A LITTLE DIESEL GOES A LONG WAY
By Line
They don't come much greener than Smart's fortwo cdi city car. Steve Walker reports.
Ten Second Review
The recently refreshed fortwo is Smart's view of what the modern city car should be all about. With the cdi engine installed, its one of the greenest cars it's possible to buy and if you can do without rear seats and much of a boot, it's a great, trendy way of getting about town. The fortwo is less at home on longer trips but can take to the motorway in an emergency.
Background
As oil prices soar along with traffic congestion and air pollution, the small car concept that Smart launched on the world back in 1998 only looks more prescient. The original Smart car may have evolved into today's Smart fortwo but the basic theory behind it has scarcely altered. What has changed is that Smart's prediction that one day our cities and conurbations will be crawling with cars like this no longer seems so far-fetched. The Smart fortwo diesel certainly makes a compelling case for city dwellers to downsize.
It's taken a while but motorists are gradually coming round to Smart's way of thinking. Smart's problem is that rival manufacturers are too. The fortwo once stood virtually alone as a city car that adhered strictly to the principles of compact size, light weight, maximum fuel economy and a trendy urban cool image. Nowadays, you can't move at the motorshows for dinky vehicles from rival manufacturers trying to annex a slice of Smart's territory. To date, however, the fortwo remains arguably the purest exponent of the genre. Whether its reluctance to bend its own rules will give it an edge in the small car future remains to be seen.
Driving Experience
The diesel engine that features in the Smart fortwo cdi is certainly a tiddler. 54bhp from an engine of 799cc with two valves for each of its three cylinders leads one to expect two things; fiendishly thrifty fuel consumption and performance that's relaxed to the point of being dead. Sure enough, the seventeen seconds it takes the diesel fortwo to cover 0-62mph sprint makes the word sprint look tardy to put it mildly, but remember the Smart's unflinching focus on urban motoring. On the road in its metropolitan element, the increment it takes the fortwo cdi to reach motorway cruising speeds is an irrelevance. The 130Nm maximum torque that's available between 2,000 and 2,500rpm is about what you'd expect from a 1.2-litre petrol engine. As a result, the Smart feels nippy when firing away from the lights and is relatively unfazed by inclines. The turning circle is hilariously tight and if there's an easier car to park, we'd like to see it. There's almost enough room for a pair of smarts to double up in most conventional parking bays.
Smart's designers did the decent thing and have done away with the sequential gearbox that was used in the original car, swapping its jerky six-gear set-up for a faster shifting, five-speed unit. The standard manual shift option gives decent control, letting you prod the lever to select gears yourself or flip the optional steering wheel paddles. Lift off the gas as you do this and it manages nicely enough but the softouch fully-automatic mode that features on the Passion models is preferable most of the time. This still isn't one of the great sequential auto boxes.
Design and Build
There's still a strong desire among city car buyers to have rear seats, even though they're likely to be used less regularly than the Queen's skateboard. A boot of more than 220-litres is another feature that the original Smart deemed unnecessary but the indications are that people like to have one all the same. And, indeed, there's a stretched fortwo in the pipeline that provides just these things. Still, there can be no denying that the fortwo as it stands is perfect in town, even if outside the city limits the car is towered over by tailgating HGVs and buffeted by cross winds. Smart, of course, would counter that all of this frippery falls outside the fortwo's remit of providing affordable, funky urban transport - something it does do exceedingly well.
The recent facelift is a little bolder than previous efforts, embracing a larger radiator grille with a more prominent integrated chrome Smart logo, remodelled front aprons, side skirts and rear apron and horizontally arranged optional LED daytime driving lights. The previous model's twin air inlets under the number plate have been combined into a single unit. There's also a choice of three new alloy wheels. A more fundamental choice is between the two body styles: a hard-topped coupe and the cabriolet with its electrically-retracting fabric roof and removable roof bars. In addition to the three soft top colours previously available (black, red, blue), the smart BRABUS tailor made programme offers six more soft top colours.
