Smart Roadster. Have I lost it?

There is an awful lot of rubbish written about the smart Roadster and, from my own experience, I can only assert that most of this comes from those who have never truly experienced one long term. I bought one (90hp, paddle shift) 9 years ago to keep at my holiday home in Spain. It was in Birmingham, LHD, and the sellers didn't know its true worth - always nice to pull one on a dealer! It had low mileage, 29k. But to back-peddle, we'd already had a Brabus 4/2 cabrio which suited my partner in her travelling social worker duties in Aberdeenshire. It was kind of chic, weird, awkward, but suited her fine and was certainly a talking point. I drove the roadster back to Scotland, had the turbo re-mapped and Green Dot pads fitted along with a better hifi by the local enthusiastic smart independent I'd discovered near Glasgow after awful service at Merc Aberdeen. I had it shipped to Alicante by truck, thence to Ibiza where it remains. During the time I've had it I've also had 2 x Elises (one Supercharged), a recent Boxster S, a 911 Carrera 4 and parallel to a couple of these I had a Brabus Roadster Coupe. Smarts are a bit like Yoga, you have to be doing it a while to get it completely. The Brabus I had completely tricked up, but to be honest, it never had the sweetness of the one I've had in Spain all along: the harsher ride not a good feature (Gordon Murray - McLaren designer, agrees - a number of McLaren staff had these cars).

I would agree with some here that water ingress is a problem, although plenty say their cars do not suffer. I could not get it fixed on the Brabus roadster and, while I never truly loved that car, it was another reason I was happy to see it go, I had the Boxster by then anyway. My Ibiza car was left out the first winter here and no one takes the blame for the cover having been removed and not replaced. By the time I got to it there were 2cm green and brown stalagmites and tites growing out of the wheel and an inch of water in the footwells. I assumed it was a right-off, but the local garage fixed for E500 - hours in the paint oven and a new SAM unit. I knew all about Elise's and their water issues, so I bought an Elise rain hat from Elise-Parts, could have been made for it and it's on and off in seconds. The wee car has never let me down of its own volition, NEVER! Starts first time after being left for up to 4 months with the battery disconnected.

Now I am here in Ibiza permanently, all the other toys are sold and the Roaster remains, I have had it 9 years. It and one Avant remain the best cars I have ever had, and the Roadster is the one I love the most. I saw someone say on a P-Heads post(?) that the gearbox is actually a strong suit and I couldn't agree more, it's how good you are not how tricky the mechanism is, I now left foot brake with abandon and the car is unburstable. I have run it solid for a year lately and the admiration just grows. I don't particularly take care of the aesthetics of a car..not a cleaner & polisher and I don't give them names, so its a bit down at heel looking at the moment, so It's back to the UK for a complete makeover, it's a keeper. If you like driving go-karts its a toss between this and an Elise, if you don't need to be on it 100% of them and need a wee bit comfort, there's only one choice. Its a classic. And I'll be driving it to the UK, no need for a truck.