  2014 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive. Click image to enlarge |
Review and photos by Steven Bochenek
Two years ago I drove the Smart ForTwo electric drive on the final leg of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada’s (AJAC) first-ever Eco-Run. I followed a clutch of other auto writers down a wrong turn – a big mistake. Soon it ran out of juice, stranding me alongside a lonely windswept farmer’s field recently sown with rich silage. A hard-to-forget experience.
I wasn’t convinced that the electric Smart belonged on country roads.
Today, after a week of driving the 2014 version strictly in the city, I still feel the same way — yet also feel like the Prodigal Son returning home. I loved it! So slaughter the tofu calf and take my trousers cuffs in. I recommend this ride for urban soloists and duos.
Of course, that’s a highly specific chunk of the gen-pop. Have a child or extra friend over for the night? Forget it. Thinking of leaving town for the weekend? You’re full of silage. It takes hours to charge — and that’s only if you find a charging station.
However, for one or two (hence the name ‘ForTwo’) in the city only, it’s terrific. Come September my wife and I will be empty-nesters. We are considering replacing our current second car with the Smart ForTwo Electric Drive. It would take five years of bypassing gas stations* to recoup the nearly $9,000 difference between electric and gas Smart models — but our provincial government is offering rebates.
Remember: you’re never going to a gas station again.
You quickly learn to appreciate the electric Smart’s odometer and Eco indicator. The former indicates your remaining cruise range, aka ‘fuel’. Just as with an internal combustion engine, how you drive affects its readings. (For instance, one 300-metre flattening of the accelerator followed by sudden hard braking swallowed 2 km from the range.) So you closely study the average energy consumption as indicated in the start menu and the Eco indicator.
The Eco indicator gives real-time feedback on your driving style. It’s based on how smoothly you accelerate, how gently you brake (plus how often, instead of coasting down to a stop) and how consistent you are with these techniques. When you reset, it begins at 50 percent then may go south, like each Maple Leafs’ season. The goal is to get yourself close to 100 percent — obviously — and it becomes a game.
There’s also an indicator showing your average kilowatt-hour burn per 100 km. A switch on the wiper lever allows you to toggle between indicators. The nerdy game can become quite addictive.
   2014 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive dashboard, gauges, centre stack. Click image to enlarge |
Keep your eyes on the road!
You can get more out of your range with the optional paddle shifters, not unlike the new Cadillac ELR. Tap the right paddle to increase recuperation and left to lessen. There are three recuperation levels: zero is for flat road with few sharp turns and little braking; level one is for regular driving; two is for ‘sporty’ driving, a direct quote. That may be hard to imagine in a Smart car, but everything is relative. (More about the drive towards the end of the review.)
The charger is neatly sequestered behind a panel on the rear hatch. According to Smart’s studies, most of their customers don’t drive more than 40 km per day. So, if you’re charging it consistently at night, you needn’t worry about draining the battery.
Warning: it takes up to 16 hours to charge from zip to full. Furthermore, under ideal circumstances, the charge lasts only 138 km. Factor in hills, traffic, cold weather and the fact that it’s the Canadian government reporting the numbers and you can shorten that distance significantly. My full charge was under 120 km.
Bottom line? Do not think of the electric Smart ForTwo as anything but a city tootler. Plugging it in during an hour-long lunch would render an extra 15 km at most. So you’re not getting out of town without a big risk of your own silage soaking.
   2014 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive engine bay, charging cable, main screen. Click image to enlarge |
Start the electric Smart and you’re greeted with silence.
Turn the ‘ignition’ and you may not think it’s even on despite the ‘Ready’ message on the dial. Consequently, you don’t drive at first. Instead you just tweak that ignition a bit, end up turning it off a couple of times, until the penny finally drops.
So you put it in drive and go. Now, it’s no longer silent. Instead there’s mild whirring noise, almost like an elevator. Which is appropriate because the Smart car is kind of shaped like an elevator — if an elevator had a kid with an upright piano crate.
Speaking of silence, for such a flimsy looking thing, the Smart is well soundproofed. The fibrous plastic material covering the dashboard and door walls looks like recording studio sound baffling. This less reflective surface softens the noise inside. It also feels better than hard plastic. The carpeted floor and cloth seat coverings all eat sound too (but will soon become a pain to clean).
