Smart Fortwo 2014 Review

[Erwin Beatz]

Ireckon the Smart ForTwo is the automotive equivalent of Maxwell Smart's Cone of Silence: a great idea in theory, a laughable device in practice. Then again, the ForTwo is a statement. And it does bear a striking resemblance to the Porsche 911: a patently ridiculous concept made drivable by obsessive-compulsive German engineers. But while the Porsche has almost always made money, the Smart never has. Judging from v2, it probably never will.

i finally drove one of these. as a way of intro, i own an NSX, 3 series bmw and a toyota tundra.in the past i have owned a 911 SC, a Z28, el camino, acura legend.also some motorcycles.anyway - i loved the smart car. i got it on interstate 80 doing 70 MPH and was grinning the whole time. forget all the BS, someone must have hired some spin meisters, see for yourself, go drive one!they shift just fine, the accelerate just fine, and they are more fun than anything i have driven in a very long time.i have two problems with the vehicle - build quality is below average, and i think if i get in a collision with a truck i am toast. but anyone with a lotus is used to that!

So many good points below this article, only problem is good or bad every comment here can be used against half a dozen other cars just as well. I have been selling used cars for many years and have had the chance to drive every make and model from a beat up $200 trade in, to brand new porsche's. I would never try to compare a smart to a sports car in speed and handling, or to a 3500 diesel for power or a twon and country for space. But I do see this kind of crap right here and everywhere else someone wants to trash talk any car ever made, try to make a fair comparison, the space in a smart car is for two (hence the name Smart ForTwo) but that space if you read the measurements give the drive more room than a 2500 Ram quad in hight and leg room that also goes for the hummer H2, of the vehicles I compared the only one with more head and leg room is the Mega cab and its only by 1.5 inches... but the smart does come in short when it comes to with so it was clearly made to suit a driver who isnt large in the rear, that being said I wear a size 42 and fit very well. lets hit accelerating next 0-60 in 10.5 sec on the base model (pulse) 8.8 on the top of the line Brabus, yes its not a sports car but match it up to the Aveo, 13.5 in the base and 11.7 in the Aveo5, both similar size and price. how about the Mini I see mentioned here a few times 8.8 in the same diesel and 7.6 in the S, so yes it is a little faster for only $10,000 more than the compareable Smart (you can build them right on their own sites and see pricing and all of these specs as I am doing while I write this, I do not know all this off hand I am looking up all of these specs and prices as I go) Lets see how fast the same site rates the H3, 10.1 base and the alpha at 8.8 ... I'm not seeing a huge difference here but dont worry every car has at least 1 angle you can play to make it beat another car, the Hummer would win in over all interior space and since all hummer owners buy hummers for car pooling that point goes to the hummer. Dont get me wrong I do not have, drive or intend to buy either one but I would like to match this up apples to apples and not continue this appalling display of misrepresentaion. you want to bash the top speed of a smart, well your right again its not a sports car but it seems to drive just fine at 130 kmph it took to deliver it with occasionally going up to 140 for fun, but the speed in Canada is limited to 110km so I'm not sure where anyone could have been that the smart didnt keep up? it may not be as fast in a drag as alot of cars but my few turns in it I found people do not pass me, not because they cant but because the average driver does not go as fast as their car can. lets hit safety for fun, the smart fortwo Tridion Safety Cell has held over 7000 lbs without crushing, now of course thats the saftey cell or what some people refer to as the roll cage, so yes half that weight will mess up the the rest of the car rendering it undriveable, but leaving the occupants alive and well. The standard for a vehicles roof is vehicles under 6000lbs have to hold 3 times their own weight on the roof (incase of a roll over falling etc) but vehicles 6000 - 10,000 lbs only need to hold 1.5 times their own weight and from the few I looked up they just barely make it. so whats safer to roll over in a vehicle that weights 1700 lbs and can hold up over 7000 or one that weights 6150 like a 250 supercrew that can hold 9950 (as per fords site) ? I guess if you are worried about a dinosaur over 7000 lbs stepping on your vehicle you need that truck but when it comes to the more common slipping on an icy road and flipping I can not see why anyone thinks being in something that weights 6000lbs and can support almost 10,000lbs is safer than 1700lbs that can hold over 7000? but I'm sure there is something I might have missed. My point for all this is when it comes time to bash a vehicle you put it up against the most absurd comparasins, you want the space of a van... buy a van! you want speed buy a sports car, you need to pull a 13,000 lbs trailer do not buy a smartcar! if you happen to be single or a couple who does mostly city driving and does not drive all your pedestrian friends around all the time, you are not drag racing on weekends and not moving furniture/lumber or snow mobiles around every day, this maybe the car for you. We can all play this comparasin game reading all sorts of real facts about vehicles and use just the ones to make our point so we look right and leave out the rest, but really is anyone stupid enough not to see that coming a mile away? buy a Harley and tell me its safer in a head on collision that the smart? and last point I missed along the way this car is made by sold by and maintained by Mercedes Benz which not only speaks for the over all quality and reliability but if I were to trade in my Mustang for a sub compact 2 seater I would rather have an engine block that says Mercedes than Hyundai or chevy (not to bash either of those but we all know some makes are status symbols and Mercedes is one of them even if it is 35 square feet and 1700lbs)

