The Smart fortwo: Why Mercedes' Smallest Car was its Biggest Mistake
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- čas přidán 3. 05. 2023
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In today's video, for the first time ever I drive the original Smart Car. Dubbed the City-Coupe at inception, and later the ForTwo - this is the W450 generation Smart Car. Massively hyped, but not well received - the car caused a huge problem for its maker. But why?
Big thanks to Paul for lending this car @LivetoDriveUK
#SmartCar #Failure #smartfortwo
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Thank you for getting me my discount for my check on my 1st car: a 69hp Kia Picanto. Did I buy it because of that figure? No. Did it play a part? Yes.
Love smart not balls to buy one have driven meny gt fun
Cant get over how the seats look like dicks with veins.
That's probably because they didn't have to work on the bloody awful unreliable pieces of junk. But here, where the climate doesn't consist of constant cloud, I have had only customers who felt nothing but regret when the six months of novelty wore of.
They are terrible in town because of that trans; it is impossible to creep forward because the clutch progressive kept engaging, so the driver had to use the brake and throttle together.
Also being German that had some idiotic layouts.
The Smart car was a necessary evil for Mercedes.
They needed a tiny car to offset your massive gas guzzler empire main offerings. Its success was public relations and profits elsewhere in the company.
I have never met a Smart owner who wasn't happy with their choice. That little car is surprisingly good
Yes, they're well-built (that somewhat justifies the absurd price when new) and although they aren't that fast, they feel and sound rather peppy. That little engine just behind you gives a nice rasp and the short gears force you to change gears often, giving you a very satisfying feeling of driving.
Wow I thought about it and I also never saw unhappy owner, I read about engine problems in early smarts but it seems like advantages were better than even engine problems
My uncle had one and used to drive it more than his SL Merc.
Are they they also telling you they own rear engine sports cars too 😂
@@CZcamscensoredmyusername Nah, even owners of a Smart Roadster generally speaking don't try to sell the "My Roadster is a sportscar" line, but there may always be exceptions.
An owner of a Mercedes S-class once told me he had a sports-car, because according to him the S stands for sports.......... right.
This was the first car I ever drove all alone after I got my drivers license. It is very funny to drive in a storm on the highway, it feels like a sailing boat.
later ones including mine have “crosswind assist” which just beeps at you and slams on the brakes when you encounter a gust its great fun 🙃
@@quas392 wow thenk for the assist Mr car
Did you get sea sick?
Brilliant little car ... I have one 😊 .. 15 years of ownership.. and still my go-to vehicle 🙏
I miss my LHD Pulse, especially after it went through some modding by SmartArse. Wish I had found a way to keep it.
@@xiaobaozha what happend?
Does it struggle in a multi story car park? I really want to buy one but worried as I use a multi story car park at work
@dancehallsurgery Not sure what you are referring to , why would it struggle ?
Mine is on an 03 plate and I have had it for twenty years. I will keep it for as long as it lasts. Still has just 46,000 miles on the clock.
😂😂 That "KHAAAN!!" rage killed me dead. The mayor tasks you, Jay. He tasks you.
Big Al wins the internet today
And I will have him!
It's unfortunate that we got the version of Wrath of Khan nobody wanted...🥲
But it was the version the City needed.
That's what happens when Indian/Paki got a grudge pre 1947 India
I have a 2006 smart fortwo. Still going great guns, when you overtake "normal" cars, they are quite shocked😂
I've got 85mph out of her but only slowed down as I ran out of road.
She's never let me down and is a fun little car. Just had its winter service and had new washer pump .
Not bad for a 17 year old car.
how many kms have you done in it
Mine is 2008 and has 66,000 miles. Loving mine too!
As an owner of an 05 Smart Fortwo (as a second car runabout), I love my rear engine'd, rear wheel drive, turbocharged two seater German sports car 😂
I am a fairly serious car nut myself and own, amongst others, a 996.2 Gt3, an x100 Xkr 4.2, a Cls55 amg, an Alfa 159 3.2 Q4 AND an '08 W451 Smart ForTwo 0.8 Cdi Passion 😍 My absolute favorite daily driver, and faithful companion is the Smart! Doesn't offend anyone, always works, easy to park and slows down the world a bit 👌👌😊
My wife and her colleague had to park in one space at work, so they each bought one. She choose the 40 hp diesel, really really bad choice, full it almost did't climb big hills, and was a few times in the shop. We chose a second gen 451, Brabus 100hp, convertible. Fun :). And roomy. What we took from the city in the boot, would not fit in an E90 328xi boot. We moved house and did Ikea runs in it, no shops required. Still searching for another one. The newer gen, 453, has better doors and insulation. We tested a 451 ED convertible, really serene, regret not buying before the price increase. 451 is not that well insulated, sound wise, and made us drive too fast, always pushing us to, I don't know why, but just go faster. The e90 did no such thing. Could you give a Toyota IQ a go? Way better car, same story, ahead of its time, and really really expensive now, with 10 year old models going for 10k Euro and up. Long com, sorry, cheers!
