Earlier this week, smart USA linked to my site from their Facebook. I felt ashamed that I hadn’t posted anything in so long, not since my flat tire. But honestly, nothing has happened. The car is so reliable, there is just not a whole lot to report in a year! So I guess “no news is good news.”

In 2012 I shall continue to post when new things happen with me and my car. We’re almost out of warranty, and I’m keen to see what happens next!

Keep on driving smart!

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I was driving home from Refresh the Triangle, a web developer meetup in Durham, around 8 at night. Around 5 miles from home, the tire pressure warning light came on. I was surprised, because I usually check my tire pressure every other weekend for safety, so I knew the light wasn’t warning me that I’d let one tire go a little flat. At first I thought, “Eh, I’m not so far from home, I’ll keep going.” But then the other part of my brain woke up and started shouting, “The tire pressure warning light only goes of when there’s a 25% increase or decrease in tire pressure. That means your tire is either on fire and about to explode or going flat and you’re about to lose control of the car!” Okay, okay, the first thing I did was look for a well lit parking lot, of which there are many. The light was fading, and I didn’t have a flashlight in the car (I will correct that post haste).

So I pulled into Lab Corp’s parking lot and pulled in under a nice, bright street lamp. As I swung open my door, I was greeted with an eager hiss from my right rear tire. It was losing air rapidly.

Well, first things first, I called my husband to let him know what had happened. I got his answering machine, and left a note about my time and location, in case something should happen to me. Then I tried to call the smart care hotline, but I must have misdialed because I got switched into a never ending loop of tinny classical music. The sun was disappearing fast, so I pulled out my owner’s manual and started reading about what to do.

Now, smart ars don’t come with spare tires because they use two different tire sizes, little ones in the front, big ones in the back. This means you’d need both sizes in your trunk in case of emergency, and that wouldn’t leave much room for groceries. So instead, each smart car ships with an air pump (which I use for my biweekly tire maintenance) and a bottle of goo, both of which are stashed under the flooring on the passenger side. So I read up on how to use the goo.

First off, using the goo ruins the pump and the tire pressure level sensor. The sensor isn’t covered under warranty in this case, so you have to pay to replace it yourself. Secondly, it works best on small holes in the tread. Lastly, the goo is covered in warnings to not inhale or touch the stuff. My favorite part in the manual was where it said that you should wear gloves when using the goo, and that if gloves aren’t around, try to cover your hands with something. And should you get any on your skin, you are advised to wash it off immediately and if “symptoms occur,” contact a poison control center. (What symptoms one should expect was never clarified.)

I decided to carry on, and I moved my smart so the tire’s nozzle was below the horizontal axis of the wheel, which only served to further anger the tire, which began hissing most frightfully and visibly deflating to “flat tire” status. I had emptied out my WordCamp Raleigh 2011 tote bag and was just about to open the bottle of goo when I thought, wait, wait, wait, let me make sure this is the right thing to do. I am risking ruining a sensor, my health and my favorite tire pump. I reviewed my options.

I called my husband again. Still no answer. I began to get very irritated with him for not having the “in case of emergencies” cell phone on him. I tried emailing him and instant messaging him on my Android phone. By the end of the night, I would be very grateful for having had the sense to buy one of these. With no luck reaching my husband and strange people beginning to filter through the parking lot and the sun out completely, I began to worry. I tweeted my situation, “I’ve a flat tire in a strange part of town and my husband’s cell is off. Not happy.”

Soon after, several friends offered assistance, and a ride was secured. I was happy to finally get home where I would no doubt have to rescue my husband from whatever peril had kept him from his cell phone for so long. After a bit of fiddling, I was able to use my phone’s google maps navigator to pass my exact location on to my friend, and the cavalry was on its way!

In the mean time, I checked out the tire a little more. The hissing was coming from a puncture in the side wall of the tire, not the tread. The goo was definitely not an option now. I was beginning to think a tow was really for the best. I tried the smart hotline once more, and this time I didn’t botch it. A cheerful young lady informed me that my tow would be free because each smart car comes with complimentary roadside assistance for the first 2 years or 24,000 miles. I was delighted, as you can imagine.

