SMART fortwo Review

Back in the early 1990s, the Swiss watch mogul Nicolas G. Hayek had a vision of entering the automobile market with a tiny two-seater designed strictly for city driving. In 1994, his company, the Swatch Group, started a partnership with Daimler-Benz AG in order to manufacture the midget vehicles. The resulting company was named MCC Smart GmbH, or Micro Compact Car Smart.

The decision to market the car's name in all lower cases was made in order to gain better recognition, and it is presumed that "smart" comes from Swatch Mercedes-Benz art. The fruit of this cooperation entered the automobile market in 1998, becoming the smallest car in mass production.

Although equipped in standard with ahead of its time gadgets like the Tridion safety cell, anti-lock braking system and electronic stability control, the petite car created didn't generate profit for quite a good number of years, and the Swiss eventually pulled out of the project. Daimler then changed its name from the MCC Smart City Coupe to smart fortwo, and then gave the go-ahead to other models to accompany the midget automobile.

The sporty but ill-fated smart roadster and smart roadster-coupe appeared in 2003, resurrecting the long lost art of manufacturing small and light roadsters, British style, while the bigger smart forfour arrived in 2004, following a collaboration between Daimler and Mitsubishi. Even though they were highly regarded and had already created a fan base around themselves, both new smart models were shelved in 2006 and 2007, consequently, in order to recoup some of the money the innovative smart company was losing every year.

The little fortwo remained in production, and a second generation was green lit to make an appearance in 2007. Almost 20 (approximately 8 inches) centimeters longer to cope with the new European pedestrian protection legislation, the new fortwo was also launched on the land of gas-guzzling muscle cars, SUVs and pickup trucks, the US, with a moderately high success. We tested the one-liter 71 horsepower version of the new fortwo, equipped with the micro hybrid drive start/stop technology in the sporty "pulse" trim. Let's check it out!

The smart fortwo clearly falls in just one of the "love it" or "hate it" categories on each person's axis of good taste. Most of us here at autoevolution.com found it kind of cute, in a very anime smiling character kind of way. The minority, represented by our photographer, not so much. Its height is almost as big as its width, making it look like a flea on wheels from some angles. And before you jump out and call our photographer obese, we are talking about the car's dimensions now.

The overall shape was kept from the first generation, but the design is a bit more mature and less funky now, looking almost sporty from the side. All four wheels are so spread apart from each other that the car looks like it's keeping all of its weight between them, with absolutely no front or rear overhangs, like in a normal car. And it of course does.

The 2,695 mm (106.1 inches) length and 1,559 mm (61.4 inches) width would have attracted attention even without the pod-like styling anyway, but some design cues are there to express some sense of elegance mixed with sportiness. Our favorite part were the rather wide alloy wheels (only available in standard for the "pulse" version) for this type of car and the side intake on the left, making the car look a bit more powerful than it really was. No matter if you like it or not, the smart fortwo is a real head turner and we received a lot of smiles and thumbs up while driving it in the city.
When we first saw it in the parking lot, our immediate impression was that this is a car in which you step in like in a refrigerator, only without the "cold" part. Actually, the wider-than-a-fullsize-coupe doors can take you to an interior so big you will actually step out just to have a look at it again.

We know it sounds like a cliche, but the interior actually makes you think the smart is bigger on the inside than on the outside. Plus, the whole dashboard area is technically a storage zone obstructed by a steering wheel, an audio system and AC controls.

Although our test car was missing the height adjustable seats option, the driving position is a surprising compromise between a sporty feel and the safety impression given by its rather considerable height. There's sufficient space all around you and your driving buddy even if both of you are over six feet tall. We kid you not, since we actually tested this by asking a six foot five, 250 pounds bodyguard to jump behind the steering wheel.

Our test car was equipped with a gnarly interior with so much grey everywhere that almost fooled us this is a much more "serious" car. Obviously, it wasn't. Apart from the somewhat boring interior shades, the overall design is that of a "happy" toy car, with the onboard clock and the tachometer sitting on top of the dashboard, like a snails' eyes.

On the not-so-good side, the fit and finish isn't exactly top notch in there, with some pretty hard plastics reminiscent of the first generation, constantly reminding you that the premium on the smart fortwo wasn't spent on luxury features but on quirky technology underneath the surface.

