Smart Fortwo

Normally, I am not particularly in favor of small cars or city cars or anything which has a body size of a dining table. Despite the fact that I am an Asian and therefore quite compactly sized, I still don’t like to be driving in a city car because they are mostly noisy, way too slow, ruthlessly built and unbelievably cramped. But as the streets today are jammed by enormous cars and with fuel price keeps climbing up, small cars has become an inevitable choice for most people: young mothers to take their kids for a school run; students whose dad doesn’t allow a speed more than 60kph on the highway; or even grown-up men who have no imagination because they drive such micro cars. Having considered several selections of city car available in the country such as Hyundai i10 and KIA Picanto, I think that these cars are simply boring, unimaginative and no sense of humor to be precise. Sense of humor in a city car is obviously important, at least for me, because such cars are mostly driven in a town with stressful gridlocks every where, so there must be an element in the car which soothe your brows as you dive into a heavy jam and the cars I have mentioned above simply don’t have this element. However, there is one car which presumably stands uniquely amongst others, rather too unique actually because it has a genuinely individual design which you will never find in any other cars and it has been consistently built from the scratch as a micro car, the Smart Fortwo.

Frankly, there are quite a lot of things in this midget car which don't deserve a positive approval and I will start off by explaining its on-board power. This car doesn't have an engine, what it does have is a lawn mower fixed at the back of the car. It was a rear mounted 3-cylinder 0.8L diesel engine which is only capable of 45bhp. Despite the fact that the engine was boosted with a turbocharger, the car was so slow that it took almost 20 seconds from standstill to reach 100kph. Things get even worse because the engine is paired with the Smart's automated manual, it is basically a manual transmission but it enables the driver to change gear without clutch. At first, it might sound very sophisticated and promising, however after a careful deliberation; I figure that it was completely hopeless. The main trouble is, the gearbox was somehow at a complete loss because it sometimes froze in neutral position when I have shifted the selector either into manual or automatic mode. Furthermore, the gear change was jerky as well and the car lurched back and forth every time it changed gear. Then we come to the weirdest thing of all in Fortwo: the steering, which was not adjustable, however this niggling little fault was nothing compared with its mechanism. Normally, the steering mechanism in a city car is designed to be light so that it would ease the driver to park or sneak through heavy traffic, but Fortwo somehow breaks out this norm. The steering during low speed is noticeably heavy and it strangely becomes very light on highway, rather too light actually because the steering wheel vibrates badly once you inadvertently stray over 120kph. What's more, the vibrating steering wheel was also indicated with a noisy engine sound inside the car and instability of its light body. With an overall weight less than 800kg and combined with short wheelbase, the Fortwo's body wobbled as if it was made from a card board. In terms of mechanical exercise and engineering innovation, this car is certainly not a good example, but don’t immediately assume that this car is rubbish because things start to pick up well in other aspects.

"You can tell other people that you drive a rear engine, rear drive, turbocharged, two door Mercedes Benz."

In a car park, Smart Fortwo still draws quite an attention thanks to its unique approach of how a city car should be looked like. The signature design of Smart’s cars which is the Tridion steel frame provides a distinctive style while maintaining itself as a safety cell which protect the passenger from an accident. Fortwo is also 20cm longer than its predecessor and it is therefore much better proportioned since it has a wider wheel track. Nevertheless, the extension in body length might cause a vertical parking style typical Smart’s micro cars become impossible, moreover several cities for instance Munich have banned such parking method. Anyway, the exterior of Fortwo generally looks fresher and more appealing. Inside the car which is the Passion trim level, Smart still maintains the funky interior design such as the chic carpet surfaced dashboard and some eye catchy details such as the pod clock and rev-counter on the top of center dashboard console, which made the Fortwo’s interior is a very nice place to be. The overall trim and color combination represented a youthful and dynamic design language, the frameless doors and semi bucket seats lent a sporting look, the panorama roof gave the car a spacious feel, and the whole interior ambience simply made you feel relaxed and happy. I would admit that several parts of the interior fitting were not entirely smooth, for instance the sun visor material which was seemingly derived from a recycled case of computer keyboards and cheap plastic in several panels, but these faults were nothing compared with the overall interior atmosphere. In terms of practicality, there is plenty of space for both passenger and driver. The passenger seat can also be folded to transport longer goods such as surf board. Smart has also lengthened the body of Fortwo compared to its predecessor and as a result, the boot space has also jacked up from 150L in previous model up to 220L in Fortwo. Obviously, it is still far from what people refer as commodious, but this boot space is sufficient to accommodate several shopping bags and a small suitcase.

