New Work Cars! (Mercedes-bait)

"for Michigan" (formichigan) 12/22/2015 at 13:37 • Filed to: Smart fortwo, New cars

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The owner bought a couple of new cars for the store-owned delivery fleet. With this addition, we’re supposed to be getting a permanent fleet car instead of one intermittently showing up at the store.

Hoping to get some time at the wheel for some impressions because these are supposed to be much improved from the last generation. I was able to sit in one briefly, and the interior is roomy and seemed well laid out with good fit and finish. Waiting for them to get wrapped in the company livery before we’re allowed to drive them.

But the other two cars are Chevy Sparks and it’s possible that we’ll get stuck with one of those instead, which would be disappointing. I’ve driven the Sparks and they’re the worst cars I’ve ever driven. Granted, that list isn’t extensive.

Probenja > for Michigan 12/22/2015 at 13:44

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Two door Renault Twingo’s*

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > for Michigan 12/22/2015 at 13:47

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I really like the way that the new ones look.

Mercedes Streeter > for Michigan 12/22/2015 at 13:48

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Mmmmm, bait taken! I see they opted for the base model pure. Which, is understandable for business purposes. Does it have the manual transmission?!?!?!

for Michigan > Mercedes Streeter 12/22/2015 at 14:12

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Unfortunately, no. A MT would be horribly impractical because most of our drivers wouldn’t be able to drive it.

Mercedes Streeter > for Michigan 12/22/2015 at 14:20

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Aww darn. Well they should still be fun to drive. I will warn though, in Eco mode, there is some throttle lag. If you drive it in Sport mode, that lag is almost non-existent. Oh, and there is just a tad of turbo lag, but when it spools up, the burst of acceleration is actually quite amusing.

Shame, the pures have super skinny front tyres, so if you try to get too “spirited”, the ESP will likely kick in and kill your fun.

Oh, and the hilarious turning circle should always be a giggle.

I’m actually more interested as to why smarts were chosen. The new 453s are somewhat expensive for business work unless you really need to get through tight spaces.

Mercedes Streeter > Probenja 12/22/2015 at 14:27

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The fortwo variant is actually more Mercedes-Benz than Twingo. The fortwo uses all of the mechanicals of the Twingo, but is otherwise bespoke.

Now the forfour, that thing is literally a Twingo with different panels. I’m not even sure if the Tridion Cell element is unique on the forfour.

On the Euro NCAP, the forfour actually scores a couple percent worse than the Twingo that birthed it. So I assume either the Tridion Cell on the forfour is a fake, or that the Twingo has a Tridion Cell, but without the trademark design.

for Michigan > Mercedes Streeter 12/22/2015 at 14:30

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I was kind of surprised by the choice. The original word was that more Sparks were on their way, which I thought made more sense. No one’s said why the Smarts were chosen instead.

That said, there are several last-gen ForTwos being used by businesses in town. They seem to be a popular option locally.