The Iq is horrible. Clutch is bad, no torgue/it’s slow, audio is horrible, when With non hight ajustable Seat hou have Your head in the roof when longer than 185cm (i’m 191cm) and in the grabhandle when the Road is bad of when a sleeping policeman is on the road. Boot non existand, yes you can use the backseats) Get a gen 2 Smart EQ cabrio. That’s a Great car!(only the range is really small) Or get an Up! Also nice.
Until he does maybe techmoan's piece could help?
@Alexander Ratisbona it was also a Cabrio, and the first weekend of enjoying the car she took her big boyfriend to a getaway in the mountains. now do not imagine off-roading, regular paved roads, but twisty, hilly... you get the picture. alone would have been fine, it is a city car that is fun, so people get carried away. another friend saved a lot of money driving it in the city over 60 miles a day, so great car the diesel.
Copiaza si video-ul asta si tradu-l in romana.
@@olivier2004The iQ uses the same powertrains as first gen Aygo, and those are not bad powertrains at all - even if none of them make the car a speed demon.
The other things are simply because of the size - it's not very high, it's not long at all (but as a 3 seater, it's got quite a decent boot)... It's a tiny car, but if you want a tiny car - it's not bad at all.
Shame it was never a convertible, that would've been fun. Also, the electric version is completely unobtainable... But even those versions that you can actually buy are really good cars, considering the footprint. Extremely practical.
I drove a Smart Roadster many moons ago and absolutely loved it.
One of my most favourite cars I've ever owned.
@@craigix Hi, I am looking into getting a roadster as daily. Would you recommend it as a daily? It would need to stay outside pretty much the whole time.
@@joerith00 I have a roadster as my only car. I don't exactly daily it because I don't need to drive that much. That said, they are cheap to run and good fun. If you don't need to do a big shop or carry large amounts then they are a good choice, especially in cities. Mine is fine for a light weekend away with luggage for 2. Plus the back way is a lot of fun!
You do need to make sure they don't leak though. A good one will have had that looked into and fixed already but check. And even then I'd make sure you take steps to keep the worst of the rain off with a roof cover. James Walsh of practical classics magazine is a good source of advice. As is Geoff from G&M motors.
@@koini11 thanks a lot for the advice! I was also thinking already about a half-cover as I don't think a full cover will work because you cannot put it on while the car is wet. But I don't think it would be as bad with a half-cover.
@@koini11 They all leak, it's just a question of severity.
Been enjoying our 2002 Passion far more than we ever expected when we bought it 3 months ago. £20 to fill it, lots of them here on the Isle Of Wight - an ideal place for them cheers
Hi, just thought I’d mention, we’ve been enjoying our 2002 smart 4-2 Passion since we bought it new that year. Very almost twenty-one years later and we still love it. Now living down in west Cornwall it’s ideal for the small country roads and tight parking spaces. Cheers.
Here in Portugal, they were like a fashion accessory, they picked up where Twingos up models like the Initiale left off, the "small chique" niche, symbols of urban sophistication, coolness and fun, too expensive to be a reasonable choice. You can still see loads of them on the roads, they sold well here, although the unreliability and the UNDERSTEER owners go the extra mile to keep them alive. And then came the Fiat 500...
Remember when they were all the rage as mobile advertisement signs for businesses?
@@andrecarvalho1128 Yep. I had ours plastered in my business logo!
I think it was bought by the same group of owners here in Sweden, so not that many around, sadly.
My mother had a Smart ForTwo and was part of a Smart Club that did local tours in my country (Netherlands). It was fantastic to be in the queue of Smarts. All local inhabitants didn't mind these cars touring by, because they were light, small and didn't make a lot of noise.
The knobs on the dashboard are a quirky thing and I quite like them. The reason the clock is that big (@ 13:18) is so they could just mass produce same-size materials. Interestingly, my first car was a Citroen C1 and it had similar knobs as an option. Mine didn't have any of them. But the rev counter is not necessary in such a car anyway. Loved these little things for being different than the norm!
Yes, but a Hayabusa swap makes it much more entertaining. The best last 5 minutes of your life.
"beat last 5 minutes of your life" XD I'm stealing that!
As I wrote above, I'm looking at a K1600,6 cylinder BMW engine, remarkably similar design to the factory Smart engine, or a V4 Honda, see what comes available before I make my choice...been wanting to convert one for nearly 15yrs, looks a laugh 😂
I had one of the original designs and I loved it. I then upgraded to a new cabriolet model and have still got it after 10 years. It had already 'done'9500 since first registered in2011. I have just completed 40,000 miles. The best fun drive on the road. I suppose you either love ' or' hate' em. My hubby and I love it.
I might have mentioned this before, but I imported one from Holland in '99 and put it through the various things needed to pass an SVA in the UK. This was easy enough; swapped the reverse and fog lights, designed and printed a new index for the speedo that had MPH as the major.
