was expecting a crash test involving a Smart car and a briefcase. I was going to have a fiver on the case

For which one did you consider placing your bet?

 

[Spinal]

Back from my trip... I must admit, I was quite impressed with the car.

Ive been to rome a few times and TBH I would not even try to drive, Its a nightmare..... Taxi for me every time

I tend to pop by once every month or two - I drive every time! I've been trying to find a cheap SL/SLK to rent; but it hasn't happened so far

My thoughts on the smart.... It was one of the new models (release 2007 I believe) and, as most rental cars out there had as few of the options as possible. I felt that there were three things that needed improving:
-Power Steering (mine didn't have this)
-Gearbox (it seemed a bit over-ambitious. Driving in automatic, it would change gears up before the car was at a high enough rev (imo). As such, it felt clunky and jerky. Driving a bit more agressively did seem to alleviate this.)
-Sunroof (should be electric... t'was a pain to open/close!)

Other than that, it was a great little car. Going it fit my 3 small bags, and coming back it fit :
-LowePro Computravel rucksack
-Largest of the Delsey sports bags
-Random daycase (45x50x30cm, or thereabouts)
-Dutyfree airport shopping bags (+ some random foodstuff I picked up on my way to the airport)
all in the "boot"!

Fuel consumption was ok, nothing spectacular. I got about 300/350km from a full tank (which at around 40/45 euros works out to 30 or 40 litres). Driving was mixed, 20% city, 70% highway/open country, 10% mountain/volcano.

http://img204.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vesuvio052sy9.jpg

Driving down to Napoli we brought the car to 150kmph (on the clock; my gps was showing 142kmph). That was on a fairly flat/straight road with no considerable wind. The car felt VERY stable in these conditions (read: it felt like it was on rails and cornered magnificently!), and it really felt like being in the c-class (albeit with the handling/suspensions of a go-cart, which was quite fun. It didn't seem to need slowing down to take corners elegantly.). That said, when it started raining and became windy, the car felt a bit less secure...

Overall impression? Great little city-car, though the paddle-style gears behind the steering wheel took some getting used to (I by far prefer my old fashioned gearstick so far ). The bootspace was impressive, and I never needed to put anything in the passenger seat. Oh, and parking was a cinch!

Thanks for the help!
Michele

 

[television]

Thanks for the nice update and your report, I think it may be the first on the forum.

Pleased that you had a good time