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youtube.com/hubnut/miss_hubnut_road_test_how_will_she_find_that_gearbox

4 excerpts.

Excerpt

youtube.com/hubnut/miss_hubnut_road_test_how_will_she_find_that_gearbox · p. 1 · Applies to: 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, #1, ebike

in this video it's time for a relatively novice driver you've done an awful lot of driving since passing your test back in February predominant in shington yes and uh you're getting to grips with a smart we are in the smart 42 that we currently own it has a automated manual semi-automatic transmission so that's going to be something completely new for you and there's other weird things like the pedals uh pivoting on the floor so they have a slightly different action slightly different field I love you telling me this when that's the road there yeah and uh we're off on a 200 M Adventure today so we will be sharing the driving so this is our smart art this is literally you getting used to the experience of driving a smart so the transmission we'll just talk through it we currently in neutral mhm uh foot on the brake when um your switching position so a bit like Betty our Australian Ford but you have driven briefly with the automatic transmission to tow this very car okay wait so when I'm changing position cuz this is semi-automatic so it's like a gear box isn't it yeah so when even if I'm riding up the gears I'm pressing the brake no no but you're only pressing the brake to switch from neutral to drive which is this way or to go into reverse which is back okay and how about riding up and down the gears uh you can either press this button which will put it in automatic mode mhm it won't at moment we're not you don't recommend it's not very good but it might be easier for you to start with yeah yeah but then it's forward to go up the gearbox and backwards to come back down okay and if you come to a stop it'll automatically put it back in first okay so you haven't necessarily got to come back down the gearbox are we ready then do I have a choice no no I think so foot on brake foot on brake uh drive we'll press the button to put into automatic so you're not going to worry about changing gear for the moment hand brake is still on Okay Hand bre is there okay and indicate hand brake off she's not going to move though cuz I got my foot on the brake also she hasn't got a she hasn't got a creep so she's not like Betty you will actually have to accelerate there we go why do I get tortured to these things that's first gear change there range a second There She Goes Again third do that feel weird yeah she's not very immediate in the gear changes no they are there's a hesitation but I thought it would be interesting to see um if it's a different experience for you being a relatively newer driver compared to me as a more experienced driver cuz more experienced drivers jump into smarts and think they're absolutely terrible with the worst gearboxes known to man or woman so uh well at the moment I'm driv is an automatic so it's hard to make a judgment but you will find it'll do strange things it might down change sometimes when you're going downhill it's all part of the smart experience but I mean that's Highway Cod step isn't that you should lower gear to go down a hill so I can see why it would do it main thing is keep your left foot absolutely rooted to the floor when we come to a stop okay that's always the most alien thing for a a manual car driver or if you drive stick the visibility is horrible yeah it is not big chunky sea poost here so when and the rear window is quite cloudy when uh you talk about car you do your Drivin testing this is not one of them it is not and there's a reason why yeah visibility is it but even in chmi where I've got loads of visibility I still do huge look around but because you're using fairly light throttle I think that makes it a lot easier a lot smoother rather yeah when you start putting your foot down hard that's when the the gear changes tend to feel really slow and sluggish not quite feeling that double that's down there not quite that wasn't quite right yeah it it's strange cuz sometimes your foot goes down but nothing happens because it's doing the gear change yeah and your instinct is because you put a bit of foot in because you think it's going to stall yeah yeah not managed to stall it so far nervous laughter I assume the speedo is correct on this uh yeah it's pretty much there I think a few miles an hour out as they always are the other thing with this car is the ride is quite firm yep which is just the nature of the car it's not anything you're doing as a driver no it is but also cuz it's quite short it's quite choppy in terms of ride so it bucks around a bit so I still need to break up the jum you still need to break y looking for our space that's very good your left foot absolutely down to the floor perfect

Excerpt

youtube.com/hubnut/miss_hubnut_road_test_how_will_she_find_that_gearbox · p. 2 · Applies to: 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, #1, ebike

