Smart Car: How Smart Is It?

That's a nice invention for office commuting. Wonder how much it costs though.

Shilpa Amladi
http://www.a2xconsulting.com/events.html

Not very smart, it seems. I remember thinking when it was released that the mileage figure was underwhelming, considering the design sacrifices they made in the name of lighter weight and smaller size, which should have helped the fuel efficiency. 32 MPG is easily achievable in any number of small cars that are much more versatile than the Smart.

Like the first Honda Civic back in the 70's the Smart is the first part of a conversation about moving away from larger gas guzzlers to smaller, more practical vehicles. While the Smart ForTwo may not be well suited for LA's 'you have to have a car to get anywhere' culture and layout, it is gaining in popularity up here in Seattle.

Sounds horrible. My 2000 Civic will get 31 mpg under normal driving conditions and 37 mpg if I'm really gentle with it. And it can cruise at 85 mph on the highway just fine.

I was really shocked at those reviews, maybe these guys have been spoiled. The car has been around canada for a few years and everyone I know who has one has loved it, and they all own the smaller, lower powered diesels. I am no auto reviewer but I found it fun to drive and if my miata dies I would buy one in an instant.

I had my eyes on buying one of these cars for a long time. On very small occasions I have ever needed to drive a bigger car than this size. Even the Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris are more car than necessary for most all errands. I am not talking cross country here. The further I reviewed them, test drove, and patiently waited availability in the USA I also got further disappointed with the performance, fuel consumption, and handling.

I am amazed at the ability of car manufacturers, and consumer to "get it". It is too bad this car will most likely not make it. I do hope we will "get" something actually needed, oneday???

Not smart at all. If you're considering a Smart, why not just get an electric bicycle? The acceleration and safety features are about the same, and you'll still have $15k in the bank.

"...one question that potential buyers in this part of the world should be asking is, what’s the point?"

I wonder that about EVERY car available in the USA.

Smart ruined the errh, smart by going to gas for the US version.
up until a few years ago you could buy a diesel
version here in canada that actually did get 80mpg.

So they've taken a small fairly boring city car
and ruined it by giving it a gas engine.

This car seems like a fish out of water in LA. Perhaps somewhere you can drive under 80 mph on a regular basis would be a better fit.

My girlfriend was required to get a car for her work. I know, I know, totally old school. She chose the smart and has had very few regrets. The smart is different to drive, but then again, it is different to park. We have done road trips and bought stuff off craigslist; the smart has been great. And the best part of it is the in-your-face conversation starter that such a tiny car is in our culture. I am dying for her next work car to be electric, and then finally, for no car at all.

Just a nitpick: the photo is of the previous-generation Smart Fortwo.

Obviously it's not meant to corner like a Porsche, however I think that there is some disconnect in the way they allow it to be advertised - for example, the chase scene in the movie The DaVinci code, which shows the ForTwo outrunning the cops, making turns and handling well.

As more people in America will have seen that movie, or been to Europe and seen the way that they drive (especially in Italy), to have a review like this makes you question whether or not we're getting the same quality of car that the Europeans are getting - after all, from what I saw in France and Italy, they go just as fast (if not faster), they corner like crazy, they bump each other and keep driving on, and yet everything you read from Europeans who have the car is praise for the way it drives and the quality of car it is. In fact, they have forums out there just for people who want to buy used Smart cars (both ForTwo and ForFour alike). Now, obviously, the mileage wouldn't be as much of a problem in Europe, what with their countries being as small as some of our states and the fact that public transportations is LIGHT YEARS ahead of what little infrastructure America has, however European car manufacturers have had ample time to come up with a way to make it BETTER than American cars (and to steal away any competition they might get here!), and so it is disappointing to read this review.

What is the reason for it's poor fuel economy (given it's size)? When a Honda Fit can beat it on fuel economy, then there has to be a reason the ForTwo can't hold it's own.

That said, I drove a ForFour last year in Australia, and it was not nearly as bad as the reviewer makes it sound. Perhaps the additional size made it more reasonable than the ForTwo, but it felt safe at high speeds to me.

ur doin it wrong

If you go at 45mph and take the acceleration slowly you can easily get 80mpg. Its shaped like a half-brick does anyone really expect it to get great fuel efficiency going at its top speed?