Inside, trim has been upgraded with a crystal grey leather/fabric combination for the seats, an imitation leather/fabric mix for the door trims and black imitation leather for the instrument panel in combination with a grey knee pad. More than ever it now feels like part of the Mercedes-Benz family. Space for the two occupants is surprisingly generous, the switchgear feels quite upmarket and build quality is strong while the trademark funky design remains.
Market and Model
The facelifted fortwo's pricing will keep in line with the outgoing model's so expect to pay between £9,000 to £11,500 for the standard petrol models, though that will rise steeply if you fall in love with the comprehensive options list. The cdi diesel is available in Passion spec only and commands a £1200 premium over the identically trimmed and equipped 71bhp micro-hybrid (mhd) petrol model. The size-to-price ratio isn't wonderful when you consider you could have a Peugeot 107 for the price of an entry-level Smart or a Fiat 500 for the price of one of the plusher models - but then that's always been the case with the smallest Smart. You'll pay a premium of just under £2,000 for the equivalent cabrio versions.
Cost of Ownership
In the current climate, a headline-grabbing fuel economy figure can do wonders for a car's profile and sales. The fortwo cdi certainly has one. It's takes a notoriously long time for a diesel city car doing a low annual mileage to justify in fuel savings the higher purchase price it commands over a petrol model. That said, 85.6mpg combined economy with 89g/km emissions will endow the fortwo cdi with a powerful appeal for anyone keen to do their bit for the planet, dip under the cut off point for congestion charging schemes or benefit from the convenience of a car capable of going from Dover to Prague on a single tank of fuel. Quite simply, this is one of the greenest cars on the road.
Insurance costs are driven down by the fortwo's ease of repair, the elastic plastic body panels being capable of shrugging off typical parking knocks. The white, black or yellow panels are flexible and the colour is deep moulded in, so superficial scratches are hard to spot. It also means that a more seriously damaged panel can be replaced inexpensively without need for costly and time-consuming repainting.
Summary
There will be plenty of motorists who really don't need a car that can do any more than the fortwo does but they'll need to overcome the desire many of us share to have the capability in reserve 'just in case'. If your excursions beyond the city limits are infrequent enough or you're simply willing to put up with the little Smart's lack of poke on the open road, you'll benefit from a vehicle that's perfectly at home in the urban landscape. The diesel engine's fuel economy and emissions are tough to beat in the mainstream market and the Smart still cuts it in the fashion stakes.
The fortwo's strict adherence to its urban transport concept is its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. Other manufacturers have appropriated elements of Smart design and now there are rival products that fulfil a similar role with more of the concessions to practicality and flexibility that many customers want. None can better the environmental performance of the fortwo cdi, however, and there's still kudos attached to owning the city car that showed the others the way.
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Smart Casual
By Line
The smart fortwo cabrio is no longer just an urban fashion accessory but it's still at its best in town on a sunny day. Jonathan Crouch reports...
Ten Second Review
Smart's recently refreshed take on city centre motoring is at its cutest in open-top fortwo cabio guise. It's almost as nippy as a bike, yet as trendy as the priciest convertible. If you're town-bound, here's a car with few rivals that it's hard not to like.
Background
If the best thing about smart is the little fortwo, the best thing about the fortwo is this cute cabrio model. While its fixed-top stablemate struggles to justify its existence in a market filled with cheaper, more practical superminis, the cabrio is almost unique in offering fashionable, open-top city centre motoring at an affordable price. Small wonder that a third of all smart buyers choose it.
Without this variant keeping fortwo sales afloat, smart itself would probably cease to exist. With a model range that expanded too fast too soon in the early years of this century, the Mercedes-owned brand came close to collapse before a second generation fortwo, this model, launched in 2007, set things back upon an even keel. Recently facelifted, this, more than ever before perhaps, is a car of our times.
Driving Experience
Roof open on a sunny day, your designer shopping bags on the seat beside you, it takes a special kind of urban traffic jam to dent your general good humour if you're a smart cabrio driver. The electric fabric roof retracts at the touch of a button and because the car itself is so short, it's quick enough to do at the lights if you're hit by a sudden cloudburst. Otherwise of course, the recipe is exactly as it would be in a fixed-top fortwo, which means that most buyers will end up behind the wheel of the second generation version's 1.0-litre Mitsubishi-sourced three-cylinder engine, in a range of different states of tune. As an alternative though, dedicated urban dwellers might also want to consider the 54bhp 800cc cdi diesel model.
