this has to be one of if not THE most informative maintenance related Smart Fortwo videos out there. very well done! I am going to be looking at a low mile used 2014 base model real soon as a in town runabout. Yet safer than riding a scooter. Maybe lol. Now I know exactly what to look for and HOW to check the fluids so I dont look like an uninformed doofus when I get to the stealership. LOL

This is an excellent video. I learned a lot before looking at a potential vehicle today.

More Smart videos, they are needed sir, excellent as always, thank you.

Excellent video. I own a 2015 Smart Fortwo Pure and I learned a lot from viewing this video.

Perfect video for future Smart 451 owners. Thank you so much and take care yourself buddy.

Thanks. I'm buying a 2008 Fortwo Passion for 2k from a family member. All the important bits seem to work on it but Nothing would change my mind about buying this car. I'm a tiny man who loves tiny cars. I made the serious mistake of selling my Suzuki Samurai for scrap when it blew a rod and wish I could have it back to drop in a rebuilt motor. I'm not making that mistake a again. I'll keep the Fortwo for the rest of my life.

The condition of this smart is scary. Purchasing one in a few days, this has been incredibly helpful, thank you!

Amazing video. Very helpful to watch before the actual purchase. Thanks a lot.

Thank you so much! I do appreciate this video. I'm buying a 2013 ForTwo Pure this coming week from CarMax. Needlessly to day, I'm nervous, haven't driven a car in years. Everything in this video has been very useful. Can't wait to take tiny Smart Car for a spin 👍

Thanks for your video! Looking into buying one myself, thank you for the advice!

Watched whole video brilliant info thank you

Thank you for this video. Very helpful

Very good and useful video. Thanks!

thanks for the in depth guide! help me a lot :)

Fantastic, thorough overview, thank you!!

Good job my brother thank you for all the information that you gave me ❤️🙏🏻

Very good video! Nice coverage of parts and potential problems. I realize this is an older video, but lets compare mine. I own and race a 2009 Brabus Cabriolet SmartCar here in Hawaii. 78,000 miles. No major failures, but front belly dust pan is missing! It is 2021 and I have owned it for about 2 years. Here is a COMPLETE rundown about my car so far. There is a ton of support and parts from different groups on the Internet for these cars. They were made for over 20 years. NOTE: This car is SHORT but it is NOT small. It is as tall as any Honda Fit, it is as wide as any of the FIATS (now there is a piece of crap) or other small cars. It is only shorter, but front facing is the same size as 80% of the cars on the market and it has a HUGE front window to see out of, and big doors. Very easy to get in and out of. Try getting into a Lotus Elite..... Horsepower - 105 bhp. Tubocharged. You do have to use hi-test gas. Mercedes did not supply their own engines for the car for a short time, and mine has the factory Mitsubishi engine. It think it is a better engine than the Mercedes. Same size and specs. The tank holds nearly 8 gallons, I get 40+ miles to the gallon even with the leadfoot I have. I had to fill it up last year, and might have to fill it again this year. Depending on how I drive (hah). 900 cc, three cylinder engine, is peppy and fast. Insurance rates are the same for any other car. It is speed limited to 85 mph, but with that bypassed it will hit 105 miles an hour easily. I pass cars and trucks on the freeways here easily, have never had an issue. It handles fine at any speed even in crosswinds. McPherson struts, electric assisted steering. Mine has 17" wheels front and back. It does not fall into small potholes! It corners like it is on rails. Seriously. I have raced sports cars for over 40 years, including Spitfires, MGA 1600's, Karmann Ghia's (well, with some mods), Bug Eye sprites, the incredible Saab Sonnets and more. I know a little about sports cars. The SmartCar can handle just like any other sports car in it's class. It weighs 1,800 lbs, and has a built in roll bar as part of the excellent frame that runs throughout the car. It has giant doors to get in and out, I would say the car is actually bigger on the inside than on the outside! ** Excellent brakes. Plenty of acceleration to get going on an on-ramp, just stick your foot in it to get the turbo spun up (4,000 rpm) and drop your foot off the brake. Price of parts and Maintenance. There is always some whiner that lets a dealership nail them to the mast, then complain about it. Honestly this is one of the easiest cars I can think of to maintain. My 13 year old neighbor girl changed the oil on mine the other day, so she could learn how. It costs no more than any other car for maintenance, or for parts. I have replaced several parts on mine with newer lighter versions (running boards, front and rear air dams) The running boards were $100 each. I bought replacement headlight nacelles for $150 for a brand new set, including the bulbs. * there are plenty of parts available, especially through E-bay. Nice thing is that like the Saturn Cars, the body panels are plastic on the outside. They are easy to fix or replace and there are no gigantic quarter panel parts to worry about. ** I had to put a new Air conditioning fan in it. Under the dashboard. The fan was $60 (2021 price) and it took 15 minutes to pull the old fan and motor out and snap in the new one. ...This car was made by engineers for the common shade tree mechanic. The engine itself is set into rails, that can be detached at mid car, and the entire rear end, engine, trans and all will roll out like a wheel barrow. This is an amazingly practical design, and beats the hell out of pulling an engine out of my Subaru WRX. There is an AMAZING amount of room in the back, over the engine. If you lay the passenger seat down, I put 6 foot long FENCE posts in there from the hardware store and drove them home. .....note it does NOT have an automatic transmission. It is a manual transmission, BUT, it has dual clutches and is shifted just like an automatic. 99% of the people cannot tell the difference. A manual trans is much easier to maintain. The dual clutch is just like the ones on racing motorcycles. It comes with a stick AND it comes with paddle shifters on the steering wheel, and you can switch back and forth while driving between manual shift mode and automatic. The manual shift is sneaky, if you rev it to 6 grand in first gear it will shift itself into second gear anyway! Even in manual mode when you come to a stoplight, it shifts itself into 1st gear, but still in manual mode.