The inside of a tightly packed city is the smart fortwo's playground. The only prerequisite would be that that city should have some pretty smooth roads. The suspension isn't really THAT stiff, more like that of a compact hot hatch, but after being constantly reminded about the way it rebounds after every bump can actually make you hate it. The shocks' travel is so small that in some instances it can give you the idea that you're riding a golf cart, not a car. Also, its petite wheelbase doesn't help in calming its seesaw movement whenever starting from a dead stop or in heavy stop-and-go traffic.

Apart from these minor downfalls, and we are including a horrendous gearbox whose insanely long gear changes can drive you mad before starting to get used to it, the smart fortwo can keep you smiling for a whole a day if driven in a busy town. Many of you have heard or have read about its ability to park almost anywhere. Well, until you try one out you can't really comprehend the sheer surprise and unabashed content we had squeezing among cars that occupy twice or even thrice the volume of our tiny test car.

With only 2,695 mm (106.1 inches) in length and 1,559 mm (61.4 inches) in width, the smart is a real midget on just about any road in the world. Its lilliputian exterior size and low turning radius (8.75 meters, or 28.7 feet) probably make it the best motorized solution for transport in an overcrowded city with cramped streets. A motorcycle, a scooter or even a bike are better at squeezing through heavy traffic than a fortwo of course, but with those you have to get through rain, dust and pollution, not to mention poor safety credentials compared to the little bugger we're bragging so much.

Parking is also a breeze thanks to its stunning 360 degree visibility, which makes parking sensors or rearview cameras obsolete. You get to sit almost as high as in a compact crossover/SUV, there's a huge LCV-like windshield and the car "ends" right after any window. Also, the front and rear overhangs are so short, you can actually touch the rear windshield with your right hand without leaving the driver's seat.

Although as we said, visibility is almost perfect all-round, we could have used a more "normal" interior rear view mirror, since the standard one is about as big as in one of Mary's make-up kits. Also, its shape is cute but dead wrong when it comes to actual utility. The overall fuel economy when it comes to strictly busy city driving for the 71 horsepower version is around 7 liters per 100 kilometers (US 33-34 mpg).

We must admit, we started the smart fortwo test drive a little heart gripped with fear about how the little midget automobile will handle its own on the highway. Sure, it has standard electronic stability control, anti-lock braking system, a pretty stiff suspension setup and the center of mass is well below what you'd think just by looking at the car. But, and there's a huge "but", it only weighs 750 kilograms (1653.5 lbs) and it looks like it's about to tip over at the slightest gust of wind.

Well, guess what, we were dead wrong, and about a number of other things smart fortwo-related. First of all, the people at smart and even the car's technical book say that our test car's top speed was supposed to be electronically limited at 145 km/h (91 mph). We've twice tested this and on both occasions we managed to cruise in relative comfort and a feeling of unexpected safety at 155 km/h (96.3 mph), while the tachometer mounted like a snail's eye on top of the dashboard was reading a relatively low 4,500 rpm. As a matter of fact, we weren't the only ones surprised by this since on these two occasions we kind of scared other motorists who were driving at around 120-130 km/h (74-81 mph) in the first lane.

Imagine if you saw a white bug-looking thing on wheels speeding by you on the highway. In other words, we weren't at all scared or traumatized by the experience, mainly thanks to the smart fortwo's stiff suspension setup. Also, the wind noise at these speeds was in the medium to low range, despite the car's not-exactly-aerodynamic shape. Of course, this doesn't mean the fortwo is a very good partner for long range trip, but in case you HAVE to use it outside the city, you won't be in any danger.

The only major downside from cruising this kind of car on the highway comes in the rare situations were you're passing or are being passed by a semi, since the little bugger is very susceptible to lateral winds. The fuel consumption on the other hand is a bit antithetic to what you'd expect from a car with a three-cylinder one-liter engine, even in these uncommon situations. After our relatively high-speed highway test, the smart fortwo had used the equivalent of around 10 liters per 100 kilometers (US 23.5 mpg).

When we returned from our small trip outside the city, the heavy right foot became lighter, thus making the car achieving a much better fuel consumption, of only around 6-6.5 liters per 100 kilometers (US 36-39 mpg). On a non-highway road with medium traffic, that figure diminished to 5.5-6 liters per 100 kilometers (US 39-43 mpg). All in all, we were convinced, the smart fortwo is not just a city dweller, since it can be used on just about any long-distance trip, without taking a huge amount of Xanax before. Of course, assuming you're the type of person who travels the Indian way, light, since the "trunk" can carry between 220 and a compact car-like 340 liters (7.8 to 12 cu ft) of luggage.