Enough said with its exterior and interior styling, I come to the best feature of this car which is also its selling point: economy. I had been driving this car for around 980km with various traffic conditions: on the highway as well as in the city with stop and go traffic jams, and the fuel consumption of this car was absolutely biblical, I actually expected it to be very good and it went beyond my expectation. I was initially doubt about Smart’s claim of the fuel consumption in this car, they say that it only consumes 3L of diesel for every 100km. However, after a careful calculation of refueling the car and total covered distance, I am very sure that the 33L fuel tank plus 5L reserve fuel in this car could take me for a total 980km distance on a single tank and without any refueling; I mean this car was genuinely very frugal in consuming fuel. Then because the car burned such a little amount of fuel, it also generated a very little amount of carbon dioxide into the air. With only 88kg of CO₂ every kilometer, Smart claimed that Fortwo is one of the environmentally friendliest cars in the world. This result in a very low tax the customers have to pay if they own this car, so Fortwo is a cheap to run car. Then take into account that Mercedes Benz owns Smart these days, you can tell other people that you drive a rear engine, rear drive, turbocharged, two door Mercedes Benz when you have one.

All things considered, Smart Fortwo is a well made car despite several problems I have pointed out previously. The mechanical drawbacks such as wobbling body on highway might just not a big deal to shout about, mainly because the city is where Fortwo belongs, although the heavy steering wheel is clearly a deep concern since it is a city car and the steering in a city car is supposed to be light. Moreover, despite its microscopic size, Fortwo is a safe car thanks to its four-star crash test rating based on Euro NCAP evaluation. At the end of the trip and even until now, I still want to hate it and laugh at its pathetic engine performance, but the stylish interior design and its unbelievable frugality in consuming fuel have completely won me over. It has the sense of humor which a city car must have and this car is really such a giggle, I didn’t feel weary, stressed or want to stab other people after completing a long journey in it. Eventually, Smart Fortwo is obviously a proper, undiluted, stylish, efficient city car and that is just about the best thing a city car could offer these days, which make it the new favourite little car of mine. Until the next posting, enjoy!

The Quest of Befriending With Native Girls

Not in a distance past, I noticed a couple waiting for a bus in front of the Ulm central bus station, Germany. I suppose they were just about 20 something and like other couples in Germany who are quite expressive in showing romance in public; they were no exception as well. What else could you possibly want other than a warm kiss in a chilly morning? Instead of yelling to each other about who will clean up the dog pee on the doorstep of the house, that was obviously a positive way to start the day, just before you are off to work. This might sound completely normal and what is wrong with that? Truth be told, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but as I saw this couple, I suddenly remembered my friend who had told me that he apparently had a niggling "problem" of how to make friend with the locals, especially girls. In essence, the man I saw is an Asian, possibly Chinese or Malaysian. Meanwhile the girl is Caucasian, possibly German or American. So the question is: what does my friend miss, in such way that he finds it hard to befriend with native girls, especially those who are at the same age as he is. Meanwhile, the Asian man I saw could even be a lover of some Caucasian girl. The answer might involve a lot of things and that is just what I am about to point out next.