It was fun, there were only a handful here at the time. People would stop you in filling stations as I put petrol in....is this electric, mate? Yes pal, thats electric petrol I'm putting in there. And people would wave you out at junctions, staring. It was very disarming.
However, it wasn't much fun to drive. Skinnier front tyres to let you sense the back end breaking away, crashy ride, the ever-rattling roof blind, that awful gearbox.
I was surprised to get a letter (remember them?) from MB UK one day. Would I like to bring mine to my local dealer for a checkup and chat? It turned out that they'd flown over an engineer from Hambach to put updates on it, including the gearbox. Hard to believe it was worse than the one you had, prior to the tweaks being made. And then they sat me down with coffee and biscuits, and MB UK's marketing team, to ask me why I'd bought one and done all the rest. The hint was that they were releasing in the UK soon and wanted feedback. So I'm proud to say that myself and others 'original' UK owners (all on the old 'Smart Club' forums) contributed some....ideas....to the launch. One of them that didn't make it was a hold mode for gears. Occasionally, when scooting up to a roundabout, coming off the gas will drop the gear, and that half-second or so could be terrifying while it decided what to do.
V799 FSF, I see that long ago you met your maker, but I still remember you fondly. I'd never have another, but for a short time it was nice to be at the cutting edge.
fantastic story never knew the UK had a later release of the first ones
Small cars, they generally are very much fun to drive, whether it be the original BMC Mini , one of the Fiat small car range or any other city car. What annoys me is the fact that manufacturers have gone LARGE when there is absolutely no need. Look at the modern hatchbacks and see how much larger they are than their predecessor, technology may have made them more economical but it’s at the expense of complexity which is often much more expensive to fix when it goes wrong.
I have a Smart Passion and have owned it for twenty years now. I LOVE it and hope I never need to let it go. Mine still has the original cassette player (LOL) in it.
My mum bought a new one in 2003. She still has it. It’s uncomfortable over bumps and the gear change isn’t too bad once you get the hang of it (bloody awful if you don’t). But we refuel it annually whether it needs it or not and it bombs along at 70 at a push. Up to 35,000 miles now. Only real problem is water leaks. I’ve resealed the rear windows, replaced the door seals (still available from Mercedes!) and replaced the windscreen. Still leaks a bit. But it’s a hoot to drive and mandatory going anywhere parking might be an issue. Oddest thing is climbing out. Once you step out of it, you’re standing behind it!
James, love the review of my car. Enjoyed the morning. See you at the next meet up 👍
It's a car to LOVE !. My 451 1.0 turbo, tuned (easily) to 130bhp, is a box of fun. Little electronic interference, it's a car that you actually have to drive, especially with paddle shift, though the ride is horrid, and cross winds can be frightening. Mine, you will be surprised to hear, reminds me of the 205 GTI. Same steering feel. Same power and acceleration, Inherent understeer, and if you lift mid corner, it will try to kill you ! I came from Audi TTs and MX5s, and there is more room than either, and I don't need my wife to help me get out. Loads of goodies, heated leather seats, aircon etc. Maintenance is either easy DIY ( oil changes are a doddle) , or, as you suggest, use a smart specialist . Finally, it is DIFFERENT !
130bhp?! From memory 120 was borderline safe for the Suprex engine and beyond that you needed to upgrade the internals.
@@S-Ltd1000 He also has stickers with flames on the sides and a Brabus badge, that's easily 10hp+
@@S-Ltd1000 I've done several thousand miles since and it seems absolutely fine, but I do an oil change every 5k miles. I hope that helps !
@@S-Ltd1000 the second gen petrols didn't have a Merc suprex engine, they were made by Mitsubishi instead
My 451 is remapped to 130bhp ..... bought from a chap who spent a lot getting the right model after doing lots of homework and had company up north remap gearbox too. Has stainless exhaust and Brabus wheels etc etc
.... subwoofer under the seat was icing on the cake too ....... awesome little motor 😅
I never owned one myself, but I know some people who had one. I was always surprised at how much space there was inside the car. Not the trunk, but the actual space for the two people inside. When you sit inside, it does not feel like a small car - you have the same space as in the front of any other, larger, car. Really good packaging. If all you do is drive to work and you never have to haul large furniture around (normal grocery shopping fits very well, though) - this really is a car you should consider, if you have to do a lot of city parking.
I cannot imagine my life without one... since 2000, when the diesel came along.
My best score was 2,8 liters for 100 kilometers.. from Salzburg to Liverpool. (which I did 4 times, packed with luggage, amplifier and 2 guitars. Countless trips to Italy...) Standard consumption is around 3 - 3,5 liters.
I’m a Paul, my Smart for 2 reg starts WR06 and is in the same colour as Paul’s Passion, but mine is called Grandstyle. This includes an electrically operated canvas hood, heated leather seats, leather door cards, stability control ( to maintain composure when swerving to avoid elks) ABS brakes, air con, a tiny turbo and removable side roof panels, which store in a compartment within the lower boot lid. This allows for a truly open top.
