What is it?
A mid-life refresh usually brings with it chassis tweaks and engine revisions. But the biggest change in the Smart Fortwo’s mid-life ‘facelift’ is a longer options list. So things such as LED daytime running lights, sat-nav and endless new colour and trim combinations are offered. The most notable engine tweaks are found in the most powerful three-cylinder, 1.0-litre unit in the Brabus Xclusive.
Power is up from 97bhp to 101bhp, while emissions fall from 124g/km to 119g/km. But with a base list price of around £16,500 for the cabriolet we tested, those alloys, rear exhaust tips and stiffer springs don’t come cheap.
See test pics of the Smart Fortwo Brabus
What's it like?
What Smart really needed to do is sort the clumsy, performance-sapping gearbox, numb steering and firm, jittery ride. It’s still far too firm to ever be comfortable, especially in town. And the Brabus is worse, making the standard car’s ride feel like that of a Rolls.
The engine, however, is pleasing, pulling away nicely and offering enough power and torque to allow the Fortwo to keep up with traffic. But its semi-automatic gearbox stifles progress.
Despite its obvious flaws, the Smart remains undeniably charming. The cabin feels spacious and new materials raise cabin ambience. Its exterior looks fresh and modern 10 years on, too. The economy is also excellent and running costs are low.
Should I buy one?
Smart has missed a trick in not revising the car to match the Toyota iQ’s dynamic levels, instead going after the Mini/Fiat 500 crowd with its styled-up options list. The iQ is still the microcar to beat, while the entry-level Fortwo diesel is the best Smart.
Mark Tisshaw
Smart Fortwo Brabus Xclusive
Price: £16,500 (est); Top speed: 96mph; 0-62mph: 8.9sec; Economy: 54.3mpg; CO2: 119g/km; Kerbweight: 810kg; Engine: 3cyls, petrol, 999cc; Power: 101bhp at 6000rpm; Torque: 108lb ft at 2500-2600rpm; Gearbox: 5-spd semi-automatic
Join the debate
Re: Smart Fortwo Brabus
that would be negative, but a reasonable guess, but it would be wrong. i dont promote myself as a big poster. and only post on topics i'm interested in. there is no levelling system in autocar. no prizes. and post counts could be removed for all i care. i like keeping the name though.
Re: Smart Fortwo Brabus
i do take the time to think.
What time do you have left to do anything else? You are a prolific poster, hogging * topics, but welcomed by me, nevertheless!
Beachy has a very dry and well-developed sense of humour. At least, that's how it comes across to me. In an ocean of clunking LOL-type humour, this is to be welcomed.
Re: Smart Fortwo Brabus
Gumph! Takes all sorts I suppose.
Re: Smart Fortwo Brabus
i would rather much be in a crash in an IQ, its a much newer design and has at least 9 airbags as standard the smart comes with only 2 airbags.
IQ airbags:
Airbags - rear curtain
Airbags - Driver & front passenger
Airbags - Driver & front passenger, side TAP
Airbags - Front & rear curtain and drivers knee
Airbags - front passenger under seat
6 speed manual gearbox? yes.
5 year 100k mile warranty.
66mpg
99g/km
it annihilates the smart cars, destroys them for even considering to exist in their incompetence at being on the road.
The rear curtain airbag is quite necessary, because there's barely any space between rear passengers and the rear windows...although I have no idea if they really make a difference in reality or not. The Smart fares quite well in this area from a video I saw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrLuOTLA8mg). The Smart also has, according to IIHS, the strongest roof in its class (withstood 9000lbs, i.e. 5 times its weight, while deforming less than 5 inches); the iQ wasn't tested, but its bigger brother, the Yaris, still fared worse than the Smart (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSaffWbNmV8).
smart is a poor old design.
That'll include the plastic body panels cheap and easy to replace in the event of damage or fashion; a safety cage well proven rock solid. There's nothing like tossing a wild exaggertion around to bolster statements.
Aww, leave the poor chap alone with his e-brochures. There's no need to think when you've got lots of data.