But how "green" is a brand new car? Wouldn't it make more sense to repair and convert existing vehicles for more efficiency? Or simply drive less?

What's the true energy cost of a new vehicle? All of those materials mined and refined and molded and machined and painted and so on...

Unfortunately, the term "green" is somewhat vague these days. Perhaps we should go "brown". As in compost, as in re-using the resources that are already in the flow of material already on the planet.

Brown. It's the new green.

peace

A better choice (when and if it ever arrives) would be the Subaru G4e all-electric vehicle.

You can't just switch cars and expect it to fix everything. A large part of greener driving is in the way you drive, not what you drive. Obviously, doing 80mph on the highway will never be green. If the reviewer drove more conservatively and allowed his habits to adapt to the car (not vise versa), he should see mileage even above the EPA estimate.

My 8-year old compact car is rated 30mpg city (which is most of my driving), and I can squeeze around 38 out of it with some careful driving (don't accelerate up hill, anticipate red lights to minimize braking, speed up gradually instead of flooring it, etc.).

I love the Smart, but its USA release has been hamstrung by overly strict emissions laws that prevented the existing diesel model from reaching the market. The diesel version is a great vehicle that gets 40+ mpg in the real world and was available until last year here in Canada. We're now stuck with the same awkward powerplant as the American models.

Hopefully, they're able to offer a diesel engine again in 2009. In the meantime, it makes more sense to consider a Toyota Yaris.

A dumb bike is better than a Smart Car.

I sold smarts for a living for a year up here in Canada. I can tell you that they were damned fun to drive, and we always chose to drive them whenever we had to run errands. I had a huge grin on every trip.

They are perfectly safe (mercedes engineered) and absolutely fine in blizzard conditions, and are roomy for tall folk.

People that don't like them tend to think all cars should be as quiet and smooth as Cadillacs. Well, duh, that is not smart's competitor.

However, I'm a little irked that they halved the smart's mileage by switching to a gas engine.

Anyone who wants a stylish city/commuter vehicle should consider smart.

People often talk about diesels getting better mileage. It is true, diesel engines generally get better MPG, but that is becaue a gallon of diesel has more energy per gallon as compared to regular gas. And correspondingly, it produces more CO2 per gallon than regular gas (15%). Whether it is ahead or behind in terms of g CO2/mi depends on the specifics of the car.

80Mph ? Speed limit is 65mph. How fast are you really going on LA freeways...50% of the time you are going

If you want ACCELERATION, fast CORNERING, and great CARGO CAPACITY, buy yourself something bigger, but stop talking trash about the Smart, as it hasn't been built for it.

Abundance of parking in Los Angeles? That's the funniest thing I've heard all day. My sister in law has ordered a smart car, and I'd consider it if it had better mileage than my prius. The problem with biking in certain parts of Los Angeles is that you are guaranteed to get hit (several of my friends who trained for the AIDS ride did, thank God they were only mildly injured) by all the idiot SUV drivers yapping on their cell phones -- no one looks for pedestrians or bicyclists because there are so few on certain roads, so when you do head out there you really take your life in your own hands. And until this city starts taking public transit seriously (right now it takes about two and a half hours by bus to get from the Valley to certain parts of the West side, which is where most people need to go -- and for some reason no one can get it together to build light rail along the freeway), I think we're going to see a lot of people gritting their teeth and hitting the freeways in smart cars, so let's hope they improve the next generation. Although honestly, I'd rather have decent public transportation!

Abundance of parking in Los Angeles? That's the funniest thing I've heard all day. My sister in law has ordered a smart car, and I'd consider it if it had better mileage than my prius. The problem with biking in certain parts of Los Angeles is that you are guaranteed to get hit (several of my friends who trained for the AIDS ride did, thank God they were only mildly injured) by all the idiot SUV drivers yapping on their cell phones -- no one looks for pedestrians or bicyclists because there are so few on certain roads, so when you do head out there you really take your life in your own hands. And until this city starts taking public transit seriously (right now it takes about two and a half hours by bus to get from the Valley to certain parts of the West side, which is where most people need to go -- and for some reason no one can get it together to build light rail along the freeway), I think we're going to see a lot of people gritting their teeth and hitting the freeways in smart cars, so let's hope they improve the next generation. Although honestly, I'd rather have decent public transportation!

