Who here has driven a Smart car?

[Phil1968]

Took the Vito in for a service today & the only courtesy vehicle they had available was a 2013 Smart car. After the initial comedy factor had evaporated I thought it would be interesting to make the comparison with my other half's IQ, Toyota's take on the micro city car. I started my 100 mile round journey & initial impressions were that the auto gear selector was far from intuitive, the selection not being the usual "P-R-N-D", it's a convoluted lever route to engage forward & reverse, there is no Park. I soon gave up using the semi-auto mode as it's slow witted & opted to leave it in "auto" as progress seemed a lot smoother. It feels like an automated manual as the drive take up feels like a mechanical clutch, not the usual torque converter & the throttle dips automatically between the upward changes. The throttle blip on the downchanges sound good though. The engine even sounds good when wound on, dare I say not unlike a Porsche 911 (3 cylinder engines do sound like 6 cylinder engines at certain RPMs). Quite nippy too with more than adequate acceleration. However, a motorway car they are not. They'll cruise comfortably at the national speed limit but they don't feel at all stable & any kind of cross-wind just exacerbates that. And of course you get the usual small car syndrome of everyone driving a hair's breadth off your chuff. The interior felt quite cheap & plasticky too. So in conclusion, a fine city car (that's what they were designed for of course) but just don't take it out of the city. The engine was smoother, felt nippier & sounded nicer than my other half's IQ (they both have 1 litre 3-pots) but Toyota did it much better with the IQ in terms of quality & packaging. And, unlike the Smart, the IQ is perfectly fine on the motorway.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I drive a manual 2018 Smart ForFour most days. I bought it for my daughter to learn to drive a manual (in case she ever needs to) but she’s never been interested.

The day I collected it I had a very long motorway journey in the dark, it was very cold with very strong gusts. I did wonder whether I had done the right thing.

It felt painfully slow, and was unnerving at speed in strong crosswinds. The conditions were harsh, but I also had to adjust to driving a small and light car, and I soon did.

I now use it a lot, for anything and everything. Today I did a 200 mile round trip on motorways and dual carriageways in awful weather and it took it it’s stride.

It’s too small to take our dog, but if he stays at home then we travel four-up with my two adult-sized children in the back, even on long-ish dual carriageway journeys.

It’s still painfully slow and it’s still very narrow and lightweight, but I have adjusted and desensitised. I love driving it and I can’t imagine getting rid of it. It’s great.

 

[Phil1968]

I drive a manual 2018 Smart ForFour most days. I bought it for my daughter to learn to drive a manual (in case she ever needs to) but she’s never been interested.

The day I collected it I had a very long motorway journey in the dark, it was very cold with very strong gusts. I did wonder whether I had done the right thing.

It felt painfully slow, and was unnerving at speed in strong crosswinds. The conditions were harsh, but I also had to adjust to driving a small and light car, and I soon did.

I now use it a lot, for anything and everything. Today I did a 200 mile round trip on motorways and dual carriageways in awful weather and it took it it’s stride.

It’s too small to take our dog, but if he stays at home then we travel four-up with my two adult-sized children in the back, even on long-ish dual carriageway journeys.

It’s still painfully slow and it’s still very narrow and lightweight, but I have adjusted and desensitised. I love driving it and I can’t imagine getting rid of it. It’s great.

Weren't the ForFours basically a Mitsubishi Colt underneath? I'd imagine the ForFour to be a much better proposition as a good all-round car than the ForTwo. It was a ForTwo I drove today btw.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Weren't the ForFours basically a Mitsubishi Colt underneath? I'd imagine the ForFour to be a much better proposition as an all round car than the ForTwo. It was a ForTwo I drove today btw.

The first (454) generation ForFour was an indeed based upon the Mitsubishi Colt. The later (453) generation ForFour was based upon the Renault Twingo, as was the the same generation ForTwo. It feels the same to drive, just with rear window further back.

 

[grober]

Toyota iQ - Wikipedia
Aston Martin liked the IQ.

 

[HappytalkAgain]

Toyota iQ - Wikipedia
Aston Martin liked the IQ.

That looks awesome

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Toyota iQ - Wikipedia
Aston Martin liked the IQ.

They hold their money well too.

 

[Phil1968]

They hold their money well too.

Weren't they so that AM could offset their carbon footprint, a requirement from the EU or something along those lines? And more than £30k when they were new 10 years ago

 

[davymead]

The wife’s car, a lot more fun to drive than they look. Paddle shift only though.

 

[davymead]

They hold their money well too.

One of my best pals bought one from new as an investment. To this day it’s sat in a garage in a bubble.
My favourite bit about it is the luggage pack that it is supplied with.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Weren't they so that AM could offset their carbon footprint, a requirement from the EU or something along those lines? And more than £30k when they were new 10 years ago

That’s right, it was intended to reduce the fleet average CO2. I believe it was less expensive than reengineering their existing model line up to produce less CO2.

 

[JHS]

Had one as a hire car in Vienna back in the day. A 2 seater which felt as long as it was wide. I remember that the Autobahn was an interesting experience.

 

[Darrell]

That looks awesome

There’s one round my way. Always outside M&S.

 

[Smart320]

My wife bought a new Smart Passion Cabriolet in 2013 , cost me £12,500 , the last one in the dealers before the updated modeL arrived. Mind you we were living in Jersey where it was great to park and the only 40 mph high speed roads were few and far between. Then about 8 months later we moved to Wales. It rained all the time , the hood went green , however it didn’t seem to mind the hilly roads but you did need to be a bit careful on the bends. Motorway runs to have it serviced at the dealer were not exactly relaxing when it was windy and rainy, but it was quite happy at 70 mph and the seats were comfortable.
After deciding she felt bullied when driving it it was px‘d for a 2004 3 door Rav ( she refused to have a 5 door version) , it had 4 k on the clock and was 3 years old and I got 4k for it , ouch . The Rav had 69 k on the clock , still have it , 82 k now extremely reliable and we love it .
P.S just after selling the Smart swapped my ML for the SLK 55 as we missed having a convertible It was a bit quicker!

 

[Spider10]

We had 1 for a while they are amusing

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

I had some when they were originally launched and could be hired from Easycar for £30 a month.

Brilliant cheap city cars but limited on dual carriageways.

Can’t understand why regulators are pushing us into expensive big EV’s when so much could be achieved by getting us back into smaller, lighter cars. Even the one litre 60mpg petrol Audi A3 would be a more affordable step forward for most real world applications.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Here’s ours:

 

[SmartAmg]

I've had 2 fortwo's a 450 and a 451, loved um!

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

They hold their money well too.

For anyone unfamiliar with the Toyota IQ badged as a Aston Martin Cygnet, here's a typical example of the value of that eleven year old runabout.

Leather seats you see....

 

[davymead]

Or there’s always the Ultimate 125 …