True, it can be pretty painfully slow - sixty from rest takes nearly 18 seconds in the diesel - but come on, be real here: when was the last time you went 60mph in the middle of town, this smart's intended operating environment? It matches the flow of traffic, which is pretty much all you need, while returning significantly better fuel and CO2 returns than you'll get from the entry-level 71bhp petrol model I'd recommend it over. Not everyone who works in town lives there of course and should your smart cabrio need a slightly wider scope of urban and open road functionality (where the MK2 model's longer wheelbase and wider track gives it a bit more composure), I'd suggest you look at the more lively 84bhp turbocharged petrol version. You could even go for an even faster 102bhp BRABUS Exclusive variant, though that car's price tag might make you think twice.
Design and Build
The second generation fortwo cabrio has been improved in recent times, the most recent facelift being for the 2012 MY. The changes are, perhaps, a little less subtle than they've been in the past. There's a larger radiator grille with a more prominent integrated chrome Smart logo, remodelled front aprons, side skirts and rear apron and horizontally arranged optional LED daytime driving lights. The previous model's twin air inlets under the number plate have been combined into a single unit. There's also a choice of three new alloy wheels: the fortwo passion comes with a new 9-spoke design and there are two slightly different three-spoke designs fitted with wider tyres to round off the range. The expanded colour chart includes matt anthracite for the first time and the BRABUS Xclusive model becomes optionally available in white. In addition to the three soft top colours previously available (black, red, blue), the smart BRABUS tailor made programme offers six more soft top colours.
Inside, trim has been upgraded with a crystal grey leather/fabric combination for the seats, an imitation leather/fabric mix for the door trims and black imitation leather for the instrument panel in combination with a grey knee pad. The cabriolet's folding fabric roof is easily operated at any speed at the touch of a button. It retreats backwards in the manner of a conventional sun roof revealing a big slice of sky overhead but drivers wanting to go fully convert their smart will need to stop and get out. Removable side roof bars unclip and can be stowed in a special compartment in the tailgate while the rear roof section, once released, drops down to sit on top of the boot.
Owners get a respectable 220-litre luggage capacity in the back, there's a glass rear window to improve visibility and on the inside, the fortwo now feels like part of the Mercedes-Benz family, rather than the scruffy stepchild that smart's prestigious parent company would rather forget.
Market and Model
List prices start some way above those of the fixed-top fortwo but you should still be able to get one of these on your driveway for just over £11,000. Compared to a more conventional cabrio, that's ridiculously cheap, though of course you'll need to be prepared to trade longer distance capability and practical versatility for the smart's city centre nippyness. Basically, you're looking at a premium of around £2,000 to own one of these over the standard model, with list prices ranging all the way up to £16,500 if you want BRABUS bling. And rivals? Well, right off the cuff, I really can't think of any, though if you take the idea on a four-wheeled urban runabout with a fresh air aspect to its extreme, and can live with electric power, a Renault Twitzy might fit the bill.
The complete fortwo cabrio range starts with the econobasic 54bhp diesel model but it really is worth finding £300 more to get the 71bhp power unit or better still, the turbocharged 84bhp engine that's uprated in the flagship BRABUS Xclusive model to 102bhp. Standard equipment depends of course on your choice of spec but more important than the niceties are the safety touches you'll want to know about in a car as small and potentially vulnerable as this one. The MK1 model's tough safety cell (emphasised by these visible dark-painted structural elements) remains, as does the ESP stability control that's necessary in a tall, short-wheelbase car like this. There's also ABS with brake assist and twin front airbags - plus we'd go for the optional side 'bags too, which could be life-savers.
