***Testdrove a 2005 Smart ForFour 1.1 Pulse***

[cawimmer430]

Well, it was my task to drive the Smart back to M?hldorf from Trostberg after this classy Eastern European lady picked up the SLK350. I got behind the wheel and took off. This Smart was a ForFour 1.1 Pulse. Don?t ask me what Pulse stands for in terms of trim level, I don?t know jack about Smarts. All I know was that you the radio and airconditioning in this car were a cost option. Welcome to Europe. Continent of ?pay extra for things Americans take for granted? and ?you pay for this while in America, it?s standard?.  :P  







Personally, I think the design looks gimmicky as hell. All that plastic on the outside and inside make you feel like you?re driving some sort of Lego toy car! [:P] It doesn?t give the best of impressions from an exterior point of view. For someone like me, who is used to driving things surrounded by good quality steel, I was a little but hesitant to risk my life driving this thing back. Aside from that, the weather had turned rainy and based on my nightmarish experience with a Smart ForTwo in the winter, I knew I had to be careful with this car.



The inside isn?t much better than the exterior. Cheap plastics packaged in a gimmicky design that have no trouble inducing vomiting reactions in some people. Thankfully, I hadn?t eaten yet.  







Let?s get straight to business. The car wasn?t bad surprisingly. Despite the thin tires, the car was reasonably well placed on the road. The steering wheel was small and therefore great to grip and handle. Steering feel was reasonably direct and quick acting: best steering feel of all the Smarts I have driven (ForTwo and Roadster). Despite the wet surface, it didn?t feel unsafe at all. Surprisingly, ABS and ESP were standard! Holy crap!  :D



No idea if the 5-speed manual transmission came from Mercedes, but it wasn?t bad to be honest. It was still a little vague and selecting reverse was a pain in the backside because of so much mechanical resistance, but overall, not bad for a Benz manual. But no match for the 6-speed I drove recently in the B200 CDI (or the 5-speed?s in the B170 and B200)







Here?s the bad news. What was the engine capacity of this car? 1.1-liters baby! With 75-horsepower at its disposal, the ForFour 1.1 would never really be quick. And it wasn?t. This car was a complete slug in any gear, except 1st! [:P] The weird thing was that I could see that the transmission had high gear ratios, as if they were trying to increase the top speed at the cost of acceleration. I don?t know about you, but I?d gladly give up some top speed for quicker acceleration. The roads leading back home were curvy and hilly, and the car performed decently on them. It was on the straight-aways were the cars lack of power was so annoying. There were some medium sized trucks driving the legal 80 km/h (100 km/h for cars under 3.5 tons) and I was driving something so gutless with zero power to overtake: and I was permitted to drive 100 km/h! Yep, Wimmer was frustrated, something I rarely ever am since I try to see the reasoning behind cars. And the Smart ForFour was obviously an economical city car, but its lack of overtaking power is pretty sad IMO. So I just pulled over and stopped in the next town for a photo shoot.  



The rain hadn?t reached these areas so that explains why the pictures show a reasonably dry Smart ForFour. I arrived back in M?hldorf safe and sound, but on the way back, there are some really steep uphill going roads, which the Smart took with a lot of pain and suffering. I was already in 1st gear / 2nd gear depending on the steepness and the car was still struggling. Thankfully, there?s a 1.3-l version and a CDI (diesel), which seem to have more pep than the base 1.1 version.







Overall, ignoring the engine, not a bad car to drive. Things I didn?t like were the weak engine (which wasn?t underpowered at all, but just lacked overtaking power mainly) and the gimmicky interior and exterior design. Another thing: the price. A stripper ForFour 1.1 (no radio and no airconditioning) is priced at Euros 12,990. Specify airconditioning and radio and the price goes up to Euros 16,000: just like this Smart ForFour 1.1 cost. That?s pretty outrageous. You can get cheaper cars here in Europe that have A/C as standard and a radio as well and they look better, probably drive better and have better safety ratings. Heck, I?d gladly pay more and get myself a VW Golf or an Audi A3. And those dorks at DaimlerChrysler wonder ?Gee, why is our Smart brand loosing money!?? [8)] Ugh?let?s rephrase that. Gimmicky designs, cheap plastic interiors with more gimmicky designs, no radio and A/C as standard (when everyone else is basically offering them for ?free?) and a high entry-level price. There?s the answer. Although I don?t think people who shop for a Smart really care to much about interior quality, the plastics are just really cheap and make an early M-Class interior appear like a class-leader. And what?s with those gimmicky designs. Young people want something funky and trendy, that?s true, but I don?t think any Smart (except for the Roadster) is a good looking car.







Ignoring the rip-off price and engine, the car wasn?t bad to be honest in terms of handling and on-road solidity. But I don?t see myself ever wanting to drive something like this.



More pics: http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2124065821

[ifcar]

Just FYI, there are still a few cars in the US where a/c is a nominal option. Good write-up. B)

[Secret Chimp]

I still don't like how this size of car always has this strange little ass-shelf for the rear wheels to stick out a little further. Still, if people in this country buy brand new Aveos and Rios, this type of thing could probably sell decently here.

[Raza]

I prefer the Smart Brabus Coupe/Roadster.

[Fire It Up]

I prefer the Smart Brabus Coupe/Roadster.

Amen.

[thewizard16]

I prefer the Smart Brabus Coupe/Roadster.

Change the headlights and it looks pretty good, I thought.

[ifcar]

I still don't like how this size of car always has this strange little ass-shelf for the rear wheels to stick out a little further. Still, if people in this country buy brand new Aveos and Rios, this type of thing could probably sell decently here.

The Smart is much slower than an Aveo, expect an extra 5 seconds at least to 60 and don't expect to get much further than that. The Aveo isn't a bad car, and even the Rio can at least move at highway speeds.

[BMWDave]

Great write up!  I saw a smart ForTwo the other day in the US....it had driven in from Canada.  

[Raghavan]

is this RWD?

[BMWDave]

is this RWD?

no

[Raghavan]

is this RWD?

no

oh, cos the fortwo is rwd...