Ok my smart adventure began and ended last night, read on….
Sitting in the smart is an interesting feeling, you sit up high in the driver seat and it truly doesn’t feel small at all, you feel like you are in a “normal” sized car. Kind of like the Toyota commercial where the echo driver parks in the big car only spot.
The review mirror is an odd fixture as it feels a little too close to the driver, it felt like it was giving me a fisheye view, I believe this is because you can see the 2 seats on the edges of it, and the back window is only 18” behind your head!
I drove the “manual” version a cabriolet with the top up, it’s an SMG type tranny which is smart enough to downshift and upshift for you, should you forget. Racing type shifting paddles on the steering wheel are useable as well as a the lever on the floor. Redline is 4-5k I think it shifted by itself at around 4500rpm. Upshifts with the throttle pinned is VERY jerky, when cruising along granny style it feels like a normal automatic, but if you are trying to keep up with Ottawa traffic (pedal to the metal at every red light) it will jerk you around.
Off we go on our little drive, first thing I notice about the brakes, is there are none….. or wait there are, oh wait no, yup, no, hmmmmmmm. So it seems that the car drives itself??? You let off the gas and reach for the brake and the thing comes to almost a complete stop! Then you start to push the brake in but get nothing, brake by-wire??? I don’t think so, but lots of play in the brake pedal, you have to push it down A LOT before you get any brakes, which made me feel uneasy about stopping or getting close to any cars.
Turning radius is utterly INSANE, you can turn on a dime (or so it feels like), it feels like you can just go in circles in one spot, great for maneuvering around in parking garages or small side streets. Backing up is a little odd as the back is right there and the car is so narrow I didn’t believe what my mirrors were showing me.
Acceleration is not bad, 0-60Km/h comes with no drama in a flash, the car being so small it does feel like you are moving a long quiet rapidly on small narrow streets, when you get out on the open road (2 laners or back roads) you don’t feel like your flying, it just feels…. normal. 80km/h comes up in not much time as well, I was fairly impressed by that, but man 100km/h??? Pin the accelerator and start the stop watch, it felt like 100km/h was never going to come. City run-about for sure, it would not be much of a highway driver, keeping it at 100km/h I’m sure is a chore as well.
Driving a long at night the headlights were really great, I miss my HIDs! They weren’t HIDs but they are projector beams I believe, if they are not, I want a set of their bulbs because they are WAY better than the upgraded ones I have in my Subaru. The car seems normal sized when driving, you are sitting as high as any other sedan, it actually felt higher than my Subaru, it seemed as though I was as high up as some of the mini-vans I was driving around.
Handling was interesting, since it is RWD the turn is crisp and responsive but the wheel feels light in the hands, when you get up to speed 60-80km/h+ it does seems like the car is floating a bit in the front as the wheel gets lighter especially after 80.
Noise level was more than I expected, it wasn’t terribly bad considering you are sitting practically on top of the engine compartment. But you do hear the little diesel labouring along behind you, not even a cool blow off valve to make you giggle
You could carry on a conversation, it certainly wasn’t as loud as my S2000 with the top down, but it was similar in city driving conditions to my S2000 on the highway revving at 4000 rpm, the clack of the diesel would just get annoying after awhile.
Conclusions?
Well out of every car I have ever test driven, this car disappointed me the most from what I can remember. I wouldn’t pay 20 grand unless I was rich and wanted a novelty item. The Echo is definitely a smarter choice
In my opinion the smart car just doesn’t deliver in today’s age of refined automobiles. After driving the G35 and the SLK on Saturday I felt like my Subaru was a piece of junk, after driving the smart car I felt like my Subaru was a luxury cruiser, it is infinitely quieter and the engine more refined, even the ride after 200K+ km is better.
Sorry smart, but at $20k you can’t really compete, at $10k as a city run-about alternative, you betcha I would buy one!