Cost of Ownership
The introduction of mhd (micro hybrid drive) in more recent second generation fortwo models has made a big difference to fuel consumption, with improvements of nearly 30% around town where the system's start/stop function disables the engine at traffic lights or in urban queues. Further recent tweaks have now meant that the popular 71bhp micro hybrid drive petrol unit fitted with softip transmission now emits just 97g/km CO2 - an improvement of 6g/km - and manages over 65mpg on the combined cycle. This development means the most popular petrol and diesel engines in the smart range now fall below 100g/km CO2. The emissions of the top Xclusive version are also lowered to 119g/km. The whole smart range now emits less than 120g/km CO2, which makes all models exempt from the cost of the annual road fund licence for at least the first year from registration.
You can't beat a diesel of course when it comes to running costs and the cdi manages an astonishing 85.6mpg on the combined cycle, whilst outputting just 86g/km of CO2. Clip-on, clip-off plastic panels help with cheap insurance groups which for mainstream models vary between 2-3, while residual values are amongst the best in class.
Summary
This car represents a clever idea, cleverly executed. If you like the idea of an open-top, you drive your car mainly over short distances or in town and space is not especially important, then you'll likely find the fortwo cabio to be an endearing little thing.
The extra maturity of this facelifted second generation version is welcome but this is still the kind of purchase you make with your heart rather than your head. Maybe if smart could sell it with a designer shopping bag. Better still, one of those convertible, reversible ones. Fashion: don't you just love it?
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SMART THINKING
Introduction
Are you fed up with urban runabouts pretending to be more than they are? Then you probably want smart's latest fortwo, June Neary decides
Will It Suit Me?
Horses for courses and all that. Citycars should be designed for the city in my view, not be scaled down superminis with 'jack of all trades' remits. A real urban car doesn't have to have a huge amount of interior or luggage space, for though that's always nice, it usually means exterior dimensions larger than you would like. By the same token, a real urban car doesn't have to have a 0-60mph time under 14 seconds or a top speed approaching 100mph.
If you've read this far and clocked the picture at the top of this story, you'll probably see where I'm going with this. Yes, the latest smart fortwo is a real urban car. Of course, the smart people will tell you that it's a lot more user-friendly in second generation guise, should you decide to venture further a field. But, thank goodness, the basic recipe hasn't changed - nor should it. If the smart brand had stuck to producing fortwos and models like it, the marque wouldn't be in the financial mess it is.
Practicalities
I can't readily remember coming across a car that claimed to be so different while looking so identically similar to its predecessor. Buy a second generation smart fortwo and almost no one will know it. Perhaps that's a good thing, I don't know. There's certainly nothing much wrong with this little car's cheeky, dinky shape.
Sit both MK1 and MK2 cars back to back, as almost nobody will have the time, opportunity or inclination to do, and it's easy to see where the changes have been made. For a start, the smart is no longer quite the pure design of old, having swelled almost 20cm in length and 4.3cm in width. The track and the wheelbase have also been stretched but the majority of the length has been imposed upon the company by new pedestrian crash legislation.
When I looked closely in the carpark, I could see that the car's face was indeed a little different, with projector lights and a smiling grille aperture, while the side revealed a slimmer aspect to the trademark tridion safety cell in the sill and door area. The door handles have also been rotated around ninety degrees for ease of use - a nice touch that. The rear wings are more contoured and the rear window has more slope to it than before. Four instead of six rear lights are now apparent, the fog light and reversing lights now slotted beneath the brake lights and indicator composite units.
In relative terms (and, as I said before, this is no supermini), space inside was always very good for two adults (if not their baggage) and the latest car is better still. Somewhat unusually, the passenger seat is mounted 15cm further back than the driver's seat so that shoulder room can be maximised. Smart claims that passengers have an additional three centimetres of elbow room compared to the old car which never felt small even for tall people like me. The boot seemed slightly bigger too when I loaded in a midweek Tesco shop and on consulation of the press pack, it seemed this was the case, luggage room having been usefully increased from 150 to 220 litres.
Behind the Wheel
While I generally liked the original fortwo's driving manners, there were some things about them that were absolutely hateful. The jerky automated gearbox for example. Oh and steering which our Road Test Editor Andy Enright described as feeling as if it was "attached to the front wheels by bungee cords." The good news is that both of these issues have been addressed in the latest fortwo.