A tow was sent off just as my friend arrived! I was soon home where I found my husband, safe and sound, watching the television after a hot bath, where his cell phone had dared not to tread. Off we went to meet the tow after many a thanks to our friend who had come to my aid!

A word about towing. When a smart car is towed, you don’t want to strap down its suspension. Also, put it in neutral if the hind wheels will be moving, because otherwise you can punch a hole in your engine (or so I hear). The truck that came picked her up by her hind wheels and away she went into the night with a note to the smart center to go ahead and do her 20k maintenance while she was in the shop.

The cause of the puncture remains a mystery, as I did not run over anything particular while I was driving. We may never know the cause, but I hope it does not happen again! I was delighted about the complementary roadside assistance, and I wish I could extend the policy somehow. This event has made me wonder about taking the smart on long distance trips. The tire cost $160 to replace, but I didn’t have to pay to replace the sensor either, thank goodness! If anything, it has made it clear that when I go on long trips with my smart car, I should always take my laptop in case I have to “work remotely” while waiting for a tire to come in

To finish, here is a photo of my car all shiny and waxed with her new HTML5 sticker:

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Roxy's got her antlers on in the Christmas Spirit.

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Roxi, my smart car, took the curves very well. I did not have to switch to manual mode to take the curves up the mountain (but that didn’t stop me from doing it anyway!). Her nimbleness really stood out on the back roads. People kept asking me about her. One old timer even began thinking about getting one for himself now that the children have left the nest! A lot of people thought she was electric (she runs on gas).

The Blue Ridge Parkway slices right past Meadows of Dan. It is a common route to take to get from one town to the other. Around this time of year traffic isn’t as heavy as in the fall, but the mountain summer weather attracts a whole lot of motorcyclists. It’s about 20 degrees Fahrenheit cooler on the mountain than in surrounding areas (like Raleigh, where I live), and it is, in my opinion, the only place where you can really enjoy summer in the south if you aren’t a big fan of heat and sun. It makes for perfect motorcycling weather, and with the Parkway being very shady and having no traffic lights, who wouldn’t want to buzz along it’s sinuous curves? I saw tri-cycles as well as motorcycles and one or two mini-coopers, but I was the only smart car for miles. I took my mom for breakfast at Mabry Mill, where I snapped this picture illustrating the size difference (or similarity) between a smart car and a motorcycle.

Best Friends: A motorcycle parked next to my smart car outside Mabry Mill.

The motorcycle’s owner commented that it must be nice to be dry when driving in the rain. I used to ride a motorcycle, back when I refused to own a car (also, before I had a commute!). One thing I never could let go of when I had to start driving a car was how out of touch the bulk automobile made me feel when it came to the road. On a motorcycle, you can really feel the road, hug the curves, you’re there, really there, really moving. I think it’s the closest humans will ever come to understanding how a bird must feel in flight. My mother told me once that driving a car is passive, like you’re sitting back, watching life pass by through the windshield, but that riding a motorcycle is active, as riding one requires your full attention. You aren’t protected from anything, but you can feel so much more.

When I got my smart car, I knew it was a match made in heaven because she felt more like a motorcycle than a car. Sure, I have to sit instead of straddled, and I have the luxury of a roof that keeps the elements off, and heated seats, and a sound system, and a roll cage that keeps me from going splat should I collide with something. But the car’s size and responsiveness, it’s moon roof and gaping windows, the feel of the road under the wheels, for me it makes the ride much more intense. Even the way the smart handlescurves makes it feel more like a motorcycle than a car because of it’s trapezoidal shape, which slices up the inside of a curve like nobody’s business. Truly it was a good transitional car choice for me.

On Sunday, Mom introduced me to some horse-riding friends of hers when the trotted into town on two Tennessee walkers. I asked for a photograph. This was as close as the horses would go. They were nervous to see such a strange vehicle, and their riders were worried that much further and Roxi might get a swift kick to the side!

Two nervous horses inspect my smart car.

Say goodbye to the horses.

All in all, it was a wonderful adventure. Roxi took me the three hours ride on interstates just fine, and handled like a gem on the mountain when we got there. On the long trip back home to Raleigh, it began to rain. I was worried that it might get so bad I’d have to pull over, but it did not, and thus I passed the next wet three hours reminiscing about my trip and my dog and my mother. I had not been home in one and a half years. It was good to be back.