   2014 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive seating & cargo. Click image to enlarge |
To fill that silence, this tester came with the touchscreen navigation and radio, $900 extra. You tap the eject icon and the screen tilts up to reveal the CD/DVD player and SM/MMC card inlet. Instead of the über-kül Mercedes-Benz COMAND infotainment system, the Smartcar comes with a ‘highline radio’.
That the radio’s instruction booklet is almost half as thick as the operator’s manual says a good deal about the Smart’s target customer.
The right size for the city — yes, for two.
Real estate is thoughtfully allocated in the Smart. Like space-conscious city planners, the designers built up instead of out. It’s 155 cm tall — the aforementioned Cadillac ELR is 142 cm — with just over a metre of headroom! Such dimensions are unique in a two-seater. So you’re barely bending over to get in and, seated, you have a good view of the road. With the mirrors carefully angled, that view easily extends to 360 degrees. Between the height and commanding view, you’ll feel less vulnerable in traffic than you may think.
Even with the passenger seat up, it carried enough groceries for two for the week. Yet it’s only 269 cm long. That’s 175.5 cm less than the Nissan Leaf (which seats three more passengers). So parking it is a hilarious thrill. On one occasion, I managed to squeeze a legal street-parking spot out of a few meagre feet that some douchebag had left the suckers of the world rather than have to crank his steering wheel 20 degrees upon exiting. Any other car would’ve earned a parking ticket.
There are caches for keys, sunglasses, change and so on flanking the steering column, within the doors, overhead and in front of the shifter. The signature Mercedes-Benz first aid kit (Smart-branded of course) is velcroed behind the driver’s seat. The operator’s manual, radio and warranty booklets are housed in a plastic container velcroed behind the passenger’s — within easy reach for the driver. That way, the tiny lockable glove compartment remains empty. So?
Lately the frat-boy pastime of car tipping has become popular in this city. When they tip yours and break in, they’ll be able to steal the brochures — advertising for Smart-Benz — but your wallet and smartphone will still be locked tightly away.
   2014 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive. Click image to enlarge |
The seats are limited in their direction, but I found them very comfortable, especially for the 20-minute bursts that the Smart was designed for.
Gearheads come kicking and screaming but may stay for the torque.
The unrelenting anti-coolness of this vehicle — the kids call it nerd-chic — is laudable. Head-on, it even looks a bit like a pocket protector. So skeptical gearheads probably won’t be swayed by the terminology. For instance, instead of popping the hood, you “unlatch the service flap” which is tethered by a nylon strap. Ooh!
Now it’s time to add wiper fluid, tough guy!
Yes, it drives weirdly. The oblong steering wheel makes it easier to find home steering position but the oversized plastic grip makes it feel more like you’re driving a Big Wheel than a car. It’s tall, especially for that ultra-short wheelbase. Still it handles better in corners than I expected. Yet despite the tightness of the suspension, you never feel close to the road. There are better toys for boys — but the immediacy of the torque delivery that will temper any speed freak’s disdain.
Also on the plus side, the petite 8.75 m turning circle multiplies its urban agility. You’ll be delighted with how easy it is to maneuver — a hard push on the accelerator with a quick twist of the Big steering Wheel and you’re almost as elusive as a bicycle.
The price may be less of a stumbling block with government rebates.
Maybe you won’t be visiting a gas station ever again but, with an opening gambit of $26,990, the Smart is still hardly competitive. Not that it’s uniquely expensive. The four-seater Mitsubishi i-MiEV opens at $32,999 and the five-seater Ford Focus Electric, $36,199. We won’t even bother quoting Tesla.
But all that is changing surprisingly fast. As the recent AJAC Eco-Run demonstrated, electric cars are fast becoming an everyday reality — for the city. Furthermore, your provincial government may be offering rebates. Ontario offers up to $8,500: green incentives so to speak.
Pricing: 2014 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive
Base Price: $26,990
Options: Smart Touchscreen Navi/Radio – $900; 3-spoke steering wheel with shift paddles – $250
Freight & PDI: $1,700
A/C Tax: $100
Price as tested: $29,940
This free CAA tool approximates your annual fuel consumption: http://caa.ca/car_costs/
Competitors
Ford Focus BEV
Mitsubishi i-MiEV
Nissan Leaf
Scion iQ
Toyota Prius C
Crash Test Results:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)