The six-speed automated manual gearbox has been replaced by a Getrag five-speed unit which still automates the shift with the help of an electric motor but shift times have been halved which means that you'll no longer suffer that lurch, pregnant pause and then gradual take up of power the old car suffered. Otherwise, it looks much the same with the option of paddles to marshal the gearchange on all models (bar the plush pulse variant where they are fitted as standard). There's also a kickdown function to drop two gears when the driver really wants to get a hustle on.
The steering has been made ten per cent quicker, the standard rack now just 3.5 turns lock to lock. It's still not what you'd call racy but it's a good deal less flabby feeling than before. Electric power steering is also an option, sharpening feel still further.
The biggest change however, is reserved for under the bonnet, where the engine size has leapt from 0.7 litres to 1.0-litre. Two normally-aspirated powerplants are offered, of either 61 or 71bhp and there's also an 84bhp turbo model. All three powerplants claim to offer considerably more torque than the equivalent engine in the previous generation fortwo; in other words, the thing isn't constantly having to change up[ and down the gearbox so much as you duck through heavy traffic, with the accompanying lurches and groans that marked out your progress in the original little smart. There's also a 45bhp diesel model which will sup around 3.5 litres of fuel per 100km - which is just over 81mpg in old money.
Value For Money
Prices basically range between around £7,000 and £11,000, depending on your choice of trim levels, engines and bodystyles (there's a quite desirable Cabrio version on offer alongside the fixed top variant). Let's be honest: that's not especially cheap, especially when you start to factor in the accessories that most smart owners tend to specify with their cars. But in any walk of life or corner of the High Street, the best is never cheap. And this, in my humble opinion, is the best urban runabout you can buy. Assuming that's all you want.
Could I Live With One?
If I was town-bound, I'd probably buy a smart fortwo without hesitation and park it front-on to the pavement as a statement of urban intent. Imagine doing that in a supermini: you never would (or at least, you'd never get away with it.) And therein lies my point. Horses for courses and all that.
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SMART & SMARTER
By Line
Smart's evergreen fortwo citycar goes under the cosmetic surgeon's knife once more. An all- new fortwo is on the way but, in the meantime, the cutest city scoot has never looked better. David Vivian checks it out
Ten Second Review
However much die hard Smart Fortwo fans protest that their choice of wheels is purely pragmatic and about reducing their carbon footprint (and with good reason), they'd probably secretly admit that a lot of it is to do with style. Smart knows this and has always been on the ball when it comes to keeping its titchy two-seater looking trendy. Here's the latest effort.
Background
The Smart fortwo is living proof that if a good idea acquires enough traction quickly, it can largely shrug off any inherent shortcomings it may have. Originally a collaboration between watchmaker Swatch and Mercedes-Benz, the first 1998 Smart city car was a radical slice of 'smart' thinking that posited the idea that most so called city commute 'minis' were simply too big and that the rear seats and the attendant bodywork were unnecessary. The resultant four-wheeled plastic capsule was incredibly short, very strong, ingeniously packaged, amazingly economical and cute as a kitten with a ball of wool. It was also slow, quite noisy, had a pretty appalling ride and possibly the slowest automated manual transmission ever fitted to a car. Despite this, the first generation car shifted over 770,000 units.
On the back of this success, Smart decided to branch out and build a five-door family hatch (based around Mitsubishi mechanicals) and a very pretty roadster/coupe, using a souped-up version of the city car's turbocharged three-cylinder Mitsubishi-sourced engine. Although both new lines were vastly better to drive, neither really caught on, plunged Smart into the red and were eventually canned. So, unfortunately, were half the jobs at the factory. Mercedes decided that Smart should concentrate on the baby car that continued to sell in healthy numbers and make it as well as it could. The second generation car ameliorated many of the original car's flaws without quite solving them - a situation that persists. The future for Smart looks bright - the Forspeed concept suggesting an exciting new direction for the next generation - but in the meantime, the facelift should keep this little ball of fun rolling.