Related posts:

1. Love those brakes: How my smart car handles on wet roads in the rain

Instead I determined to change the bulb myself! The nice folks at the smart Center faxed me the instructions for replacing the bulb (as I had left my manual at home that morning). They also supplied me with the bulb’s part number. I was able to secure the bulb at the Mercedez dealership down the street from my workplace for about $15.

Replacing the bulb seemed simple enough, until I realized how tight the space behind the light fixture is!

The head light assembly

Make sure your car is off before you start! First you have to remove a little rubber cap from the back of the head light assembly. You really have to feel this one out! The cap keeps dampness out of there.

Taking the cap off.

After you take the cap off, there’s a spring you have to pop off to release the bulb from it’s harness. You just press it in firmly and it comes undone. Next you have to take off the electrical plug (make sure your car is not on or you might get hurt!). I found that I needed to use quite a bit of force on this one, which is why it took me so long. I was being too delicate. Smart cars are not delicate cars, I had to remind myself. They want you to treat them like big cars! Slam that door as hard as you like! Yank that electrical cord right off!

It’s suggested that you handle the bulb with a lint-free cloth. I used the one that came with my eyeglasses, but a screen cleaner would also work.

Handle the bulb with a lint-free cloth.

Then you just follow the above steps in reverse. To finish, turn the smart car on to make sure the light is working properly, and you’re good to go!

Many thanks to the kind people at the smart Center in Cary for helping me through this long distance so I could make it to the Tweetup! How nice is that?

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Smart cars only need to be taken in for maintenance every 10,000 miles. According to my coworkers most cars need to be taken in every 5,000 miles.

I was worried that because I was taking my car to a Mercedez dealership (where the Smart Center is), I might be charged an awful lot for this checkup. I furrowed my brow and stockpiled cash for a month, just in case it was worse than I thought.

But, it wasn’t bad at all. It came to $225 for all the work and the filters that were replaced. (My friend Jenna said that her car cost that much every 5,000 miles, with an extra expensive visit every 10,000.) It took about an hour, which I spent sipping tea in the Mercedez Benz dealership lounge and chatting with the folks at the Smart Center.

They also washed my smart car for me, saving me a Saturday morning scrubbing at tar specks in my bikini in the parking lot. I would much rather spend that morning in my bikini splashing around in the neighborhood pool, naturally!

After another year of highway adventures, I will return for her 20k maintenance visit, whereupon she’ll get aligned.

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1. The author expresses her ideas understandably and with reasonable grammar (no lollerskating in the halls!)
2. The comments do not verge on trolling or incite fame wars

Recently I have had two cases of comments that did not meet those requirements. The first was from a very enthusiastic smart car salesperson, rushing to defend the smart from one of the more pugnacious comments on this blog. He did not use very good grammar, and his response would have only enraged the original poster, who was entitled to their own opinion and was not trying to start a fight. So I didn’t approve it. Like my mother used to say, don’t speak if you can’t improve the conversation. (This is an excellent rule to follow both online and off, by the by.)

The other comment I did not approve had a very interesting link to a smart car crash test video. The link was so interesting that it warrants a blog post of its own (which I will post later). In fact, I would have approved the comment in a flash, as the information was quite relevant to the post, but the commentator made mistake #2, that is to say, and do pardon my crude language, he acted like a total prick by launching his missive with a series of personal attacks and ending with calling me a “blowhard hyperbolist.” Now, I actually think being called a blowhard isn’t so bad. Most people I’ve heard called blowhards are actually also considered passionate and even charismatic. However, I take issue with “hyperbolist.”

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition defines “hyperbole” as:

An exaggerated, extravagant expression. It is hyperbole to say, “I’d give my whole fortune for a bowl of bean soup.”

Now, if I dislike poor grammar, I absolutely detest people using words bigger than their heads without grasping their full meaning, like “irony” and “feminist.” I would say that I am exuberant, that I am enthusiastic about my smart car, but I do not think “hyperbolic” is the appropriate word for such qualities.

