Hi guys...

I just got back from Italy today and I saw so many SMARTs there it's unbelievable. This was the first time I saw one in real life, and I think they are really nice and are very practical cars. Besides that, the thing that really surprised me were that all of the benzes I rode in, or saw, were in manual transmission. A,C,E,V classes as well as the CLK were all in stick. MB has manual transmission for basically every model car they have. This was a real shocker for me. Am I the only one who didn't know this??

Chuck

-Italy is a beautiful country-

Chuck,

I have made numerous posts about my frustration regarding MBUSA not bringing manuals to the US. I spent about six weeks in three trips all over Europe in 2000 and saw manuals everywhere. In the course of that I drove a manual C Class in June. I came back to the states after that trip and found out the C would be brought to the US with a six speed. I bought one as soon as I could.

I don't really care for the Smart. But in places like Milan where you see scooters all over the street, I'm sure they make a great alternative to a scooter. Even on the MB headquarters parking lot in Stuttgart, they are everywhere. I can see this being a valid mode of transportation, however.

I left drool on many MB's in Europe that were stick shift models that could not be bought here for any amount of money. It's very sad that the American public has fallen so in love with automatic transmissions, they use more fuel and are much more expensive to maintain and repair.

Have a great day,

ehh...hkoh...

...I knew that...

The smart is about the most bought (not leased) company car here in the Netherlands. The companies stick a lot of advertising on the car and park it on the roof of their office (by crane) or let all possible junior employees drive around with it.
I don't like the smart and I have seen some smarts that were caught in accidents....and I think one does not want to experience an accident with that car...
I have even seen one smart that rolled over because it lost control in a curve and hit the side walk that was about 15cm higher as the road itself!

greetingz,

__________________
1990 300SL-24
1993 C250D with a minor 600+k kilometer
www.MBenzNL.com(the Netherlands)