Driving Experience
We've all seen Smart fortwos bowling along the motorway at unlikely velocities - somewhat erratically if there's a strong crosswind blowing. But their natural habitat, the place they really come into their own, is around town, zipping into gaps even a 1950s Fiat 500 would have to pass up. And the saying 'turn on a sixpence' has a more literal feel, too, thanks to the astonishingly tight 8.75m turning circle.
The facelifted range continues with the same line-up of 1.0-litre turbo triple petrol engines (available with 71, 84 in Mhd micro-hybrid form or, in Brabus trim, a useful 102bhp) and a 0.8-litre 54bhp Cdi diesel which isn't as slow as you might imagine thanks to a generous helping of torque and, besides, is claimed by Smart, to be the world's most economical production car. Despite the much improved transmission - a five-speed semi-auto Getrag with Auto and steering wheel paddle modes - shift times are still a little laggardly but much easier to live with, especially given the extra torque of the eager and characterful little 1.0-litre engine means that there isn't so much cog-swapping going on anyway.
Chassis-wise, it's probably best to steer clear of the Nurburgring, even in the fat-tyred Brabus, but that doesn't mean driving a Smart can't be fun. At least it doesn't ride too badly these days, the helm responds crisply enough, grip levels are surprisingly high and, around town, few things this side of a dispatch rider with an urgent delivery to make feel more nimble. Accept its limitations and the Smart can be an engaging way to travel.
Design and Build
Smart says the fortwo has been 'substantially revamped'. That's an overstatement, but is does look a somewhat bolder. It sports a larger radiator grille with a more prominent integrated chrome Smart logo, remodelled front aprons, side skirts and rear apron and horizontally arranged optional LED daytime driving lights. The previous model's twin air inlets under the number plate have been combined into a single unit. There's also a choice of three new alloy wheels: the fortwo passion comes with a new 9-spoke design and there are two slightly different three-spoke designs fitted with wider tyres to round off the range. The expanded colour chart includes matt anthracite for the first time and the BRABUS Xclusive model becomes optionally available in white.
A more fundamental choice is between the two body styles: a hard-topped coupe and the cabriolet with its electrically-retracting fabric roof and removable roof bars. In addition to the three soft top colours previously available (black, red, blue), the smart BRABUS tailor made programme offers six more soft top colours.
Inside, trim has been upgraded with a crystal grey leather/fabric combination for the seats, an imitation leather/fabric mix for the door trims and black imitation leather for the instrument panel in combination with a grey knee pad.
As before, and somewhat unusually, the fortwo's passenger seat is mounted 15cm further back than that of the driver so that shoulder room can be maximised, and people who've never sat in a Smart before are invariably surprised at how spacious the cabin seems. Even for the very tall, the driving position is remarkably uncompromised. Not so the boot which is tiny, though, in theory, there's up to 340 litres if you stack right up to the roof. The two-piece tailgate with its separately-opening glass window is wide-opening and the bottom part is strong enough for you to sit on.
Market and Model
The facelifted fortwo's pricing will keep in line with the outgoing model's so expect to pay between £9,000 to £10,500 for the standard models, though that will rise steeply if you fall in love with the comprehensive options list. The size-to-price ratio isn't wonderful when you consider you could have a Peugeot 107 for the price of an entry-level Smart or a Fiat 500 for the price of one of the plusher models - but then that's always been the case with the smallest Smart. You'll pay a premium of just under £2,000 for the equivalent cabrio versions.
Cost of Ownership
It's easy to see why mhd (micro hybrid drive) Smart fortwos have become popular, as they offer the best compromise between performance and parsimony. The system's start/stop function disables the engine at traffic lights, junctions or in traffic queues and helps the 71bhp motor post a CO2 figure of just 97g/km, which equates to over 65mpg on the combined cycle. The whole smart range now emits less than 120g/km CO2, which makes all models exempt from the cost of the annual road fund licence for at least the first year from registration.
But if you're really serious about slashing running costs, the Cdi diesel is in a class of its own, returning an astonishing 85.6mpg on the combined cycle with CO2 emissions of just 86g/km.. Clip-on, clip-off plastic panels help with cheap insurance groups which for mainstream models vary between 2-3, while residual values are among the best in class.