I share the enthusiasm for Smarts and I’ve owned mine for over 11 years, mileage 91,000 +. It’s manoeuvrable , nippy and fun. You can always find a parking space and I’ve loved the car from the day I bought it. I put in ear plugs and drive reasonably long distances in relative comfort at relatively high speeds and great economy.
I’m amazed at its staying power, just keeping on going, a well made ingenious car with fun features.
As an owner of 2 Smart cars in Florida I was happy to see that your video came into my feed this morning. I also have a 2008 Ford Escape that I love. I bought my first Smart car new in 2008 when they first came available in the US. It is also silver and blue like the one you were driving, however the interior differed in a number of ways. I have heated leather seats which were handy when I bought it up in Rhode Island, but are not used down here in Florida. I have A/C and make use of the paddle shifter when I drive it. The roof has a full sunscreen so that I'm protected from the sun at all times. It's a great around town car that I use as a daily driver. In 2016 my wife and I bought a used 2013 Smart. She uses that vehicle. I have replaced the car door speakers with new Sony speakers that are far better and I also replaced the stereo system in the 2008. I have a 2 car garage at my house and I park the Smart cars back to back so that I can park 3 cars in the garage. My main criticism of Mercedes over the years is that they never properly marketed the car either here or anywhere else. If they had I believe that they would have been more successful in selling them. I wish that they still made the gas engine Smart. The range of the new electric Smart is only 68 miles. That's a joke. I'm also fortunate that a repair shop near to my house specializes in repairing Smart cars. I have not had any problems with either car since I've owned them. As you've seen they are fun cars to own. Thanks for the great video.
This things are like a bike
I consider myself a petrolhead (and love my Chimaera 500). But I daily drove 3 Smart fortwo cars over a 12 year period, for commuting into a major city, the last one a convertible. I absolutely loved them, and would never have sold the convertible, hadn't I occasionally needed 4 seats then. It was fun on that daily trip over winding roads in a hilly area! I even took the convertible for a skiing trip into Switzerland (from Germany), with the skis inside as well (although admittedly alone). And I remember a lot of astonished faces when I overtook them on country lanes on the way to work in the mornings .... You had to work the gearbox a bit for that though.
They’re perfect 1st cars, cheap to run and fix, easy to insure and small so easy to place.
My daughter managed to reverse hers into a skip. £90 of panels and a couple of hours later it was good as new. It’s now probably the only Smart car with parking sensors 😁
I own a similar fortwo (model 2004 starblue cabrio) with 460K km on the clock (285K miles) and still runs like a beauty. Of course I am servicing it regularly at a smart specialist and, living in Athens I still think it is one of the best choices, as long as you're always aware of what you are driving (its a smart fortwo, not a 106 rallye 😁). However, I have travelled all over Greece, and I still love it. Looking forward for your video with a smart roadster. Having driven one of those, I think its a shame its not still available to buy as new. Very interesting drivetrain. Greedings from Greece!
I have an 09 Brabus and love it. As gas keeps creeping up again the 44 mpg I'm getting is very nice.
Very popular in Frankfurt when we lived there. Park in spots otherwise unusable (though their drivers often parked other cars in).
No mention of the similarities to a 911 😂 I have had a couple and really enjoyed them, you need two hands on the wheel with anything more than a light breeze on the motorway, especially with the 1st and 2nd gen cars. I now have the 3rd gen (2018) 1Ltr in manual and it addresses a lot of the short comings and is well suited for modern life, feel free to borrow if you ever want to test one and thanks for the great content.
3rd gen is bigger though. They really tackled all problems with the size i think
As the crankshaft is located in front of the rear axel I guess you can say it's a mid engine car? A boxter rather than 911 then... :-)
@@per-johanahlstrom7993 that is a fair point, the boxster is also Stuttgart designed, two door and rear wheel drive so happy to be corrected.
Love mine when I owned one - gearchange was horrid and the ride quality was non existent - but it was huge fun all the same. It was like nothing else - and still is. I'd love another.
I have 2013 Smart Fourtwo and love it for running around town!!
Back when these launched in my country, Smart offered a cheaper lease where the plastic bodywork panels would have ads on them they could switch every so often. Pretty forward stuff.
Austin did that on Minis in the 1970s. The adverts were painted into the car though so not as easy to remove as on the Smart. I’ve seen photos of Minis advertising Cadburys Animals and I think Smarties
Well, "Edward Bernays : Social Engineering, Advertising and Marketing" is PROBABLY a video that you both and others will want to watch. There are more like it, some point out that pre-schoolers can recognize the corporate logos of most major brands whereas nature befuddles them. Same story for college students by the way, didn't pick up many cues from nature, "not profitable".
