Auto Review: Smart ForTwo

[JoeWoah]

I'd get one if someone drops a V8 in it. That would be sweet!

 

[J'aimelescravates]

The Ultimate Sleeper

 

[ratboycom]

I have expressed my hate for these several times. So I wont get into it more here. I think for a car that small that barely holds its own at 60mph, 40MPG is paltry. My old 1992 Corolla got mid 40s on the highway and low 40s in the city, seated 5 and had no problems on the highway (and with an upgraded suspension became a good AutoX car).

 

[JoeWoah]

Originally Posted by J'aimelescravates

The Ultimate Sleeper

That is awesome! I would drive that, if it could actually corner too.

This one is also a viable option:

 

[epb]

Originally Posted by J'aimelescravates

The Ultimate Sleeper

Yep, the Hayabusa motor swap is cool, but it requires taking out the passenger seat. There's supposedly a Suzuki engine swap (called "Smartuki") that leaves the car looking mostly stock.

 

[Southern-Nupe]

Originally Posted by edmorel

I might get one for my 10 year old to drive around the backyard. I wonder if it's an improvement over his Peg Perego 4X4 motorized ride on. I think the Perego is bigger.

This may be one of your best posts/lines yet.

 

[zeni]

Nice writeup. Sounds like they're great for the city. I have seen a few out here in the country but it seems like a diesel or hybrid would better for the terrain and comparable in mileage. I'd hate to hit a deer doing 60 in one of these

 

[Bill Smith]

Good review. The Smart car is an urban runnabout, which if you are driving downtown Chicago/NYC/Toronto, it makes sense especially with parking.

On the highway, I would rather have something a little bigger, a new VW GTI or Audi A4.

 

[Tarmac]

Thanks for the review, for the record I did read all that **** *****

Originally Posted by ratboycom

I have expressed my hate for these several times. So I wont get into it more here. I think for a car that small that barely holds its own at 60mph, 40MPG is paltry. My old 1992 Corolla got mid 40s on the highway and low 40s in the city, seated 5 and had no problems on the highway (and with an upgraded suspension became a good AutoX car).

This is the main problem I see, it should get better than 40mpg. 55mpg without a hybrid contraption and we would be talking.

 

[sonick]

Good review. As you mentioned, they have been very popular in Canada. Americans who have never driven them, or have never lived in busy urban/metropolitan cities will invariably ridicule them; but they really are good cars.

Safety is a non-issue as well, IIRC they are engineered so that it is basically a giant roll cage on wheels (like those metal ball cages on American Gladiators). FWIW, It was rated top marks in front/side impact by the IIHS.

 

[Roy]

Actually in crashtests they have results comparable to the BMW 5-series. It got four stars in the EuroNCAP crashtests where five are the maximum.

The smartcars are perfect citycars, that's what they were designed to do and they do it well. It's not fair to judge them on their sportiness like a mini. They are designed to take as little space up as possible. What a lot of Americans forget is that in Europe city centers developed hundreds of years ago. Which means that they are basically for pedestrians and the occasional horse and carriage. Space is much more an issue in a city like Amsterdam or Antwerp than it is in L.A. or N.Y.C.

Petrol is also a lot more expensive overhere than it is in the states. At the moment it's 1,30 euro per liter but during the summer it moved to almost 1,70 euro per liter. So a good MPG is definitely a plus.

Smart ForTwo crashtest:
http://www.euroncap.com/tests/smart_..._2007/303.aspx

Current BMW 5-series
http://www.euroncap.com/tests/bmw_5_..._2004/208.aspx