Summary
Often derided in magazine road tests for not offering the polished dynamics, refinement and comfort of more conventional, four-seater city cars, the baby Smart nonetheless has a loyal and enthusiastic following that appreciates its chic style and quirky charms. It may struggle to convince on the open road but, in the cut and thrust of urban traffic, nothing nips, tucks and parks quite like a Smart fortwo.
The most recent facelift once again keeps that original unique shape looking fresh, cute and appealing and is merely the latest development in an evolutionary process that, to be frank, has seen the Smart improve out of all recognition since its 1998 debut. With fuel prices and environmental pressures seemingly on an ever upward spiral, the Smart fortwo has never been more relevant and its ability to put a smile on your face never more welcome.
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SMARTER THAN THE AVERAGE CAR?
Introduction
There are default expressions to adopt when viewing certain cars. A supercar, for example, should be greeted with slack-jawed wonderment. On sighting a heavily modified supermini complete with booming stereo and anti-social exhaust, a despairingly slow shake of the head always helps suggest its owner should know better. A vacant thousand yard stare fits for almost any MPV and a grimace of disapproval, tinged with underlying jealousy, usually works with gas-guzzling luxury 4x4s. The Smart Fortwo is another car that tends to provoke a reaction. We'll call it the Smart smirk and if you fancy experiencing this lighter side of motoring, a used version could be just the ticket.
Models
Models Covered: (1.0 petrol, 800cc diesel, 30kW electric / Coupe, Cabriolet [pure, pulse, passion, Brabus])
History
People smirked at the Smart virtually from day one. It was primarily because of its diminutive size but the unusual colour schemes that ranged from the day-glow to floral and leopard skin prints also helped raise a chuckle. Smart, however, took itself a little more seriously. You see, this has always been a company with convictions - of the non-criminal variety, that is. From the outset, the firm believed in its cleverly packaged two-seater citycar design as a revolutionary concept for the future of urban motoring. And to think we thought it was a bit of fun.
Smart argued that for the majority of the time, people in cities didn't need anything larger than its city car and that urban motorists were inefficiently choosing vehicles for the rare occasions when extra space was necessary. It had a point but the public being the public, they proved rather more resistant to change than Smart might have liked. Although successful, the first Smart city car wasn't the huge hit that had been hoped for. The second generation model featured here was a second bite at the cherry.
The original car was sold from 2003 to 2007 in various guises but when the second generation version arrived, it adopted a more grown-up approach. It was a larger car, with a larger engine and a higher quality interior that still had only two seats but offered more spacious accommodation. The base engine was a 1,000cc petrol unit that was offered in 61, 71 and 84bhp form, the latter of which benefited from the inclusion of a turbocharger. A Brabus model arrived soon afterwards with power upped to 98bhp.
In some European markets, the ForTwo was sold with a tiny 800cc diesel engine from the outset but that didn't come to the UK until 2009. It was joined by the mhd (Micro Hybrid Drive) models which added stop and start technology to the mix. Around the same period, Smart began offering the ForTwo ED electric vehicle on lease to large companies and local authorities.
What You Get
There's still a strong desire amongst city car owners to have rear seats, even though they're likely to be used less regularly than the Queen's skateboard. A boot of more than 220-litres is another feature that the Smart deems unnecessary but the indications are that people like to have one all the same. You could also argue that the Smart is a little too small at under three meters in length and just over 1.5m wide. Still, it's perfect in town even if outside the city limits the car is towered over by tailgating HGVs and buffeted by cross winds. Smart, of course, would counter that all of this frippery falls outside the ForTwo's remit of providing affordable, funky urban transport - something it does do exceedingly well.
Taken in isolation, the ForTwo doesn't look too different to its immediate predecessor but sit the two cars back to back and it's easy to see where the changes were made. For a start, the Smart swelled by almost 20cm in length and 4.3cm in width but don't worry, it's still tiny. The track and the wheelbase were also stretched but the majority of the length was imposed upon the company by pedestrian crash legislation. Inside, this ForTwo feels like part of the Mercedes-Benz family, rather than the troublesome stepchild that Smart's prestigious parent company would rather forget. Space for the two occupants is surprisingly generous, the switchgear feels quite upmarket and build quality is strong while the trademark funky design remains.