Extremely helpful video. Thank you!

Incredibly helpful, thank you!

Very detailed walkthrough. Thanks 🙏🏿

..center engine mount (both 450 and 451) - easy to check, just try to wiggle the engine by hand - if there is play you will notice it; it's nice to listen to the clutch actuatior with the ignition on, it should not make too many noises - should just tick every gear change; take a ~30min test drive, the gearbox is very lazy, but if it "hesitates" before rolling - then it has not seen a StarDiagnose scanner for a long time and the clutch bitepoint was not adjusted....

Good points, I much better prepared to make a good decision on buying a Smart car. Thanks

Hello from the UK. I am looking at purchasing one of these cars because petrol is very expensive here. Thank you for this very comprehensive video... Regards.

Thank you for the video. I learned a lot.

Great video. Very helpful as I am looking into purchasing a smart car

Valid hints for visual inspection (I know from my own experience).. Although there are some more technical things important to potentially evaluate (actuator, leaking rear window, A/C, if MHD: belt upgrade done / undone, leakage at the belt tensioner…) 👍🏼

Poly V belt can snap too, not fun! Door hinge springs break, not fun! But changing front springs ain't bad for a competent DIY.

Excellent thorough video!

my flexpipe went out also, had a new flexpipe welded on at a small shop 120 dollars very quiet now...

Great video! 2011 Passion here, just passed 100,000 Miles, so far non of the listed problems. Paid $2,000 with 60,000 miles so at 40+ MPG figure it's paid for itself :) Does anyone else have paint issues???? the clear coat is peeling everywhere. Love the car.

Very well presented video, thanks buddy

Great video.Thank you!

God bless you. You have saved my skeen!

Good and useful information, thank you much. Maybe checking the cold start and see if it blows a little water steam, small head gasket leaks, seems to get usually bigger fast on the smart car and replacing the head gasket by a service station cost a lot, speak pulling the entire drive sub frame.

Motor mounts are an issue and as the motor moves around, the exhaust suffers as well as the main battery harness.

PERFECT EXPLANATION PERFECTLY PERFECT TEACHING ❤❤❤❤❤ GREETINGS FROM MAASTRICHT THE NEDERLANDS

As a former Smart owner I can testify that the issues with the suspension springs are correct. They are prone to failure ( despite careful driving ). This happened on my MK1 Smart. The headlight disclocating and losing alignment is common. Again careful driving ( speed bumps will cause them to loose alignment ). The door handles are prone to failure. The electronics in the semi auto box can cause big problems ( mine failed as it was going down through the gears, resulting in zero engine breaking ). They are a fun and enjoyable car when they work. Great for parking. Good handling and they have character. But potential owners do need to be aware they have issues. This is based on experience of MK1 ownership

Thank you for all the tips ! I test drove a 2011 cabriolet today and all the warning lights went out, but there was a really weird looking black shape to the left of the readings in the yellow screen that was flashing for awhile and then went out. Also I had to shift it using the (paddle?) shifters in Drive. Is that normal? The thing that has most of my attention is it appears to be in great shape only has 23K Mi. on it, and Dlr. is only asking $6K. There is no manual and the salesman was not with me so I am clueless. Also it does not have the tach. /clock option yours does so how to know when to shift, I can hardly hear the engine after it warms up. I may go back there tomorrow. Thanks in advance for any help.

Thank you really informative nice to know

I just picked up an older 2009 smart fortwo passion cabriolet, 80k miles cranks but no start. I’m pretty mechanically inclined but I don’t know anything about these little cars. What steps should I take to diagnose?

Well done sir.

thanks for the video dude

Hello I have a 2008 smart we changed the battery and the alternator, but the alternator is still not charging, pulled it off and they said it was good. Any ideas what it could be? Thank you

The gas tank indicator on my 2013 Smart points to the drivers side, when the filler is on the passenger side. I bought mine because it has hand crank windows and also because I have a wicked hahhd Boston Accent. So, when I say it, it's a Smahht Cahh. Fun to say.

