Smart

Vehicle: 2011 Smart ForTwo Convertible Brabus
Price as tested: CDN$24900

Performance: Although the ForTwo does come with a Brabus model, it doesn’t mean its performance is anything as breathtaking as any Mercedes with the Brabus badge. ForTwo’s DOHC 1.0 liter 3-cylinder 12-valve remains 70hp and 68 lb/ft of torque for this city car. Even with the Brabus badge, it doesn’t receve European’s 102hp from this little mill. Either way, this engine is capable enough for most city driving. While it tends to get rough and noisy when pushed, especially when anyone has to face with that lazy 5-speed manumatic gearbox. Although 2nd generation of Smart already improved the ultimate laziness of its manumatic gearbox in its original car, its still not up to the standard. The saving grace is the paddle shifters can override the gearbox at any given time, which means driver “at least” has the chance to control their own fade when its time for passing on a city street. What we are really impressed with the Smart has to be the fuel economy. During the day of our testing, we average only 5 liters per 100km. That is excellent by any standards.

Handling: With Brabus’s stiffened suspension and springs, ForTwo handles more confidently than before. That’s especially true when you have to enter a corner with a sense of enthuisasm. But that doesn’t mean ForTwo has the handling capabilities to run with a sports car. Those Brabus upgrades only make driver more reassurring and confidence-inspiring when its time to push this city car. Given its city car status, ForTwo’s handling is more than acceptable. The steering continues to feel darty when driven through broken pavement, however, the response to driver input is more than acceptable. There are plenty of body rolls and understeer when pushed. Thankfully, there is an ESP always waiting whenever you want to try too hard with this little car. The biggest surprise is the lack of cowl shakes driven over rough roads and railroad tracks, given ForTwo’s admission price.

Brakes: The front discs and rear drums, with standard ABS, provide better than average braking performance. The stopping distance is short while pedal feels solid and well-modulated. Its a good enough system for a city car.

Interior: Slip behind the wheel of the ForTwo, it has basically everything you expect from a city car. The Brabus version has standard heated leather seats, which provide decent support. All the materials and fit-and-finish are more than acceptable given this car’s status-in-life as a city roundabout. Instrumentation gauges are clear and analog, while all those HVAC and stereo are initutive to use.

Conclusion: The ForTwo Brabus is a Brabus by name, not by nature. That’s simply because it doesn’t receive Europe’s 102hp transplant, while the suspension upgrade isn’t enough to justify the cost over lesser Passion. If you are attacted by Brabus’s appearance upgrade, however, that makes for a completely different story entirely.

Competition:
None

OVERALL VERDICT FOR 2011 Smart ForTwo Convertible Brabus
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Performance: 2/5
Handling and ride/fun-to-drive: 2/5
Interior/ergonomics/user-friendliness: 3/5
Fit-and-finish/build quality: 3/5
Cargo/accessibility/layout: 3/5
Value-for-money: 2/5

Overall rating: 2.25/5

Vehicle: 2008 Smart ForTwo Coupe Passion with leather seats, alarm, fog lamps, dashboard tachometer and clock
Price as tested: CDN$19515

Performance: The biggest difference between the new and original ForTwo is the engine. While the original version got a 40hp 800cc 3-cylinder diesel powerplant. The latest version receives a gasoline-powered 999cc 3-cylinder engine. This little mill has 70hp and 68 lb/ft of torque. You won’t find anything called refinement, quietness and smoothness in this engine no matter how gentle you drive. Even with the improved insulation through the cabin, this engine remains loud and noisy thoroughout the rev range. If you can stand 13.3 seconds of rough noise from 0 to 100 km/h, this engine is certainly livable. 68 lb/ft of torque arrives at 4500rpm means one has to rev hard to squeeze the power out, even if the sweetspot remains at the bottom end of the engine. The only transmission offers is the most improved 5-speed automatic with manual mode. In terms of smoothness, its much better than the original car due to less jerky. However, it tends to creeps forward if don’t press the brake pedal firmly during regular traffic stops. While the sequential shifter on the steering is a nice touch, the shifting are jerky and bouncy.

