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Jonathan Hawley1 May 2007
REVIEW

Smart ForTwo

Thorough overhaul for tiny tot

Launched

If there are any reservations about how the new Smart ForTwo drives, they are immediately dispelled by a steer of the old one that's been made available at the press launch in Spain. Small, cramped, noisy, with woeful non-assisted steering, a thumping ride and lethargic automated gearbox, it's everything I remember.

You get the feeling the second iteration of the ForTwo is an evolution of the old car. It looks identical but is bigger (longer by 195mm, wider by 43mm), so it conforms to pedestrian collision laws, and has usefully more interior space. Detailed graphics, like the headlamps that are more complex and now wrap around the elongated snout, abound. Yet for all that, the new ForTwo retains its toy-like abandonment of the conventional. It wouldn't look out of place in a sandpit.

There have been a host of mechanical improvements, not least the new, larger capacity engines provided by Mitsubishi. Still a three-cylinder, it's mounted ahead of the rear axle and tilted rearwards at 45 degrees. Capacity has gone from 0.7 to 1.0-litre and, in the top-line turbocharged model that's likely to be sold in Oz, power has shot from 45kW to 62kW. Torque is up by 25Nm to 120Nm, yet kerb weight has increased an acceptable 40kg to 770kg.

Inside, there's a more constrained version of the old car's exuberant use of colours, curves and pods. The dashboard now has a straight edge, instead of being wave-like (to conform with US safety rules), and luggage space has increased from 150 to 220 litres, so it'll accept a bigger soft bag, but not much more.

The revelation is in the driving experience, which is vastly improved. The engine has torque, power, no turbo lag and hauls the ForTwo to 100km/h in an acceptable 10.9 seconds. The automated gearbox may only be a five-speeder instead of six, but there's torque to cover the gaps. More rewarding are its quicker, less abrupt upshifts, and more intuitive behaviour when left in automatic mode.

The suspension copes with bumps better than before although nothing can cover for the microscopic wheelbase when climbing up and over - not across - a speed hump. The steering still loads up in corners, but has much improved feel and accuracy. It even handles like you want to start chucking it about. In other words, it verges on acquiring the previously absent fun factor.

The ForTwo has sold well in European cities, especially those with parking laws less savage than our own. The same arguments for and against such a car for Australia haven't changed: what has, is that the ForTwo is now easier to live with.

ForTwo Cabriolet
As before, there's a cabrio version of the ForTwo which has a sliding fabric roof that flops back onto a truncated tailgate. Now the whole process is fully electric, and the sliding roof can be operated at any speed up to the electronically limited 145km/h top whack. There's also space in the bootlid to store the removable side rails, while the rear window is made of glass and has a demister.

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Written byJonathan Hawley
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