oh [Music] 20 so at any time you can take over from the automatic gearbox if you push the lever forwards or backwards uh it goes into manual mode and then that little display in front of you will tell you what gear you're in where it says a at the moment oh yeah yeah yeah so it holds the gear for a bit of engine braking as you go downhill but could have done with a bit more but then yeah cuz it can't see the hill it then goes back up the gear which is why to be honest manual mode is better the uh automatic mode is a bit dimwitted I given a wiper test already there we go uh I couldn't see very well yep good wiping performance I bit like the second generation the wiper gets closer to the edge on this side than it does that side but uh I really like the wipers now this house is this house this car is a sub of discussion in our house at the moment yes because for us this is a flipper however I feel there are two people in the household that aren't quite convinced on that yeah yeah the um actually mini hubnet hates the car does he hate it though now he's ridling it oh I don't know he might be softening a bit but yeah Little Miss hubner quite fancies it as her first car but I don't think a semi-automatic gearbox is what she needs for her first car also she has a rather nice 10 plate that needs go out a car she does so uh yeah I don't think this is the one incidentally with mishet aboard we get a bit more storage space we are demonstrating the staggered off set seating quite nicely today I'm pretty much fully back in the idea being that you get more shoulder room we are a particularly extreme example of it can I just say in this on the from the perspective of a shorter person M um I'm not all the way forwards this seat's got got more give yeah yeah I had to put the seat back I've never had to do that so yeah when you change gear yeah you don't have to move your throttle foot at all uh some say the the gear changes are smoother I don't know why I did that something we're in forth cuz we went downhill yeah yeah um yeah you can leave your thought where it is some say smoother if you LIF uh which I think it can be if you're doing a full bore acceleration but generally you can just leave your throttle for where it is just let the car set it all out this is the automatic button just there on the side so we're a bit further down the road how you feeling well I've opened her out to uh just under 60 I say this we're headed into abath which is 40 then 20 then 20 yes um but what she feels very very planted to the road um I know that there was when they first came out there was issues with them falling over and whatnot but she definitely doesn't feel like that at all she feels very planted she leans nicely into the corners possibly even more so than shmy to be honest yeah it's strange old driving position cuz you sit quite high up off the ground but the floor is also high so um I I can't see why they were a little bit Tippy um back in the early days little bit Tippy this this is actually a Mark 7 smart by which time they upgrade the stability program and fitted the larger 698cc engine and it's just crazy to think it's a Mark 7 the smart was introduced in 1998 this is a 2006 but it was a very very new car wasn't it so oh here we go she's train oh that's it there we go but yeah she you she feel very capable on leaning into the corners and whatnot ultimately they will under steer cuz very skinny front tires yeah I'm not going to get stupid but um I've been driving briskly with absolutely no issues briskly yeah right absolutely put your foot down now hang on and Marvel at nothing happening okay ready ready ready go oh no accelerating in Gear Well Done car we're going uphill so that's why we're not exactly tearing up wind noise building cuz we're in a Cabrio and the roof doesn't seem to seal very well at the front but uh hopefully we'll get the roof for back it's going to get quite hot today well that's what we're told anyway yeah yeah you're doing very well think we got used to it very quickly well I have done a lot of driving yeah you've done a lot of driving in one car yes both pre and post test yeah yeah well our journey brings us to Amber rorth and perhaps your biggest test yet CU a number of opportunities where your left foot will be a twitching yes it already was cuz of course you drop into a 20 coming into AB us with um and we hit traffic so I was kind of like oh I need to change gear oh oh but I don't need to change gear

Excerpt

youtube.com/hubnut/miss_hubnut_road_test_how_will_she_find_that_gearbox · p. 3 · Applies to: 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, #1, ebike

