Si Limau Kasturi

It was a rare sighting, indeed.  I haven't felt such tingles for a long time, but they were there alright when the post came onto the SCOA Forum, that an 2011 Energy Green Metallic Matte with a silver Tridion cage smart Fortwo called Liam (at 72,000 miles) was for sale to the members or else it was going to be donated to charity.  I read and re-read the post, which described the car as having a Cyl 2 Misfire and that the nearest Mercedes Benz dealer said that the problem was just a loose gas cap, and horrors of horrors, was getting out of smart car servicing for good.  Frank, the owner who writes for Motor Trend, added that he's not going to do the runaround and was bailing out.  

I waited a day before I actually popped a PM to him, telling him that I was somewhat interested but could he tell me more?  He obliged and answered several of my questions and sent out scores of pics and a video to boot!

It turned out that he didn't really get anything done with the Cyl #2 CEL situation, and that he's pretty much disappointed with other issues that the car had gone through.  One was the radio, that "died" as it was leaving the Mazda dealership in Chicago after purchasing the car back in 2017.  As the car didn't have a second key, another copy was made to the tune of $200.00.  

The 4 years of having the car provided him with pretty flawless rides for the first two years.  He had installed a Pioneer  (with Carplay and reverse cam) to replace the Bosch head unit, a better set of speakers, a set of original carpets, and a set of new winter Contis for the Michigan snow.  

And then the troubles started for him.  The car had a hard time starting.  He had thought it was the starter, then the alternator and changed them both. Nope. It was the... belt tensioner; the pulley that keeps the belt on a consistent tension.  So, new tensioner installed. Then, the CEL appeared.  The dealer he went to, the Ann Arbor smartcenter, kept the car for a week and announced that there was no Cy; #2 misfire, only that guilty gas cap.  Of course, the dealer caused newer problems, like the cruise control and horn suddenly weren't working. And yep. the CEL came back right after he'd left the smartcenter.

SO I asked him how low he would go?  He said, he'd like to buy a MacBook Pro so $1500.00 would be good.  That sealed it.  I had seen the few pictures of the car in his original posting, and from his accounts of events and misfortunes, I smelled a steal of a deal...

Here was a car that was first owned by a female engineer in NYC on 2011. who had sold it to another female techie there who later had the car auctioned which ended in Chicago where Frank had bought it.  It was a rare car.  The lightshine (a Brabus) limited edition came in only two colors; matte green and shiny blue.  There were only 300 of these marketed in the States, and 86 in the UK...

And I got first dibs! I told Frank I could pay $500 to secure the car until September 26th when I'd be free to pick it up.  Frank said that a deposit wasn't necessary to hold the car and paying on pickup day would be just fine.  Crazy.  It was only September 4th, 2020; I couldn't believe he would wait for 22 days and not worry that I might get cold feet.  And I had cold feet.  What if the engine really was damaged?  What if I couldn't come up with the $1500.00?  What if I couldn't make the trip to Royal Oaks, Michigan where the car was at?  GoogleMaps calculated about 360 miles or 5.5 hours each way.  3 days before the trip, I finally told Mak about the deal.  I showed Mak the video which actually was a pretty good showcase of the lightshine.  I also told Mak about how we were going to get the car back to Indiana, that I'd rented from Enterprise a one-way rental. Mak was visibly surprised but to her credit, she agreed.

September 26th came,  and we left via Pittsburgh as I had a Sansui AU117 to pick up from Galaxie Electronics.  I drove all the way to Detroit, reaching the drop-off Enterprise at 5:05 pm.  About 2 minutes later, Frank and Mike arrived; Mike driving Liam and Frank, a black Charger.  We did the paperwork and transfer there.  Then, there was an unexpected glitch; the receiving Enterprise office was locked and gated.  So, with the help of their 800 number, we were given another location 8 miles away. in Troy, which was also closed but with a key dropbox and open parking in the rear of the building for returns.  And since I had told Frank and Mike that Mak doesn't drive, they were obligated in a way to drive their two cars there.

Once there, we said our goodbyes and they left, leaving Mak and I with a possibly engine-damaged smart and 375 miles from Indiana, PA.  Being that it was about an hour before sundown, it was not the time to rush home.  We drove to the nearest gas station, a Mobil, where we took our wudhu and performed our solats at the side of the store.  I had asked the manager for permission to pray in the parking, to which he said "Okay".  I was sure that he was also a Muslim, you see...

After having our dinner of nasi lemak telor puyuh, we left Troy for home.  I made a few wrong turns along the way out of Detroit and another one on 1-80 near the Ohio-PA border, but once we entered 1-79, since it was part of the Hana-Erie way, it was plain sailing home.  What about Liam's performance on the road? There was a noticeable twitch at idle and at very low speeds, somewhat like missing a third beat. I am still hopeful it's more of a timing problem rather than a permanently damaged engine.  To its credit. the car didn't register any CEL and as we inched closer towards Indiana, I became increasingly satisfied that perhaps, I have made a steal of a deal.

We reached home at 1:05 am.  It couldn't have come a minute too soon.  Welcome home, Liam Kasturi!