I have a new Smart FourTwo and it handles fine. Accelerates fine. The five speed paddle shift takes some getting used to and I occasionally manually downshift for acceleration. It handles like a small car on the interstate at 80 mph, no worse than any other small car. It's actually pretty fun to drive. It's too bad they dropped the diesel for US - my other car is a 1985 diesel mercedes running on biodiesel and I've come to appreciate diesel. Also too bad they don't have a hybrid - I miss the auto engine shutoff/startup of my last car, a 2004 Prius.

2004 Manual Transmission Honda Civic Hybrid: $18,660 brand new off the lot, plus tax, tag & title. 48.8 mpg. 4 doors, 5 passengers.

2008 "Smart car" $14,000 ish brand new off the lot, plust tax, tag & title. 36 mpg. 2 doors, 2 passengers.

Definitely not smart.

Biking to work during bike to work week, however, is very smart. Time for me to pedal homeward.

Considering a prius would get you more MPG AND more car, no contest.

The Smart vehicle is not a smart choice. It's small and barely will get 40 MPG ... a Civic is a larger car, likely much safer and gets just as good mileage. The Smart is cute, but that's it's only real advantage when compared to other vehicles.

I have a deposit down on a Smart right now. I took one for a test drive and it was a blast. Here are my observations:
1) I'm 6'5" and other than having to put my right leg into the car first to get it under the wheel- it fits me just fine...
2) I know 2 people that own these already and they both get over 40mpg in mixed driving...
3) The Prius does get better gas mileage- that's just a fact, but have you driven one of these? Boring!
4) Forgive me for posting this on a website like this, but I'm a little old fashion in the sense that I think a car should be fun to drive. Prius, Civic, Fit- not one of these is fun to drive! They are boring, sluggish, ugly- however practical. I personally will give up 10mpg and drive what is probably the fourth or fifth cleanest car on a US street to be able to have a little fun until we develop something better...

Smart owner here. Four year bus+walker -- had to buy a car for work.

I can pull a u-turn in less than two lanes.
I can always find parking.
I win. City driving is different -- and unfortunate =(

This Smart is way Stoopid.

But I guarantee that the ignorant, Iphone suckling, Steve Jobs worshipping fools will simply die for this. Feeds right into their desperate need for people to "LOOK AT ME!", and their propensity for choosing items based on style over substance/performance.

Rename it the ICar and sell it out the back of those monstrosity Apple stores. Sure way to make million$.

In Germany, the base Smart costs less than $5,000 and gets about 60 mpg; I wanted one badly and couldn't wait for them to come here. For the US they more than doubled the cost and halved the mileage - no longer smart. Our 2000 Honda Insight averages over 60 mpg and, pathetically, is still the highest mileage car in America. If I were going to buy a new car, it would be a Toyota Yaris cheaper, bigger, faster and better mileage than a US-spec Smart.

Gary

I have an original Smart and it gets about 45-54mpg. It handles way better than the American version. The story also forgets to mention that 99% of the car is recyclable, and it has a higher safety standard than just about any car on the market. It originally came out in 1998.

Mileage / Safety
My brother's old Datsun B210 and Toyota Tercel got great mileage. The early Civics, the real Minis from the 60s and other 'subcompacts' got great mileage, but at a sacrifice, from today's standards, of 'luxury' and safety... also emissions.
I think it would be a good idea to get the older and lighter cars and rebuild their engines and voila, here's your high mpg vehicle. One of the big problems for this is RUST. Too bad.
Size- the Smarte is a stubby car and can fit almost anywhere, but the aerodynamics are a little tough.
More suited to crowded city driving... now put a hybrid powerplant or electric drivetrain in it and you're in business.
Diesel doesn't have more energy, it is the nature of the engine and combustion that delivers the higher mpg.
vsk

Smart cars are ridicuously overpriced, unsafe, uneconomical, and unfun to drive. They exist solely for the curio factor.

my girlfriend bought a Smart. She absolutely loves the car for its manouverability in tight spaces, ease of parking and minimal size. Its not quick and would have benefitted greatly from the six speed manual available in the UK in my opinion

I personally dislike the automatic transmission, but after driving it for a day I forgot about it.