Actually, the first review I've ever watched on this. Love 'em' Outrageously different. Want one now. No room though....oh hang on a mo. The garden shed alongside the lawn mower.🥰
I froze to death in a smart car a few years ago, and I'm very offended from beyond the grave :)
Very interesting and balanced overview, thank you.
In 1999 I had an old mini, had my own parking spot where nothing else could fit in a very central area. Once these came out, i never found the spot available again, I hate them for this, but i give them credit for 2 things: 1. They inspired the brilliant but even more expensive Toyota IQ 2. They are the only classless cheap car, driven both by tycoons and pizzaboys.
Great review. My 17yo Daughter is about to start driving lessons and I suggested getting one to share so she can practice. Of course, her 17yo reaction was very much like yours lol.
I bought two of these around 6 years ago as non runners…soon fixed them and had fun for a while before selling them on for a large profit. Great fun little cars. Went on to buy a non runner smart roadster and had miles of fun in that too…
Oh, I remember these cute little things. Over here in the USA, they used to sell those at Walmart, right next to the PowerWheels toy cars.
Next door neighbour had a brabus version for a few years . Used it to just commute and I don't remember him saying he had any problems. It grew on me after the initial " what's that".
Great video which brought back memories for us. We had a Smart Passion between 2002 and 2010. Always wanted one because of the innovative quirky tech but waited for RHD cars to be introduced, had to go to Birmingham to buy it as there were only 2 dealers selling them at the time. It was a great little car that did us proud for 8 years and 95k miles. After that gave it to my son who drove it for another 4 years. Once we had gotten used to the quirky gearbox (ours had paddle shifts as well) I could fling ot around anywhere and often took it out in preferance to our Passat estate just for the sheer hell of it. A great, fun, go anywhere, park anywhere car and my wife still misses it.
James I own Smart Crossblade (2000 pieces only) for past 15 years and Smart Nightorange (245 made for UK) for past 11 years - they will stay will me forever
Had to Google Smart Nightorange....Now I want one 😍
Jay this is the best most objective video I have seen on the Smart. I am from the States and we were not lucky enough to get the 450. Oh how I would love to get my hands on Paul's. Paul too has a great channel that I listen to with great interest especially when he is driving that blue Smart as he talks to us. I have a 451 and here you either hate them or love them, there's no in between. The Smart died over here because Americans want big SUV's and diesel pickups. And the worst was that there was very little advertising for the Fortwo. I am totally in love with mine and out of the 30+ cars I have owned in my 60 years on this earth I love the Smart more than all of them. Heck if I can get the drivers seat to recline I might well try to be buried on mine Lol. Loved your video !
I had a smart in 98 and was a right hand drive, bought from a small importer dealer in Colne Lancashire. It was a brilliant little car, merc came along and took over the smart range.
Biggest problem I had at the time was when parked every time I came out to get in it was a crowd of ppl stood around it looking at it, then came the questions haha.
It was one of the first 10 in the uk
I used to own a first gen as my first car. The only way i can describe them is 50/50. There are some genius decisions that went in the car that i think make them severely underrated and some that make me hesitant to even recommend trying one. The simplicity in design and size make it an awesome car to learn your way around driving and owning a car. Doing anything in a city with them is an absolute joy bc your car will fit in basically any space and visibility (especially with the sunroof) is second to none.
I think the decision for the gearbox to be automated was to make city driving comfortable and a non-issue for non-car people that are not into engaging clutches all the time while keeping the fuel economy benefits of choosing gears yourself. The idea was sound! However, its one of the cars biggest shortcomings, as everyone always points out about them. Shifts are lazy, wonky and sometimes it plain doesnt work for reasons only the car gods will know.
Same thing for the electronics. In my two years of owning one i met so many gremlins i cant even remember all of them. My absolute favourite was one i encountered on ALL 4 smart cars i ever drove. There was an issue where if you put in your key the wrong way around (as in a different side as would face you normally) the car would simply not start or stall on you in the middle of the road within a few minutes. So after a while troubleshooting issues always startet with taking out the key and turning it around.
I genuinely think the EV-Smart i drove once is probably one of the best cars on the market for people that live in or around cities because it gets rid of so many issues the ICE versions have.
PS: The lower boot lid can comfortably be sat on and will take the weight ;) Spent nights sitting on it with my then girlfiriend while parked on a hill overlooking the lake where i used to grow up.
Wow, the key in the wrong way!
Through the years i've owned seven Smarts and never experienced that, I must be doing something wrong!
