The smart fortwo is about to enter a brand new chapter of its existence, just as soon as the new generation models we saw last month enters production. However, they don't include an electric model yet, which is why smart Canada decided to release this ingenious little commercial, showing the old model still has a full bag of tricks.
The electric city car is pitted against some of the most exciting sportscars smart could get its hands on, including a Ford Mustang, an Audi A5 coupe and what looks like a Porsche Boxster GTS. The results: smart is (predictably) humiliated over the whole length of the track but is always faster for the first 5 meters (16.4 feet), which is what they say really matters in the city.
The smart car has two clearly defined sides to it. On the one hand, it's too small, too expensive and not American enough. On the other, it's economical and with no gearbox and 100% torque, it's fast off the line. It's a very polarizing machine, which some people hate with a passion
You guys want specs with that? Sure, why not. The electric smart is powered by a 55 kW (75 hp) electric motor mounted at the back of the car. The same unit also produces 130 Nm (96 lb-ft) of torque and pushes the car to 100 km/h (62 mph) in only 13 seconds. Top speed is, however, limited to just 120 km/h (75 mph) because there's only one forward gear.
smart is being quite brave with this video. Cutting lanes like that might be frowned upon, so the ad might be banned, and those perfectly timed launches almost look too good to be true if you ask us. What's more, we struggle to think of any eco car buyer who would hand over $26,000 just so they could be faster over the first 5 meters at the lights.
Editor's note: GT-R with launch – there, we fixed the acceleration problem!
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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