Her mileage has been around 40 city, which is fantastic compared to our old subaru at 22mpg.

One aspect of this vehicle that I am impressed by is its modular construction. I can remove the composite body panels easily for repair or paint, and as long as it doesn't get crashed into (worried about the car being written off due to impact absorbing drivetrain design) I can swap out the powerplant in a few hours and replace it with a diesel unit if not for the California Restrictions.

the other day we parked in a little space between two driveways and were quit pleased about it.

It gets my vote, but should be 3K dollars less.

I looked at a smart car at the post office the other day. The owner says he is only getting 32 mpg. My wife has a 99 corolla automatic with 140,000, that runs like new and gets 40 mpg on the highway. We are now driving as little as possible, and think more people should car pool. Oil is a supply and demand market,and they need to be taught a lesson. There are too many people driving around in empty cars. People better wise up soon. We are looking at $8.50 a gallon gasoline like Europe in the near future, and congress only had 35 years to fix the problem. We need a big change in our big business controlled government! It's time for a major tuneup in November. Everybody that is in should go out! What have they done for us?

The 1996 Honda civic I own : low 30s city driving, close to 40 mpg highway
2008 Honda Civic : 23/30

What is wrong with this picture? Oh right, that's the ~10 mpg LOSS over a decade in a small, supposed to be efficient car.

At least the Honda Fit gets something like 31/38, making it comparable to my old Civic.

Even worse, 2008 Civic available in UK/Europe : 50 mpg highway. FIFTY, that is with a non-hybrid, standard gas engine.

Why can't we get the cars that are available in Europe??

I own one in Seattle, and so far have been getting 50-55 mpg. Looks great, drives great, and while you certainly gather more data about the poor condition of our roads and highways with the short wheel base, I've been nothing but gloriously happy--and so is my wallet by the way. Looks like someone should stick to reporting on the weather and kittnes in trees and leave the test driving to the professionals at Car and Driver. Americans are notoriously lazy when it comes to driving, and if you aren't skilled enough or patient enough to figure out the transmission on the smart car and can't figure out why the F1-style paddles aren't changing the radio station, by all means by a Toyota instead and save us all the grief.

I drove one and all eco concerns aside, it was a terrible little car. The transmission was easily the worse I've ever encountered. Handling left much to be desired. The only thing it has going for it is that it attracts a lot of attention which is great for people who feel the need for that sort of thing. Whoever said these things are fun to drive doesn't know what they're talking about. You want a fun to drive small car get yourself a Miata or Mini Cooper.

Ideally, we'd all be using bicycles and public transit. While that works for some people you're an idiot to think that will work for everyone. For people who do have a legitimate need for a car you're much better off with a Pious....I mean Prius. Even a Honda Fit is better than the Smart. Only place I can see this car having a serious advantage is in congested cities where street parking is scarce such as San Francisco. Problem here is that in those cities you can just as easily get around on public transit, bike, cab or walk which makes the whole parking advantage a moot point.

If they introduced a diesel or hybrid version things would be very different but it looks like that's not happening anytime soon here in the states.

Yes, there are slight differences in energy/gallon between gasoline and diesel fuel, but the main difference in mileage is from the difference in the way the fuel is burned- standard thermodynamics.
The diesel cycle simply has a higher maximum theoretical efficiency than the Otto cycle (used for regular gas), and moreover diesel efficiency can be raised by using higher compression ratios (if the materials can handle it). Fact is that for regular gas, engines are designed primarily to maximize power output, with efficiency as a secondary concern.

Gary said it best. The original Smart is a brilliant car. That they screwed it up when they imported it to the US depresses me.

That reminds me - I have to go cash the refund on my Smart deposit. I'll put it toward the Smart I'll buy in Germany, that actually will work the way it was designed.

I'm not so sure I understand what is going on these days. Why do we need hybrid cars that get 60 MPG when in 1991 (17 years ago) Honda made the CRX - HF and it got 49 MPG city and 52 MPG highway? It was just a 2 seater, gasoline engine with no fancy hybrid technology. It also had more cargo space than the Smart and was a lot of fun to drive. Why is Smart's gasoline engine so inefficient? One would think after 17 years, we could have a simple gasoline engine that gets over 100 MPG! Does anyone re