The entry-level Pure version is quite basic. It comes with a two-spoke steering wheel, a black grooved plastic roof and steel wheels. The lower part of the instrument panel is made of grained black plastic, as are the door trims. There are even manual window winders. Everything bar the essentials for two adults to get cheaply and stylishly about town is stripped away. The top-spec Passion version might fit the bill better with its electric windows and panoramic smoked glass roof.
What You Pay
The Smart ForTwo has always been sold at a premium from new compared to mainstream city cars and with values holding up well, cheap used models aren't thick on the ground. The first 2007 cars in 61bhp, Pure guise still command £5,300 as a coupe and a 71bhp Passion model of the same age will be £6,500. A later 58-plate ForTwo will be between £6,000 and £8,000 depending on the specification. Go for an 84bhp Cabriolet on 58-plates in Passion trim and you won't get much change out of £10,000.
What to Look For
The ForTwo mark two has proven reasonably reliable to date. Check for the usual parking knocks and bodywork damage that city cars tend to sustain but don't be unduly put off if you find any as the car's plastic body panels were designed to be cheap to repair. The Cabriolet models have had issues with leaks and water damage to the roof but these should have been fixed under warranty on early cars.
Replacement Parts
(approx based on 2007 FourTwo Passion) A new clutch assembly retails for around £180, and an exhaust system costs about the same. Front brake pads are roughly £25, which given that they're about the size of a matchbox would seem about right.
On the Road
Straight line speed is not a ForTwo forte. The entry-level 61bhp car takes 16.7s to reach 62mph and the 19.8s it takes the diesel ForTwo to cover 0-62mph sprint makes the word sprint look grossly inappropriate. Remember Smart's unflinching focus on urban motoring, though and it makes more sense. On the road in its metropolitan element, the increment it takes the ForTwo to reach motorway cruising speeds is an irrelevance. Whichever engine is fitted, the Smart feels nippy enough when firing away from the lights and is relatively unfazed by inclines. Buyers who do want some more firepower under their right foot can choose the 84bhp engine (10.9s for the 0-62mph) or the 99bhp Brabus (9.9s) The turning circle is hilariously tight and if there's an easier car to park, we'd like to see it. There's almost enough room for a pair of Smarts to double up in most conventional parking bays.
With the second generation car, Smart's designers did the decent thing and got rid of the sequential gearbox that was used in the original car, swapping its jerky six-gear set-up for a faster shifting, five-speed unit. The standard manual shift option gives decent control, letting you prod the lever to select gears yourself or flip the optional steering wheel paddles. Lift off the gas as you do this and it manages nicely enough but the softouch fully-automatic mode that features on the Passion models is preferable most of the time. This still isn't one of the great sequential auto boxes.
The introduction of mhd (micro hybrid drive) in more recent second generation fortwo models made a big difference to fuel consumption, with improvements of nearly 30% around town where the system's start/stop function disables the engine at traffic lights or in urban queues. As a result, the 71bhp model manages 57.6mpg in town and 65.7mpg on the combined cycle, putting out just 103g/km of CO2. You can't beat a diesel of course when it comes to running costs and the cdi manages an astonishing 80.7mpg in town use and 83.1mpg on the combined cycle, whilst outputting just 88g/km of CO2.
Overall
It took a while but motorists gradually started to come round to Smart's way of thinking. Smart's problem was that rival manufacturers did too. The ForTwo once stood virtually alone as a city car that adhered strictly to the principles of compact size, light weight, maximum fuel economy and a trendy urban cool image. By the time the second generation came along, you couldn't move at the motorshows for dinky vehicles from rival manufacturers trying to annex a slice of Smart's territory. To date, however, the ForTwo remains arguably the purest exponent of the genre. Whether its reluctance to bend its own rules will give it an edge in the small car future remains to be seen but used buyers seeking chic urban transport for two could do a lot worse.
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