Handling: The original ForTwo was never known for its dynamics, same goes for the latest one. With ForTwo’s fundamental shortcomings: short wheelbase, short length, tall center-of-gravity and narrow width; it doesn’t make for a capable handler. The steering feels darty on the highway. In ForTwo’s case, highway means anything over 80km/h. While on city street, it feels numb and dead without much feedback at all. Push through corners, the ESP screams out loud understandably. What I meant understandably is, given ForTwo’s fundamental chassis deficits. It needs to step in early before its too late. Mercedes doesn’t want to see any ForTwo flips over in moose test. The ride quality is choppy, mainly due to the shortwheel base natural of the vehicle. Going from 90-120 km/h feel little more stable than the original car, thanks to the revised damping of the suspension and springs. By little defines its barely better but not significantly better.

Brakes: With front discs/rear drums and standard ABS, ForTwo’s pedal feel is about average. The average scores for its stoppng distance and modulation at the same time.

Interior: When it comes to materials, its a huge improvements with more soft plastics on the center console and door panels. The panel gaps are also much more tailored than before. One still able to find hard plastic thoroughout the cabin given Smart’s price range.The leather seats are comfortable for short trip but lack of thigh support for long journey. The ergonomics are improved as well. Stereo is finally large enough to use with glove hands. The manual climate control is placed at the right location.

Conclusion: The level of improvements have made the Smart a much better car than before. It continues to be an attention getter with its cute, huggable and lovable looks. But its best to leave it as a city driver primarily because it takes lots of noise and patience merging from city street onto highway.

OVERALL VERDICT FOR 2008 Smart ForTwo Coupe
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Performance: 2/5
Handling and ride/fun-to-drive: 2/5
Interior/ergonomics/user-friendliness: 3/5
Fit-and-finish/build quality: 2.5/5
Cargo/accessibility/layout: 2/5

Overall rating: 2.25/5

Vehicle: 2006 Smart ForTwo Coupe Passion
Price as tested: CDN$19650

Performance: The Canadian-bound Smart ForTwo is powered by only one engine. The tiny rear-mounted 799cc 3-cylinder turbocharged diesel with common-rail technolog. Well, with less than 800 cc and 3 bangers. No one would expect lots of zips from this little Smart car. Not to mention 40hp and 73 lb/ft of torque won’t get anyone excited, even maximium torque shows up at 1800 rpm. However, its biggest forte is fuel economy. With the advanced Mercedes-developed CDI technology and only 730kg, its fuel economy is certainly impressive. We averaged 5L/100km during all city driving the whole day. That’s even with the lazy and reluctant to shift 6-speed manumatic which Smart called Softip. This tranny is so lazy and unwilling to up or downshifts whenever the driver demands. If Mercedes engineers reprograms the tranny better, it would improve Smart’s fuel economy and acceleration by a huge margin. As one would expect from a city car, the Smart’s lack of insulation means noisy at all speeds.

Handling: With Smart’s short wheelbase, high center of gravity and tiny size; don’t expect it to have exceptional ride comfort. In fact, its completely opposite because its front 145 /65 R15 and rear 175/55 R15 eats all the bumps regardless of whether its small or large. It has a very bouncy and rough rides due to the reasons I said at the beginning. On the other hand, its 15″ tires won’t do much for handling. It feels very tippy when going into a corner. There are lots of body rolls and ESP is very instrusive, for a reason. The steering continues the theme of inferior dynamics with poor road feel and completely lack of precision.

Brakes: Smart’s brake feels surprisingly good considered its tire nature. The pedal feel is acceptable, so does braking distance even with 15″ tires.

Interior: Once inside the Smart, everything is what you really needed in a city roundabout. There is nothing fancy inside. However, the cloth seats feel unsupportive in long-trip. There is also nothing to write home about its use of materials. Everything else is cheaply finished with hard, brittle plastic materials.

Conclusion: If you treat Smart as a “lifestyle” city roundabout, its compentent enough for that purpose. On a contrary, if you compare to subcompacts which are at the same price range as Smart. There is really no reason to choose a Smart over, a say, a Yaris or Fit.

OVERALL VERDICT FOR 2006 SMART FORTWO COUPE PASSION
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Performance: 2/5
Handling and ride/fun-to-drive: 1/5
Interior/ergonomics/user-friendliness: 2/5
Fit-and-finish/bulid quality: 2/5
Cargo/accessibility/layout: 2/5
Value-for-money: 2/5

Overall rating: 2/5