I think that's a pretty accurate description of owning a smart! Btw as far as the automated shifting goes I think it's dumb it should be a option or make a kit to be a full manual! And the lazy shifts on mine I'd half to do a hard reset on it (by connecting the pos and the neg battery terminals together draining all the capacitors) I think it must have something to do with the computer remembering your driving habits every once in awhile it just needs to be set back to the factory setting right now I'm in a dilemma with mine my wife lost the only key we had and it cost 500 to have one made I have to mail it off to a place that you see you and the Sam unit and they'll make me a key I sent it off and they sent it back and it's still flashing the immobilizer symbol on the I can't find any local locksmith that has the programs to do the keys other than that it's kind of a fun little car especially when you turn the traction control off and drive it in the snow
@@djgate i'd say you're probably doing something right if it doesn't happen to you 😅
Jay, if you wish to try a roadster and a crossblade, I have the largest collection of smarts in the UK
Email me on talk@jayemm.com - I'd love to try both!
I don't generally watch your videos as not a fan of the style, but hats off for this one - think you've nailed it. Have owned all manner of sports cars, love our 450 every bit as much as track day toys like the Elise. Flawed, but 20 years ahead of its time with some great engineering, if not build quality. Have also been told I'm not a car enthusiast because I appreciate them. I can live with that.
The Smart Car is and was a great little car. Ask any owner and they'll tell you they love them - especially the convertible one.
Very enjoyable and honest review. Like many I wasn't too enamoured with these when they first came. Now I think they are simply incredibly sensible.
I had a 75bhp VW Lupo which was also a brilliant package.
Those of us that were serious about our smarts had them remapped etc as well as other mods, wider wheels, suspension, brakes etc (all legal and above board insurance wise) which turned them into enjoyable drives. Ours is twenty one years old now so I think it’s a ‘keeper’ 😁
Great review 👍
Used to work for a Pizza Hut that had some of these. Admittedly they didn't get treated kindly, but the gearbox and ride were utterly horrendous.
I had a coworker who used to work with these at Domino's. Constant gearbox work, tires had to be special ordered; the franchise got fed up and got rid of them.
loved mine, was perfekt for the city. As cabrio especialy good.
My father owned a second gen fortwo and a third gen forfour. The for to was a great car but that third gen REALLY steps it up. Actually really good!
😊 I've driven all sorts of cars,trucks for work. Got my bike license as soon as I reached 16 & 9 months.
I retired March 2022 & bought a second hand Smart 2011.
I love it❤ Smile every time I drive it or see it in a car park.
If I had more $$$ I'd buy more Smarts.
I have one in America, the first shipment “fresh off the boat “, to Phoenix Arizona in 2007. I still have it, 15 years later. Still looks new, runs better than ever. I love it!
Had all three: 450 61hp, 451 84hp remapped to 112hp with 30% more torque, enormous fun overtaking GTIs. Finally the newest 453, the last petrol version to be made before they went electric. 90hp, much better sorted and finally a decent paddle shifted box, better suspension etc. with the tightest turning circle of them all, you’d love to try one of these out. I’d even bet you’d buy one …
We had one because it was the only car that fit in the garage behind my Bentley Mulsanne 😊
Coincidence is that only this afternoon I was changing the Smart belt that was slipping out! Noticed it because it didn’t want to start … had to remove the back wheel to access the tensioner … not too bad really 😃
"Not too bad really" - wait until you need to change the starter motor!!
@@philthewriter Already there and the one I was sold by Smart doesn’t fit !
@@guyandre4946 Aah bugger. Eurocarparts or similar instead?
@@philthewriter they don’t seem to have the part in stock or are not interested it seems.
Even when I provide all the necessary references, vin , engine numbers etc they come out with different parts that do not look at all like the ones on the car.
@@guyandre4946 What a pain. I fitted a £10 second hand replacement to my 452 30,000 miles ago as a stop gap, intending to swap for new when it died. It seems curiously more robust than the rest of the car. How about Autodoc - has been good for parts on my 450 and 452 to date.
I quite like the Smart Roadster. Yes, the gearbox is slower than an Alabama school kid, but it's a pretty cool idea.
It would make sense to review this Smart in a packed city and not in the countryside
I really like the Smart. I think it looks very good for a small car and they had some really great colors. It is perfect for the city, because you can park in 90° and always find a parking slot. You see lots of them in Germany.
I loved my Smart ForFour. Really enjoyed the semi auto box the go kart like handling and the surprisingly nippy off the line punch for such a small thing. The ride was horribly harsh but you got use to it and the tiny size made it so easy to park and you always had so much room in most lanes of traffic.
The only major mistake on Mercedes part was the price point, just way too expensive for what it was.
I had an 06 cabrio Brabus model. It looked great, sounded great and was a hoot to drive. Excellent quality, best seats I’ve ever had.
I had mine for 2 years, I loved it , even went to the middle of France in it, no problem. Mine was the first generation model, same colour as above, you could change the colour for £250 if required. It handled very well. First seen one in Greece on the back of a camper van, had to have one after speaking to the owner. Bought mine from a local dealer who was selling them for £6000 new !
