It's a dream to park, costs $13 to fill up and puts a smile on your face. But is the Smart Car a smart buy?
By Rob Gerlsbeck
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sponsored by:How do you describe the Smart car to someone who hasn't yet seen one up close? Try this: Smart is what your lawn mower dreams of becoming when it grows up.
That's not entirely an exaggeration. Launched in Canada in September, the Smart Fortwo Coupé CDI and its convertible cousin, the Cabriolet CDI, lean toward lawn mower status in more ways than one. Like fuel consumption: $13 in diesel fills up the tank. And power: the Smart Fortwo's three-cylinder, 40-hp engine can outpace your mower, but not much else. Zero to 100 km/h takes a painstaking 20 seconds. Then there's size. At 2.5 m in length, this two-seater looks like it was lopped in half. In fact, it's the smallest car you can buy — more than a metre shorter than the pint-sized Mini Cooper. Two Smarts will fit comfortably in a single parking spot.
A car with this little going for it mechanically better have loads of personality. Fortunately, the Smart has plenty. So much that driving one will make you smile on the gloomiest of days, and it perks up all who come in contact with it. Pulling up to a red light in the Cabriolet I test drove, a group of solemn-looking teenagers couldn't help but howl with laughter. At another light, a gruff man in a pickup did a double take when he looked at me in his rearview mirror. He grinned ear to ear before giving me an encouraging thumbs up. "This is the kind of car that makes you feel good," says Paul Williams, senior editor at Canadiandriver.com. "It's charming, funny and quirky. It really appeals to the off-the-wall dimensions of one's personality." Only one person I encountered, a dump truck driver, reacted in horror. That may have stemmed from him almost having to wipe me off his bumper like a squashed bug after I took a corner too fast and strayed close to his oncoming rig.
OK, so the Smart is fun in a day-at-the-go-karts kind of way. But is it practical? Is it a good deal? More important, is it reliable and safe? On that last point, relax. Unlike many new models that arrive on dealer lots full of glitches to be worked out through recalls, the Smart isn't new at all. It's been buzzing along streets in Europe since Daimler-Benz started production at a factory in Hambach, France in 1998. Some 600,000 have since been sold in 36 countries, including a few where drivers are accustomed to a little snow and ice, like Finland and Norway.
For an economy vehicle with a price range of $16,500 for the base Coupé to $22,200 for the top-line convertible, the Smart comes with an impressive list of safety features, including side and front air bags, ABS brakes and traction control systems. Plus, it has rear-wheel drive and the engine is mounted in the back, which seems to aid stability.
One safety feature Mercedes likes to make a big deal about is the car frame itself. It even has an impressive Star Trek-type trade name: the Tridion safety cell. This walnut-shaped steel pod won't protect you from Romulan phaser blasts, but it's designed to shield driver and passenger by absorbing much of the energy of a car crash. "It's like the armor or the cocoon," explains JoAnne Caza at Mercedes-Benz Canada, noting that the Smart Fortwo has performed well against larger sedans in crash testing.
Unusual looking cars tend to enjoy a certain cult status, and this one's no different. In Europe, owners have formed Smart clubs. Though only about a thousand Smart Fortwos have been sold in Canada, it likely won't be long before such organizations pop up here. Members can do more than just swap driving stories at the local Starbucks, says Caza. They are able to trade car colors, too, since all seven of a Smart's plastic exterior panels can be replaced quite easily. Mercedes-Benz even sells new panels for about $1,500 and will install them same day if, say, you get tired of driving a silver Smart and think you'd look better in red.
Like many Smart owners in Canada, 42-year-old Eddy Lai — who races and modifies Mercedes-Benz cars — first caught sight of this vehicle in Europe. When the Vancouver driver heard the car would be available here he eagerly put down his name to reserve one. Having driven his for about three months now, Lai says he's pretty happy. "For running around and doing errands, you can't lose." True enough. The Smart's diesel engine requires little maintenance and its fuel economy is astounding: 3.8 litres per 100 km on the highway and 4.6 in the city, which makes it one of the cheapest cars to keep running. A year's worth of driving, or about 20,000 km, costs a mere $560.
Unfortunately, the money saved doesn't make up for the Smart's practical limitations. Though the front cockpit is as roomy as any sedan (once inside I forgot how small a car I was driving), the trunk, located above the engine in the back, is too small for most needs. Sure, you can pile in four suitcases or two golf bags and a cart if you push the seats forward, but that blocks your rear view. And a clear view is necessary for checking blind spots, since the side mirrors are way too small. Another inconvenience: there's no spare tire. Instead, Mercedes provides a small container of compressed air and liquid sealer that'll keep a flat tire rolling long enough to get you to a service station.
You can forget about long commutes, too. Maintaining a cruising speed anywhere near 120 km/h is hard work for this car, and like most smaller vehicles, strong winds push it around too easily. "For a downtown couple without any kids who just want to go shopping from time to time, the Smart car may be OK. But not for people who drive 50 or 100 km a day," says Mohamed Bouchama, director of the consumer group Car Help Canada. Lai, despite having taken his smart on long drives through snow without incident, agrees it works best as an urban vehicle.
Even in the city, however, the Smart is far from a smooth ride, and you can feel every bump and grind. This was actually a plus when I zipped across lanes on busy downtown streets, since it helped me feel in complete control, but it created the opposite effect on uneven rural roads at faster speeds. Another annoyance is the gearshift. The Smart car has a clutchless six-speed transmission that's essentially idiot-proof for anyone unaccustomed to driving standard. For instance, in first gear all you need to do is tap the shifter once and it automatically selects second gear. It's impossible to jump from, say, second to fourth gear, and even if you forget to shift when you're supposed to, the car will do it for you. Unfortunately, changing gears isn't smooth and it won't satisfy drivers who prefer the control they get from a traditional stick shift. The full automatic option on the car I tested was even worse and I lurched forward involuntarily when it shifted up in lower gears. "It's not the kind of car that's going to give you any thrills in terms of performance," says Williams.
You could argue that no one buys a subcompact for performance. But the point is, there are others in the category that cost less, are more versatile and frankly, a better deal. The Toyota Echo Hatchback and Hyundai Accent aren't nearly as funky as the Smart, but come with four seats, more storage room and start at $12,995. As well, there are reliable and larger compacts like the Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Elantra and Honda Civic that cost about the same as a Smart, says Bouchama. "For $20,000 I'd buy a Corolla. You get more car for the same price."
Even if you find the Smart concept irresistible, consider holding on. Demand so far has outstripped the number of cars available, so forget about negotiating down the sticker price. It may also be worth investigating larger Smart cars, like an SUV called the Formore that's scheduled to arrive here in fall 2006. According to Caza, the Formore is comparable in size to compact SUVs like the Toyota RAV4. And Mercedes has other Smart cars in Europe that may eventually make it here, including a four-seater called the Forfour. Turns out a wait-and-see approach to the Smart car might be your smartest move.
