These two machines share most of their running gear - and the ForFour's bodyshell - with the Renault Twingo, but the Smart duo are marketed as higher end city cars with a higher quality interior and a price premium over the Renault. The current version is the Mk3, and this time around it has spawned a larger model, in the form of the returning Smart ForFour. The two-seater city car has been around for nearly 20 years, and in that time its compact dimensions and rear-engined layout have marked it out as a unique proposition on the new car market. Why buy half a car at full-car prices? Maybe that’s why it gets no respect in traffic.There are very few cars that gain a cult following, but the Smart ForTwo is one of them. Unless the length of a car with a back seat is a liability to you, there’s really no reason to go with the Smart. But even at that, you’d have to forgo far more practical cars, including the Chevrolet Sonic, Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio, Nissan Versa Note, and Toyota Yaris. If we found ourselves irrationally smitten by the design and the size of the Smart, we’d try to find one closer to the $15,400 base price. Granted, that number is for a fully loaded Fortwo, and as this is written Smart is offering $1000 to $1500 in incentives. We’d be willing to overlook the packaging compromises-the lack of a rear seat, for example-if the Smart could go 60 miles on a gallon, but it can’t.Īn even more upsetting number is the $20,570 price of our Proxy test car. We managed 30 mpg driving just over 100 miles, nearly all of it in city conditions-and Smart recommends premium-grade fuel. But the EPA estimates you’ll get 34 mpg in city driving and 39 on the highway. In many ways, the Fortwo is half a car so you might expect the fuel economy to be double that of the average subcompact. While the 73.7-inch wheelbase contributes to the tight turning circle, it also induces brake dive-the Smart leans hard on its front wheels under extreme braking-and it causes the Fortwo to have a nervous and rough ride. It has a 22.8-foot turning radius it can turn around in the width of two traffic lanes. Around town, the Fortwo is nimble and easy to maneuver. On glass-smooth freeways, it tracks straight ahead, and it’s not as susceptible to crosswinds as its size and shape might suggest. When you’re in this new Smart, it’s easy to forget how tiny is the car that surrounds you. It also comes with heated seats, ambient lighting, automatic climate control, a glass roof, and a JBL audio system. It arrived with a glossy white interior trimmed in blue fabric, reminding us of the original iMac from 1998. Our test car was the top trim level, called Proxy. And it’s probably important to some hard-core fans that it still looks like a cartoonist’s rendering of a car. Legroom and headroom are plentiful, and the two front seats are comfortable and supportive, even if the driver and passenger are nearly shoulder to shoulder. An enormous windshield and a high seating position give the driver a buslike view forward. Smart has kept the Fortwo’s best traits intact. The previous Smart’s standard five-speed automated manual shifted with all the competence and speed of a student driver just learning to use a stick jerky and slow, it was the Fortwo’s worst feature. The transmission now changes gears without leaping and lurching forward thanks to the optional ($990) dual-clutch six-speed automatic transmission (a five-speed manual gearbox is standard). We say that not only because 9.9 seconds to 60 mph is a giant step beyond the original car’s 14.4-second crawl, but also because the experience is far less painful. The Fortwo’s mass (up nearly 400 pounds on the 2008 model we tested) still challenges the drivetrain, but acceleration is vastly improved. Mounted just in front of the rear wheels, the world’s angriest popcorn popper strains its little guts to move 2203 pounds of Smart. A new 898-cc turbo three-cylinder makes 89 horsepower and 100 lb-ft of torque and replaces the old Mitsubishi-sourced 1.0-liter triple that made 70 horsepower and 68 lb-ft. So while Smart is sticking to its half-car philosophy, plenty of improvements have been made under the skin. The escape-pod design theme, the tiny 106.1-inch length that inspires creative parking, and the two upright seats are unchanged. never got the first), is far less likely to clog the traffic flow. Bicycles get more respect.įew other drivers will recognize that this third-generation Fortwo, radically better than the second generation (the U.S. It quickly becomes apparent that no one wants to get stuck behind a Smart. Every stoplight becomes an impromptu drag race, even though you’re just minding your own business. No one lets the tiny Smart merge or even change lanes. If any car inspires bullying, it’s the Smart Fortwo. Driving a Smart Fortwo is an eye-opening excursion into the “might makes right” psyche of the average motorist.
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