Smart Fortvo 2009 Review
My wife and I have never disagreed so much, except on our wedding night, when I wanted to leave early. Echoing this level of dissent, she loved the Smart fortwo coupe we recently tested, and I hated it. She was fun to drive, and I felt like a complete goose in a tiny two-seater.
She said that people looked, smiled and waved at her while she was driving, while I found that they were pointing, laughing and making other hand movements. So I went to Crazy Clark and bought a clever disguise for only $2. It's not that I'm against small cars. Mini delivers great driving pleasure. But the Smart fortwo coupe seems too quirky and weird to turn driving into anything other than a complete annoyance.
Interior
It started for me when I struggled to open the car with the key fob buttons, which are completely invisible to my naked eye. When I got behind the wheel, things were no better. It seems that Mercedes - the makers of Smart cars - have gone to great lengths to make the controls deviate from conventional wisdom.
Even the key is located on the center console, and not near the steering wheel, although Saab has it. If we talk about the steering wheel, it is not adjustable for reach, so I never had a comfortable driving position, although my wife liked it.
Transmission
The Smart coupe comes with a five-speed manual transmission, but this was fitted with a "Softouch" automatic for an extra $750. It includes paddles on the steering wheel to shift gears, or you can push and pull the shift lever. "Softouch" semi-automatic shifts are ridiculously cumbersome and require the driver to slow down as if they were shifting a manual gear but without the clutch.
Even if left in automatic mode, it oscillates and seems to stall when it slows down the gearshift. And forget the quick downshifts for overtaking or the momentum on the hill because it moans and struggles for ages in too high a gear before deciding to shift gears. Descent from a standstill is also quite slow, taking over 13 seconds to accelerate to highway speed.
ENGINES
It's not that the machine is underpowered. It only has a 999cc three-cylinder engine. cm, but it weighs only 750 kg. In addition, you can also get a version with 10 kW more power and 32 Nm of torque. The problem is with this transmission. The instructions would certainly be more convenient.
Driving
Speed is not the essence of this car. According to his wife, this is a pleasure, efficiency and convenient parking. Oh, and she loves efficient wipers. I didn't have much fun, especially in my neighborhood where people could recognize me, or when my equally tall photographer and I tried to squeeze into the car together and we had to take turns fastening our seat belts or elbowing me in the eye. However, in matters of economy and parking, I will yield. And big wipers.
With a turning radius of less than 9m and a wheelbase of just 1.8m, it drives into a parking space without planning or skill. You can even put it sideways in a parking space, as is common in Paris and Rome. It also breaks into the tightest spaces when merging with traffic without incurring the ire of other road users.
Fuel consumption
In terms of economy, it just ran all week without much change in the fuel gauge, so I'm inclined to believe the 4.7L/100km figures given. And this is very good. It's even better than my motorcycle. In fact, under certain conditions, such as stop-and-go driving, you can expect even more savings if you choose to turn on the economy button next to the gear lever. This puts it in stop/start mode, which means the engine stops when the car comes to a stop and restarts when you release the brake pedal again, so you don't waste fuel idling at traffic lights or standing in line. .
However, in the summer you will find that the air conditioning also turns off and the car heats up quickly. It also feels very rough as the three-cylinder donk abruptly stops and restarts, and in stop-and-go traffic it becomes quite annoying.
Prices
The Smart costs just under $20,000 and is built at that price, but even competitors in this price range have power rear-view mirrors. The only saving grace of manual mirrors is that you can easily get to the passenger side because the car is so tiny. Not that it bothers my wife - she never looks in mirrors, except to fix her lips. However, my wife had one problem with the car: she was very nervous when a truck pulled up from behind.
