Composite Bodywork, Turbo rear engine and made in France

I have just added to the stable with a vehicle described as per the title, however not an Alpine GTA turbo, A610 or Venturi. What is it? BIG MVS likely to be first I think but try and beat him.

Twingo or smart equivalent?

Bugatti

Hi Mark, yes straight out the box a Smart Roadster Coupe 80. Not a Brabus version but Kim now wants the Brabus as it looks that bit meaner and has a heady 101bhp!

Simon, Bugatti...... Oh I wish.

Had this a few days now and when I see it from the rear 3/4 view it begins to remind me of a baby GTA with the rear glass and glass hatch panels.

I know some others on here have succumbed to Smarties.... Who else has one?

Lee Metters will soon be along singing the praises of Smarties, and of course like all others, there are points that could have been done differently.

Hi Mark, yes straight out the box a Smart Roadster Coupe 80. Not a Brabus version but Kim now wants the Brabus as it looks that bit meaner and has a heady 101bhp!

Simon, Bugatti...... Oh I wish.

Had this a few days now and when I see it from the rear 3/4 view it begins to remind me of a baby GTA with the rear glass and glass hatch panels.

I know some others on here have succumbed to Smarties.... Who else has one?

I will take the prize Paul but its not quite what I was thinking of..... Yes Lee Metters is now your best friend although I think he only bought into them as its a rare car for him to fit into (height wise)

[mettersl]

Hi...yes I have two at present (plus a scrapper leaving in the next couple of days) I have had one of them for 6 years and 70 k miles...have a reasonable spares stash, some special tools and a star system for diagnostics. Pm me if you have issues with it, most are simple to fix.
Mark is correct, I bought the first because I could only fit them...yes bizarrely they are bigger than most convertibles inside, it’s my commuting and default car. I use it all year.
Good points...great handling, economical, easy to work on and fun when sunny.
Bad points, stopping leaks is a vocation, gearbox is no fun, having all your mates take the "wee wee" out of you about being a hairdresser.
Vince also has (at least) one too.
Now back to Alpine’s....
Lee

run your car on used veg oil, all my mates say my work horse smells of chips and they wont follow for fear of feeling hungry and starving. .
However, I did 6,000 miles last year and last time I bought fuel was 440 litres at £110 and that was in January 2017, 13 months ago.
Each to their own, I mostly hear good things about Smart Roadsters.

[The Saint]

Yes I have a Roadster.. had it 14 years.. I just love it.. I also have a Smart fortwo Electric drive as my everyday run about.
I was up at RATS on Saturday in it.... yes very much like a Toy Alpine. Assembled in France too!! ( may explain the leaks!! )
Like Metters, I have all the special service tools and Laptop "winstar" machine... Wait for the summer, you won't be able to resist it!! Lots of fun for little money.

DSC00629.JPG

[mettersl]

Paul,
I have a Brabus (same doors as Vinces too) and a standard 80 coupe that's the workhorse (132k miles now).
The Brabus lack of ground clearance and fragile wheels makes it less fun day to day, but the extra 19HP makes up for it. Much nicer interior on Brabus and a later version of software that speeds the gear changes at the expense of changing later in Auto.
As you aren't far away, if you are really planning a swap, some over and come for a run.
Lee

run your car on used veg oil, all my mates say my work horse smells of chips and they wont follow for fear of feeling hungry and starving. .

Used to do this back in the day, my old Escort non turbo ran as much as 70% veg oil with no problems. Cut that down a little in winter.
Mondeo turbo ran ok on it, but then they discovered the veg oil was eating the seals in the fuel pumps or something like that. By that time the damage was done. That said, on a car which cost me £100 and did 30,000 miles in 18 months with no other problems.....

Bob, I am running a Skoda Octavia 1.9 TDi Turbo. I am advised that the Bosch fuel pump is the most resilient and the engine is pre-PD, so low pressure compared to Common-rail etc. I gravity filter my oil to 1 micron first and then run 100% Veg Oil all year round, with a splash of petrol (just to use old fuel up). It can take 20 seconds turning over to start, be a bit smoky, but at 20-30p a litre it is a no brainer in a budget workhorse of a car. Once a year at MOT time I run 10 litres of regular diesel through just so MOT station is not fumigated at time of testing. Current car has been on oil for 35,000 miles in 2 years and still goes strong and tows well too, I just dont thrash it and cruise about under 3,000 revs. Picked up a bio-diesel processor recently too, so some experimenting to come next.

Hi Lee and Vince

Lee we are not planning to swap the red one to a Brabus, rather like you have a pair of Smarties! Kim prefers the roadster shape over the coupe shape so would be nice to get a Brabus in that shape and have one of each style but she will go with the coupe if the notch back is not available at right price and location....... Lamborghini doors, wow, not cheap to do I guess? Vince love the dog in your pic peering through the car.

Thanks for the offer of tools and advice I do have and issue with the handbrake lever being very high when applied and the footbrake being long/low but a quick pump brings the pedal up again until next time, what do you think? Adjustment of rear brakedrums? Bleed system? replace shoes and pads?

We don't appear to have any leakage as the carpets and seats are dry without stains on the cloth seats but it is now tucked away under its Stormforce car cover... Should help stop leaks developing, hopefully!!

[mettersl]

Paul,
I’ll pm you some suggestions...

Cheers
Lee

Paul,
I’ll pm you some suggestions...

Cheers
Lee

Thank You