A New Englander, north of Boston, Mass, I bought a 2009 used Passion in 2010. It had 2800 miles on it, and I drove it for five years until the electric drive smart came out. I swapped it for a brand new electric Passion, all black, and drove it until mid-winter. I installed a Bosch Level 2 charger at my back door. In a near white-out blizzard with a foot of new snow on the motorway, I decided to pass a giant snow plow which was motoring along at about 25 mph. The plow driver decided to move to the center of the road just as my smart reached his front bumper. The gigantic plow flipped my little car into a triple spin, sending it hard into the opposite guard rail. I was unharmed, crashing at 40 mph, but the car was totaled. The plow driver stopped and came running back, asking if I was OK. "Unharmed," I responded. "That's one tough little car," the plow driver said. After driving a Nissan for a month in the interim, I got my new car: a black and white electric Passion. That was in February 2017, and it's the car I drive today with over 66,000 miles on it, and I've only had to replace tires once. Nothing else. If I need to drive a hundred miles or more, I rent a car for the day (or week). I'm always insulted when I have to visit a petrol station to fill and return the rental car.
Funnily enough, I was behind a 10 reg facelift DIESEL today. At least, Eurocarparts reckons it is still a diesel. I don't know if it had been tweaked, but it was two-up, and went like stink, including very flatly round some extremely switchback corners: Its narrowness and shortness helped here - the corners are SO sharp that an Astra-length car simply couldn't have got round them in that fashion and would have been left for dead. I was so intrigued that I went and checked them out on Autotrader: The facelift diesel apparently has 55 BHP, is insurance group 4, road tax is zero, officially does over 83 MPG, but is only Euro5. And like you say, less than 3 grand. It would indeed suffice for over 70% of my journeys, but I do need 3 seats and more luggage space occasionally. And probably more importantly, the roads here are really really really terrible - it's nearly all potholes and speed bumps. So much so, that I'm searching for a Renault 4... :-/
You got to give credit for the person who t-boned a Smart Fortwo. It shows excellent timing skills.
I've heard from a work colleague that widening the track and fitting thicker tyres massively improves the sportiness of one of those. Apparently it's a common mod.
I had one, think they are great. Only issue is the slow gearbox, oh and side winds on motorways
I had one of the first models, a diesel, and I loved it. I drove it for about 120 thousand km with no trouble. It took me from Hamburg to Seville and back, to the Pyrennees and across to the UK several times. Autobahn cruising speed 120kmh. They are known to use oil after about 70000km, but mine didn't use a drop, possibly because I changed the oil on schedule. My fuel consumption was about 3 - 3,5 l/100km . I once tried crossing the Pyrenees in snow. I passed all the rear-wheel drive cars before finally coming to a halt. Only FWD vehicles got further. I had a towbar fitted and could tow 360kg unbraked (40kg less than a Suzuki Jimny.) My wife also had one and also loved it. Great for driving into Hamburg and no parking problems. She too drove to the UK several times. No problems whatsoever.
I first saw these and fell in love with them when I visited Europe over 20 years ago.
i bought one with 142k on the clock. now has 180 within a year. This really does 90% of my travels and is actually a beast of a car.
Always parking. Always compliments on how i can park always. Always cheap to drive. Easy to repair (everything is accessible).
It is true and agree that the car was ahead of its time. During the time this car came out, my parents bough an S class. things were cheaper to run. But now, this car is worth all its fun.
While my friend drives a Vanquish F1, i am quite happy with the little boy and it is just very fun to have.
For me, the panels being easy to take off has been a HUGE win for my smart. It's so easy to maintain and service. It's the absolute best DIY car I've ever seen.
Lovely review! I too own one but with paddle gears! You are spot on that they are small wounderful pieces of engineering!
Hello! I have a 2006 smart cdi, living in Canada. Takes a long time to warm up in the winter, but I can confirm I did not freeze to death in a smart car
24:36 "..."a Mercede badge, which back then, still counted for something, even if MB were trying hard to ruin their reputation"
🤣 Shots fired
Enjoying this channel more and more each time !
If you liked this one, you should try the Roadster ! Probably the best fun for the buck, especially with a moderate remap.
Great shot of the robin reliant with all the smoke coming out of it 😂😂, and the picture stays on the screen for age's 🤣🤣🤣
I had one of these for a few days about 20 years ago when my '89 911 Carerra was in a bodyshop having some rust treated prior to sale. I generally liked it apart from the crap gearbox. I did get a little nervous when I was at the back of a queue at some traffic lights and a Range Rover appeared in my mirror at great speed and didn't think he was going to stop in time. Worrying when you can turn round and easily touch the rear window. I remember a few years later, a very attractive young women had a Brabus version of one of these and I thought they looked kind of cool.
I think the Smart is a very cool car.
While I think all versions have their own coolness; personally the electric models makes more sense to me.
I think they have only one flaw, they are as small as the can be, and still be classified as normal car.
I think micro cars categorized as four wheel motorcycle and moped, in many cases, make more sense.
They are even lighter, with lower consumption, lower age and/or license requirements (depending on country), compared to normal car.