I like this

Too bad i found this AFTER i made my purchase. Hey tho, its common to NOT know this stuff. Lol. The smart is DIFFERENT for sure! I went in with basic knowledge, and yeah, there is certainly a learning curve. I was looking for a motorcycle of a car, so hopefully it fills that void. Its ALOT like working on our 300cc dune buggy really, even the oil filter and CV shafts appear to be the same lol. Makes me enjoy it more. I would also say the car is far mor "smart" than we anticipated. I mean, jeeze, the OEM battery sitting in a bay of acid REALLY seemed to cause ALOT of electrical issues, that didnt REALLY exist on the car. Hopefully its worth the risk, bc someone definitely did care for ours some degree, but definitely trusted the Mercedes stealership a tad too much IMO...... Thanks for all the wonderful info, still just as valuable and relevant 2yrs later lol! -SMART❤- Ps-WOW your on point. Watched a 2nd time, and found small details later! Darn 3rd brake screw was silly! Ill be gosh diggled! Lol impressed.

Would you happen to know what would cause driver side turn signal bulb(Top Orange) and little light on driver side( next to door) to not stay on when I turn headlights on. They blink but won’t stay on, but both lights on passenger side turn signals stay on but won’t blink. This issue is driving me nuts. Any thoughts would be much appreciated. 🙏

Very helpful video. I'm in the market for a 453. Do you happen to have done a similar one for the 453 models?

oh ok I was wondering,my Smart needs a boost if it sits more than a couple days,so the alternator is fine (for now),but the battery is hooped.

Quick question I have a smart fortwo passion cdi from 2009 and it was this piece attached with a little phone thing that was bluetooth and show up on the phone as brunswick carkit does anyone know how it work I bought the car with it already there..

A question for you: Would 55378008 be an “absurd” reading for the service interval? Asking for a friend…

I am looking at buying possibly a smart for two 2005 , is there anything else or special to look for? thanks for the instructive video and look forward to hear from you thanks again

Thanks 🇬🇧❤️

Looking at a 2008, has 85000 miles. Selling for $1500. 1 owner. Good deal?

What are the best years (less problems) for the smarts?

I replaced my muffler myself, bought original muffler with its washer for $350.

If the roof has crazing, you can apply a carbon-fiber wrap, or similar.

I want to see you replace that alternator

found a 2011 smart, rebuilt, with 100k+on the odometer selling for $2800..i had to pass on the purchase. you think i missed out on an opportunity or was it a sound choice?

The plastic roof was really a surprise! Is there a way to recondition them?

Witch model out of them years do u think would be best to buy I’m looking at a 2013 and 2015 right now?

Brilliant thx

Real nice video. I was hoping to see comment about random failing to reverse issue like what I have in 2008 passion with 20k miles. I've never seen a consistent clue of why this problem exists in the early models (2008, 2009). I was wondering if you had any experience with the problem.

When you covered the engine you didn’t show nothing but the top cover you should do a redo on the motor

How exactly do you save money on fuel when you have to fill up with expensive premium gas to get decent mileage ?

Hi baddy, I'm based in UK and I'm thinking to buy a smart car 2014 with 58,000km for £2000 do you think is a good deal and I'm going to use the car daily, do you think is good for delivery? Thank you in advance Pal.

What designates the #'s 453, 40xxx?

well done

That air freshener though.

Complete and helpful video, but that BLOODY MUSIC !

What is judging when pulling away please

Where did you find this example? What a wreck...🤔

WOW Green coolant??? Smart cars should use G05 antifreeze and it is yellow.

I had a 2009 smart car Passion model for 5 1/2 years with not one problem. Just oil change with new oil filter. Tires needed changing by then but not one problem. When a tire specialist tells you that nitrogen in tires are stupid since nitrogen is already in the air...no dummy it worked for me for 5 1/2 years w/out having to add air all the times & paying for it...the tireman is stupid (most likely because it takes business away from him on the long run) LOL North Carolina, USA

Would u buy one?

Can you buy an arm rest and show us how to put it on without drilling. I want an easy to install armrest. From woman driver 😉

Wow I think I’ll just avoid buying this car used as it seems weak and problem prone?

after watching this, I will go for a Toyota IQ instead.

Well the bad thing for smart is when you crash you may die or be alive its 50-50

got dizzy watching this

buy a Toyota Rav4 instead-and better on the open road.

Every thing is expensive on em buy a Toyota or Kia I would never buy another smart

DON'T!! buy the next version(453) 2016 on

You have camera issues...

Well: noisy, horrible ride, little room, extremely expensive repairs and maintenance. Buying a Smart... isn't.