no car does it for me God she Queen cancel that off didn't she yeah they're a bit clunky them they're a bit aren't they but yeah as I say cine is lovely um it's hilarious when she think she's fierce when you come to a stop and then try and lift we had one incident where you accidentally ended up in neutral because you move the control without your foot on the brake cuz someone didn't tell me that that's what I need to do yeah if you put it in drive without your foot on the brake it won't right again we'll be going right to slamb Bon mhm but yeah I mean she feels hilariously fierce when she goes she lifts her nose up yeah yeah and also when you're doing maybe 60 she it's got a growl to her it's really funny H I like the growl like your carut your little die hat too that sort of yeah I'm so Fierce okay little girl if you say so doing well on the roundabouts today yeah there we go yeah so there that that is one issue with a smart but you put your foot down it takes a while for something to happen yeah and your instinct if particular if you drive a manual normally is to push the pedal to try and get something yeah yeah it's incredible visibility so yeah someone fitted blind spot mirrors they are helpful actually and very wisely so cuz the standard mirrors are not great they are better in the second generation the other thing is how wide is this car it's obviously shm's very narrow I think they're probably fairly similar yeah but because in shmy there's not much car yeah yeah there's a lot of car here so yeah kind of guessing the width this is um interesting quick shout out to the ve Roo rway yeah you can see a video on there on our Channel yeah I'm going to go before that much you know mhm your talk yeah absolutely cancel signal right signal again come on zir what are we doing the fa besties these days yeah we're following him all the way be everywhere together going to the Sculpture Park as well oh maybe yeah we're still 20 along here this is we are this is a long 20 yeah when I did my driving test I was absolutely scoping for the 20 in case I'd missed it but no it's it's miles I think it is time for the next level of your initiation uh so if you press the button does that take you back into manual yes now we're in manual mode are you ready for this acceleration you're doing the gears it won't let you do anything that'll damage the engine so with the gears yeah I don't need to press anything just push up and push down yeah so forward takes you up the gearbox backwards brings you back down and is she happy where she is to go off yep perfectly happy got one displayed on the dashboard okay so move away when it's safe to do so excuse my language might edit that out don't listen to you turbo in I am taking my foot off the accelerator when I'm gear changing the gears yeah you can do you don't have to you can just do is I think that's natural because you're using the clutch so yeah where are we fifth gear we're doing 50 B an hour yeah that's entirely appropriate you can do 40 in fifth as well maybe six yeah about 55 is all right bit like your shirad your Shard doesn't want Top Gear until we're over 50 really no she doesn't she doesn't like s you drop down he so back there fourth there you go just leave her in fifth oh yeah fifth not fourth there you go absolute natural she feels a different beast when you're driving her or um yeah and it feels like you've got a B more control yeah and like I say she won't let you do anything stupid if you try and downshift too much she just won't do it it's out of spec of where she expects the revs to be and similarly if you were to just come to a stop now without touching the gear Le but it'll put it back into first GE that's that's a good sign I think that one may be broken I think that we're outside of school hours now so we should be 40 okay we're still saying 40 yes these electronic signs can be a little um temperamental tempermental there we go I suspect some of them might have had help as well so

Excerpt

youtube.com/hubnut/miss_hubnut_road_test_how_will_she_find_that_gearbox · p. 4 · Applies to: 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, #1, ebike

what are you not loving about the smart experience what am I not loving about the smart I'm not loving the visibility at the back however you just deal with it differently because actually your side mirrors are quite effective in covering that space and make sure you turn all the way back but you can see crucially if there's anything right behind you his left and right is a bit more difficult you really need to look um that's pretty much it really stalks oh the dogs are so clunky they are very clunky it's not quite what you expect but uh yeah they are clunky now for the drive home so we're having a good old hurtle uh along in the SM are you having a nice time I'm having a lovely time on this SM there has been much revving and much um acceleration and fun cornering I think someone's enjoying the go-kart esque handling but it's not the like shmy when you throw shmy around she lets you know about it she got no front anti roll bar fling you but this doesn't and she will hold into corners and stuff so yeah it's good fun it's a good road to enjoy yourself on to be fair it is a lovely road I am by the way this doesn't mean I'm a total Rebel and Hood monkey I am doing this sensibly yeah yeah you're slowing down where your sight lines are not very good as you should but this is one of my favorite driving roads in the entire world so how how are we finding the uh semi-automatic gearbox you haven't put it in auto mode since you switched to ma manual mode no because this is definitely a car of of two personalities when you put it in the auto it doesn't always uh judge very well on the gearing and it's quite slow to react so for example if you go down a hill it'll drop down um and then it doesn't pick you back up again pause at the bottom of a hill before you go up another Hill obviously can't see Hills so it doesn't know but yeah that that's one side of it but then you do the what's it called semi-automatic is that what it's called the semi-automatic is marvelous fun yes you're definitely uh having a very lovely time mhm good I'm very happy there only really your second road test yeah after jizelle the GSA jizelle was a completely different Beast because you have she's so involved steering is very heavy until you pick up speed but yeah this is lovely the only thing I will say about the ride is um just don't hit any raised Iron Works or anything cuz it hurts it just goes bang and breaks your spine it does fun times so that's many miles covered in the smart my first time driving a semi-automatic it has a few little um issues the ride if you hit anything is unpleasant the stalks are quite difficult and clumsy in your hands I don't like the uh stitching on the steering wheel and in automatic it's very slow to respond if you go from downhill to uphill uh and the Down Changes can be a little slow as well you need two in this where in a manual you probably need one down change however I've had a lovely day driving this thing it sticks to the road like glue you can throw it into Corners yes yes notice that it's the way the little nose comes up as soon as you're heading off it's really fun to take off a roundabout up to 60 is very much fun but yeah I have had a fantastic time driving this little smart oh I forgot to mention I made it go twice not a full PW it's a very cute little turbo noise but yeah that concludes my first drive in the Smart car and we will be sad to see this one go maybe she doesn't have to go but uh [Applause]