Recently I have been considering purchasing a Mac. I actually don’t like Macs, probably for the same reason a lot of people don’t like smart cars: I get the impression that the entire product line is snobbish and geared to make non-users feel like troglodytes, and I’ve had more than one unpleasant encounter with an overzealous user who went out of their way to help drive that point home. So naturally this is not something I am particularly eager to look into. But all my best clients use Macs, and it would improve our workflow if I could use the same programs they do.

Keep in mind that I still love my PC. I will always be a PC girl. I was raised in DOS. My mother taught me the command line before I learned to tie my shoes! I have always owned a PC and loved them just as much as I love my smart car–I get really attached to machines I depend on for a living, and it shows when I name each and every one of them. Bill and Melinda Gates donated PCs and internet services to all the libraries in my rural area, and it was because of their generosity that I was able to start making web sites and web comics and eventually crawl out of rural poverty into a new and better life. Microsoft is not evil, not to me. Microsoft is a godsend. In contrast, I have long held the views that Macs are expensive, over-hyped, and that Mac users often verge on elitism in their enthusiasm. (I am aware that enthusiasm can both be misinterpreted as and lead to elitism.)

I know nothing about Macs, so I picked up a magazine called Switch to Mac that details all the different models, the differences between the systems, etc. I had spent quite some time reasoning with myself that PC people need not fear Mac people, telling myself, “They aren’t elitists who are going to attack my hardworking machine or make me feel like less of a person for using a PC for so long. Come now, we’re adults! The OS wars are all in my head. There’s no real stigma to being a PC user. I’m just being defensive. After all, I have many friends and clients who use Macs, and have they ever trod upon my feelings or my setup? No, they’ve been most welcoming and congenial! I am the one who is being immature.”

I got home and read the introductory page, a letter from the editor with a great big photo of him in typical “design geek” glasses. Then all my worst fears were realized. When he wrote, among other not-so-very-nice things, “…follow along with us and you’ll soon be a happy Mac user; and your nasty old PC will soon be just a memory,” my jaw hit the floor. It was everything I had not wanted it to be. I was put on the defensive. Reading the magazine would be like having my entire belief system raked over the coals, as an integral part of my life, my beloved computers and the corporation that helped me learn to use them to access the rest of the world, was shredded into bitty bitty pieces and thrown into the chipper for good measure.

Okay, I am exaggerating. That first page is probably the most offensive part of the magazine–or at least I hope so. But this is how a statement like that can completely derail your real message. That’s not how people should encourage each other to embrace new technologies. It’s not encouraging at all to people who still like the old technology.

I hope readers understand that I try very hard to not push my ideals onto others. I won’t tell you that the smart car is the best car on earth, but it is the best car for me. Do I think everyone should drive a smart car? No. My coworker has big dogs and needs a hatchback. My friend has a child and a husband and needs a back seat. My mother drives all over mountains and needs four wheel drive. I would never preach to them that my car is best. There’s no such thing. Sure, I’d love more people in my city to drive smart cars. We might get preferred parking spots like they do in England (it’d be nice on Glenwood Avenue, am I right or am I right?). But I don’t look down on people for driving the cars they do (or at least I try, as in the case of people who drive SUVs in the flatlands where it never snows and then complain about gas prices–but their whinings drive the auto industry to create more fuel-efficient technologies for gas guzzlers, so they are in a way doing the world a favor, and I can respect that).

I can’t hate you anymore, iPhone users, Mac-vangelists, tea-partiers, smart-haters. When you hate, you’re doing your causes a disservice. You’re making the things you like more hate-able. That’s no way to make a point.

Now, I have to go return this magazine to Barnes and Noble and pick up the much friendlier Macmost.com Guide to Switching to the Mac. It didn’t have colored pictures, but the author didn’t spend his first impression dissin’ on my ride

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This design was named for a breed of Siamese fighting fish called the “black orchid crown tail”. I was also inspired by Mexican skull candy, orchid blossoms, deep sea fish, and Japanese manga artist Junko Mizuno’s work.

I get a lot of comments from guys about my smart car, so I wanted to make a design that both girls and boys could feel cool driving, something elegant but striking, that you could blast mariachi or the Orb in without clashing with the visual appeal.

I sketched this design on paper, then scanned it into my computer, where I recreated the swirling black details using vector graphics.