Firstly, I would like to stick to the couple if I may. I have to say that the girl was seemingly a kind of beauty to me, well proportioned figure, wavy brunette hair and has a gorgeous smile that will undoubtedly melt every man's heart. Sadly, the same thing could not be told about the man. His hair was as too colorful as cheap chewing gums; there was an awful dog chain around his neck; has absolutely no sartorial elegance since his jeans were torn on the either side; and lastly, his artistic piercing made me thinking that someone had given him a feminism credential which he didn't deserve at all. Generally, I am afraid that it would be a trifle bold argument since I think that there are at least three elements which someone should have if they want to make friend and I call it the BBC rule: brain, beauty and cash. Judging the fact that even a beautiful girl might hook up with a cow-looked-alike bloke, I suppose that the problem my friend has must not be related with looks. Brain? The Asian man I saw might or might not possess this element since this element needs unquestionably a longer time to observe. However, the first impression might just be a proper introduction to show whether someone has a charm of quality people and after a careful consideration, he didn’t. The last element is cash and this is essentially just like an inhibitor in chemical reactions. If you have it, it would ease your whole process to achieve the result. But if you don’t, it is not that bad as long as you have the other two elements I mentioned above. And then I dive into a surprising bit of fact, my dear friend has all that elements. He factually performs very well during the study; only someone who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome will complain about his finesse look; even cash is not a matter worth to shout about in the world at large. Anyone might suppose that nothing he misses, but be advised that like any other chemical reactions; there are also many others minute elements which sometime are regarded as so small that we could ignore them. However, I beg to differ because each individual build his/her own image as soon as he/she interacts with other people for the first time, that makes every gesture and commentary worthwhile to be considered.

"A normal girl will just not go out for a night-out with some stranger who she has just known for several days."

In relation to the main issue of this note and there is no euphemism to address the main problem, I chalk my friend’s problem up to his aggressiveness in taking someone out for an evening cultural gathering activity. I mean, a normal girl will just not go out for a night-out with some stranger who she has just known for several days. Furthermore, I reckon that most girls will only spend time with those who she really knows well and even on a new introduction, I am almost certainly sure that the first hidden element which could be visually seen by girls is the charm and charisma. I do hope that it doesn't sound like an exaggeration, but this statement might work for several blokes, in a way that they have different first introduction approach to different girls. Personally, I still think that the best way of making friends is just being natural. Well in my case of being natural, I still have to practice how to deliver my opinions in a properly gentleman way, because a proper gentleman way is not my nature. The other important point is knowledge and whether one has a common interest to talk about. It is completely different from the brain element I have mentioned before because this is not about scientific paper calculation stuffs, but it mostly about how broad the general topics you could discuss about. I don't think that most girls will be interested in some blokeish stuff like FIFA world cup or F1 racing championship; neither would I be any amused if girls start to talk about the latest spring/summer collection from some fashion designer. Instead, why wouldn't we start from something old fashioned and poetic, something like in the olden days where people discuss about books, festival or music? It might sounds a bit pathetic for boys and cheesy for girls, but as I have practiced it several times with my new neighbors and it actually works, not to mention that it sometimes works very well as an ice breaker. The last element I could think of is luck, sort of. Judging by the fact that this is an extremely clear topic to be discussed, I might not need to explain any further. The message is don't try to clown around or spread an old chestnut when she is having a bad day, just stay away. Otherwise she would never forget about you, in a negative fashion obviously.

I would end this note by pointing out the last opinion regarding my friend's issue. Of course, he could maintain his integrity without trying to blow smoke other girls' bottom just to be friend with them, but I just want to remind that sometimes the faults is not within the boys, because if so then the girls would be the perfect creature in the whole universe, which I think and believe isn't. However, just like the message on a card box containing fragile and precious wineglass which says "Handle with Care", girls are to be treated with respect and tenderness. On this basis, if he still had problems with finding girl friends, I might simply suggest him to introspect whether he had lost his boyish charm, in such way that girls find him too boring and not interesting to chat with. Otherwise, the last thing he could do is maybe referring to Google and type 'I am a boring man’. Until the next posting, enjoy!