MOTORING NEWS - The funky new Smart, 'baby' of the vast Daimler stable, is even cooler, and it is bigger, safer, more fun to drive than its predecessor and enriched with a wide range of new fancy kit.
The quirky Smart is offered in two-seater Fortwo and four-seater Forfour formats and a choice of two engines, manual or automatic transmission, and in four specification levels Base, Passion, Prime and Proxy, with price tags between R174,900 and R242,900.
Trendy appeal
The Fortwo range, which is likely to appeal to single, trendy people of both sexes only offers a 1-litre, three-pot engine that produces 52kW and 91 Nm, linked to a five-speed manual transmission – a combination designed for economical city driving.
Trendy appeal
The Fortwo range, which is likely to appeal to single, trendy people of both sexes only offers a 1-litre, three-pot engine that produces 52kW and 91 Nm, linked to a five-speed manual transmission – a combination designed for economical city driving.
The more family-friendly Forfour version is offered with a choice of two engines – a 52kW with a manual transmission and slightly more powerful 66kW engine with a six-speed, dual-clutch automatic transmission.
At the local media launch I drove both the Fortwo and Forfour models, but not the top of the range Forfour auto models (only due to arrive here in July). Although still a tad choppy, the suspension is a definite improvement on that of the previous model.
At the local media launch I drove both the Fortwo and Forfour models, but not the top of the range Forfour auto models (only due to arrive here in July). Although still a tad choppy, the suspension is a definite improvement on that of the previous model.
The handling, too, is better although still not quite as refined as contenders such as Fiat and Volkswagen (for the Fortwo) and Toyota Aygo, VW Up, Renault Twingo, Citroen C1 and Opel Adam (for the Forfour).