To see the stunning sideview, please check out my official entry page, where you can vote and comment on the design directly. The contest is still taking submissions, too. Please let me know if you participate so I can vote and comment on your design!

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The first snow

I knew I should have gone straight home after work since snow was called for, and my mother surely would have scolded me for dawdling, but I needed to make a return to Target. When I came out of the store, the snow was coming down in great white flakes. My smart car’s temperature gauge was still at 34 degrees though, above freezing, so I felt confident that the snow wasn’t going to stick anytime soon. Knowing how crazy some southern drivers can get when the slightest dusting of snow hits the ground, I decided it would be better to wait fifteen minutes for them to clear of the road.

So I went shopping! I scampered over to the Petsmart in my smart (haha, my pet-smart), popped inside and picked up the betta I’d had my eye on all week. (You can check out Sir Bubblesworth on my flickr!) I’d had the tank prepping all week and was determined to bring home a fishy that night, snow or no.

Outside, the cars had cleared off the streets, but the snow was coming down hard. The temperature was coming down, too. It had dropped the two degrees to freezing in the short time I had been in pet store. I tucked Sir Bubblesworth into the passenger seat, buckled his cup up tight, and turned on the heat to keep us warm. Off we went into the winter evening!

The snow was coming down thickly, and visibility was low. I took my mom’s advice and made sure to drive at least ten miles under the speed limit. Though the temperature continued to drop, the highway had been brined earlier that day, and my smart car maintained good traction. But the visibility continued to worsen. Occasionally a “lead car” would pass me, and I was grateful to follow their tail lights until they turned off the road. I also used the white line on the side of the asphalt to guide my trajectory. My mother’s words, “Slow and steady wins the race,” rang in my mind as I made my way home.

I made it in one piece. The snow didn’t stick (in fact, it was easier to see the black road once everything else turned white). There were no incidents with the car.

Taking on icy hills in the smart car

I hunkered down for most of the weekend, but the cleanup crews had a time of clearing the roads. Many side roads remained impassable throughout the week and schools stayed closed. I needed to attend a book club one evening, and although the woman whose house we were meeting at said her driveway was “a little icy,” she was sure it was passable. Well, it wasn’t so great. Even her husband had to park down the street and walk the icy hill to her house (but his tires were rather worn, so that was expected).

Driving up the ice looked daunting to me at first, but once my little smart car started climbing, I realized it wasn’t going to be an issue. She maintained traction and didn’t lose her course. I could feel the slipperiness of the ice as the sterring wheel wobbled side to side in my hands, but they were always small wobbles, and they always corrected themselves. I was able to park across from the house of the event!

Later that evening I learned that it was quite difficult for some of the other visitors to make it up the hill. Even my friend in her BMW with a similar traction control system didn’t think she was going to make it and apparently her steering “wobbles” were large enough that she had to correct for them.

Winter Wind

After all of this we had a period of great winds. By now I’m used to handling my smart in the wind. I was worried about her handling in high winds when I first bought her, but now I’m used to it. Yes, super strong winds can try to blow you off course when you’re going high speeds across open spaces. But you have a lot of space in your lane thanks to the smart car’s small footprint, so the small variations aren’t dangerous. All you need is a steady hand. I’m surprised at how confident I am now compared to when I first bought my car. I’m still cautious, and I certainly won’t pretend that high-wind driving is pleasant or fun (well, except for when the wind’s behind you and gives you a free boost forward, that’s fun). It would have been wiser to stay on the less fast and open side roads, but I was confident enough to take the highway to and from work on windy days.

So far so good!

My smart car and I have taken on snow showers, icy hills and blasts of winter wind. I’m very pleased with her performance, but I promise my mom that I will continue to drive conservatively!

Related posts:

1. Driving my smart car in the wind.

But enough about my fate at the cruel hands of the Holidays. A new year is upon us! Instead of a new year resolution, I bring you a list of topics I want to cover in early 2010:

• My winter driving experience (spoiler, it’s been good!)
• Product Review: battery-powered hand-vacuums for cleaning your footwells
• How to: Use your emergency tire inflation kit to routinely check your tire pressure.
• How to: Clean your smart car, inside and out
• Comparison shopping: smart car vs. Honda Fit
• Comparison shopping: smart car vs. Mini Cooper

See you soon!

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