Awesome cars. Have had some much more exotic cars but still love these cars. People who see these cars seem to really like them too. Unrefined, but lots of fun to drive. Love the 3 cylinder engine 😊
Thnks for for your Smart fo Two review. I had a Smart for Four manual diesel, first generation, couple of years ago and I was very happy with it. The only real downside was the annual road tax, which was considerably higher for the diesel than for the petrol version, to compensate for diesel being cheaper at the pump; the breakeven point was 16,000 km a year (I was doing about 10,000 km a year, making it unnecessarily uneconomical). And when my daughter gave birth to twins, it didn't have room for what we had to carry. So, regrettably. I had to change it. But would I have one again? Yes, if it's petrol or electric.
I have had my 450 passion since 2004. It now has 42k on the clock.
It’s been really reliable and I have not many problems. The biggest was when the gear box selection motor failed. Replacement was straight forward but getting someone to celibate it was difficult. I ended taking it to a remapping company to get set up. The other main problem was water leaking into the cabin. Replacement of the door seals and sealing the rear windows cured the problem. Overall it’s been a pleasure to own and I don’t have any plans to change it.
Had mine as a winter car for 3 years in the City and loved it. Perfect for Urban space and City hopping - as long as the trip is not much more than 100km. Why, mine was a convertible and thus quite noisy
My wife has had a couple of smarts a original 600 and a later 1ltr had the 600 mapped and had around 80-85hp that made it very entertaining I think of my self as a petrol head and they are my guilty pleasure I love them
A place I worked at had a couple of Fortwo as run arounds. I don't know what engine or model they were, but in town you couldn't beat them. They would get into the smallest spaces. Don't have to spend an age showing someone the controls. Would always, even staying in urban area gave very good economy and never broke down.
They're mid 2000s Mitsubishi Colts
@@jamesbrett6518 The Smart ForFour was a Colt CZ 4dr platform! The ForTwo was a COMPLETELY ORIGINAL car!
@@black8art humble pie eaten. I knew that but clearly couldn’t read right
I once had a lift to the pub in a Smart (before it was known as the "ForTwo") way back in around 2000. I was reasonably interested in the thing. After all, myself and the owner worked for a first-tier automotive supplier. In the first 100m, even from the passenger seat, I had made up my mind. It was like being shook around in an off-balance random number generator. I could see the driver select the next gear, and then about thirty seconds later could feel the gearchange. It was exactly as I imagined hustling a milkfloat through a rally stage would feel like. The pub was only another 100m away, but I couldn't get there soon enough. It's only redeeming feature was that if you used it often enough, it MIGHT work out cheaper than the bus.
The newer smart car improved on that gear box by miles, they had a car share service years ago which ended unfortunately and it was really fun driving them around
Always been a fan, but never practical until now. So, just bought one of these (2006 cabrio, 113,500km) for the 17km a day school runs.
Almost thought I got a lemon, then found the intercooler pipe to the engine intake was not properly connected. Took me an hour, some swearing and copious amounts of sweat to get it done, but boy, what a difference!
Keeping the JEEP Grand Cherokee for long distance (like scuba diving holidays in Mozambique) and the odd mining site (my customer base).
You will love the Roadster. Make sure it has flappy paddles, and only drive it in 'manual'. I've had mine for 2 years now and it still puts a smile on my face every day.
By now my Fortwo CDI Passion is more or less 20 years old, I love it.
It's not snappy or fast but I don't have to race with it, it's fun, light, uses very little fuel and has been quite reliable.
The fact of living in a densely populated city contributed to the choice, but occasionally with my partner we also went on vacation by the sea or in the mountains with it, with satisfaction.
Nearly bought one of these as a commuter car back in 2001. Decided to go with a Lupo instead and still glad i did!
We have own 10 of this! BIG fan 😍😍 Great and fun cars!
These are highly modifiable and I did that with mine.
After owning a Roadster I got one of these, a convertible in funky Scratch Black.
It's amazing what fatter tyres, lowering, induction, an Italian racing series Bonalume clutch, remap, Brabus cam, stronger discs, sports exhaust and countless other tweaks make to the driving experience.
The noise is addictive and the handling becomes go cart like.
Of course the speed is shocking to other road users with the light weight and close to 120bhp.
The most fun I ever had in a car and a good learning experience on how to sympathetically modify a car.
I came across your video clip tonight by accident, and I've quite enjoyed it. The one that you're driving I actually like, and I'm not a fan of the smart cars, so thank you!! 🙂💯
These have always intrigued me, though I've never had the chance of a drive. Keen to see what you make of a Roadster.
Not trying to be unkind but believe he would find it hard to fit in the roadster.
Fantastic second car for shopping and local trips. Did a few motorway trips but a little scary getting lost amongst bigger vehicles.
When a local dealer first put up his ad banner for this car, I thought 'That is a really Low Price', then I noticed the MSRP in much smaller lettering. The big banner price was just their discount!
definitely looking forward to the smart roadster review!!