Best to combine thinking and application of data, wouldn't you say?
Smart fortwo: 4 star EURO NCAP.
In reality, there's a-bit more to safety than figures. EuroNCAP serves as a very good guide, but isn't completely representative of all typres of car crashes. Besides the roof issue, if you look at EuroNCAP's video footage, you'll see that the A-pillar of the iQ bent a-bit in the frontal impact: that means that if it crashes into something that's stronger/heavier/at higher speeds than it, the iQ won't fare very well. Watch the footage of the Smart, on the other hand, and you'll see that the A-pillar was untouched. Not even the windscreen broke, unlike the iQ's... meaning that the Smart's structure channels its forces effectively and is extremely tough, being able to withstand pretty huge impacts and forces.
As to the economy figures, the petrol Smart also does 65.6mpg, and the diesel Smart gets 20mpg more on the combined cycle and emits 11g of CO2 less than the iQ...
The gearbox issue is relatively minor; as others have said, it's not that bad and you get used to it.
Is the Smart without fault? No, of course not...but neither is the iQ. At the end, the Smart is IMO more characterful, better looking, safer and makes better use of its space than the iQ.
- Follow your own star -
Re: Smart Fortwo Brabus
I was going to quote the 'NCAP 5 stars versus 4 stars' point as a prime example of how data can trample over common sense but Christian Galea has saved me the trouble.
Re: Smart Fortwo Brabus
you kidding me, look at the list price of the Smart. it's ridiculous. any logic that the plastic panels overall as a package effect a customers wallet in a good way is not true i think.
the car is far too expensive to even be purchased at all by ayone using their common sense, if they consider budgets.
It might have a high sticker price, but smart do have some good finance. For instance, when I bought my CDi fortwo, my deposit was 700 and it was 120 a month. The iQ was 2k deposit and 144 a month... and the price difference was only a couple of hundred after discounts
As for having plastic panels, they help make the car lighter and help protect against car park dings etc. Good idea for a car that is designed for the city I would have thought! Its not like the structure of the car is plastic, only the body panels.
Re: Smart Fortwo Brabus
Is the Smart without fault? No, of course not...but neither is the iQ. At the end, the Smart is IMO more characterful, better looking, safer and makes better use of its space than the iQ.
That entire post is the sort of commentary I like.
It isn't absolutist. It is rational, balanced, well informed, and comes down on the weight of benefits preferred by the writer. But it does more than that. It tells me how little I actually know about the subject.
I learn.
And that's why I use a car website for communication.
Many thanks.
Re: Smart Fortwo Brabus
I agree 100%. the Smart is an overpriced novelty car. The Toyota iQ beats the smart fortwo in every area but in the UK Toyota is still wrongly associated with being boring appliances with zero desirability.
Notice how the iQ narrowly lost to the VW polo for the 2010 "car of the year"
because the tactical voting by the German and austrian judges who gave the iQ
artificially low scores and the polo near maximum.
the most obvious example is Wolfgang Peters who gave the iQ a 0 and the polo 10......
http://www.caroftheyear.org/voting-grid/2010_1/coty
beachland2 your argument is very respectable but the pro German brigade will continue to bow down to their superior overlords and buy their overpriced panzer cruisers.
The Nissan GTR Black Edition is cheaper than The £64,000 911 Carrera and outperforms the £108,000 Turbo S but the 911s still sell by the shipload. The same goes to the
350z/370z vs cayman/s,
Mazda RX8 R3 vs Audi TT 2.0 TFSI
Subaru WRX Sti TypeUK vs Golf R 5dr
Re: Smart Fortwo Brabus
The Nissan GTR Black Edition is cheaper than The £64,000 911 Carrera and outperforms the £108,000 Turbo S but the 911s still sell by the shipload.
I wonder why?
What do you drive? A Nissan. It's a brand new model.
What do you drive? A Porsche. It's had over 40 years continuous development.
the Smart is an overpriced novelty car.