I had 4 count them 4 tires just randomly blow on the rear. The fronts are fine but the rears are not designed well. Of course the dealership would not even talk to me about compensation as I must have been driving over glass and nails, even though the tires were damaged from the inside.

I got the oil changed and the dealership people forgot to reset the sensors. I didn't go back for a couple months because I knew the oil had been changed... this car will SIMULATE problems that are dangerous.

LIKE - not idling past 3000 - not going anywhere when you press the gas - I was at a steep intersection and almost got killed by oncoming traffic because some idiot designed this car to SIMULATE problems if you don't take it in for service.

50% of my complaints are towards my local dealership. These people are scum. They will smile and take your money, but if there are ANY service issues, their policy is to make it seem like it's your fault and to get you to pay. I know a bunch of the mechanics who work there, and they are trained in a certain way to talk to customers and make them think its their fault.

The other 50% is of course against the reliability. I honestly did not need these hassles when I was in my last year of University, which is why I am so annoyed at the service and the car. The last thing a student needs is the added stress of not being able to get to school, because your brand new car doesn't work, and on top of that your warranty doesn't count for crap and you have to pay.

You say you knew a bunch of the mechanics that work at the dealership you took it to and that they have a way of glossing over problems when they talk to customers. You didn't ask them first before you bought the car?

The smart trans shifts OK if you are at the proper rpm for the next upshift. Maybe part of the problem is you? Before you ask, yes, I do own one and it is a capable microcar. The blockheater has worked fine for two winters now (occasional -30C)

There is no problem with ABS or the ESP (M-B traction control) on my smart so I'll describe how it works. When my right foot is too heavy on ice or snow, the orange ESP light flashes and cuts power to the engine no matter where my foot is on the accelerator. After a delay of maybe 2 seconds, it allows more power to be applied. It allows me to accelerate far faster than just pinning the throttle and letting the front wheels spin to absurd speeds while moving the car nowhere. Your lack of understanding comes partly from the dealership, and partly from not sitting down in a comfortable chair with your owners manual and reading about your car.

When I started a new job around a year ago, my employers gave me the carrot on a stick of choosing my own work car. As the company already had a bunch of vans, a truck and a couple of station wagons, I thought a Smart would be a good choice.

When it first arrived, everyone thought I was mad. That was, until they drove it. It is a great fun little beast. With the 6 speed sequential clutchless manual gearbox, it takes a little getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, it's great. One thing you have to do though is physically change gear a bit before you actually want the car to. By the time the computer and engine do the change, it can be a second or so. I think this is why there are so many negative reviews about the gearbox - reviewers simply don't have enough time to get the hang of the new way of driving over the review period.

Every day I drive around 20km each way to my workplace, pretty much all of it motorway speed. The car is extremely happy at these speeds - spinning at only 2600rpm at 100kph in top gear. It is also very quiet at these speeds.

The ride is quite stiff and the short wheelbase makes the car sensitive to pitch, but the handling is pretty predictable. As with most modern cars, when pushed it under steers, but no more than any other small front wheel drive that I've driven. The good thing is that because of it's light weight, it never gets unrecoverable. Just button off a bit and it's back into line. It also has electronic stability control courtesy of Mercedes-Benz, that I have managed to invoke a few times, mainly over speed humps and strange surfaces.

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