Great little 'buggy'
Smart Fortwo Passion Coupé
Some time ago I was lucky enough to test-drive one of the first right-hand drive models of this delectable little two-seater that Auto Sales had on display.
To say that I was impressed was something of an understatement, so I was more than content to enjoy a morning of perfectly normal motoring, within the speed and accelerative range, of many four/five-seat vehicles with much bigger engines, in this the second series Smart for Two.
Before I launch into a full and graphic description, I must say that I took the article by Transport Authority deputy chief executive officer Malta, David Sutton (The Sunday Times, October 7) very much to heart. Which is why I now ask him to publicly explain why even the basic model Smart with its minuscule length of 2.69 metres, two seats and a three-cylinder engine developing 61 bhp from under a litre capacity should pay the same registration fee as other cars of much larger and less friendly intent.
Registration tax at 50.5 per cent plus VAT makes this car, instead of the vehicle of choice for thousands of Maltese who only require two seats, enough boot space to do a decent week's shopping, and a vehicle small enough to disappear in a crowd of three normal size cars, a luxury instead of a sensible means of travel on our vastly overcrowded roads.
This time out I had number two in the range. The Passion is beautifully equipped, remarkably comfortable, and incredibly stable under severe cornering on the safe areas at Ta' Qali.
I was in the Coupé and not the Cabrio, and had under my right foot 71 bhp, developed at 5,800 rpm with 92Nm of torque developed at 4,500rpm and this tiny little vehicle should be very much the vehicle of choice for a high percentage of solo motorists.
Nothing has been spared in the way of state-of-the-art functions and it has a charming multipoint fuel injection system, with an electronic accelerator: none of the old cables and pulleys in this car. The Tridion safety cell ensures that although the overall length of the vehicle is small, all the most comprehensive safety features that come into play in a large car after someone has rudely smashed into you are engineered into this tiny passenger cell to keep you bright, perky and possibly downright rude after a real adventure.
To complement the safety cell there are 'crash boxes' front and rear, and these steel deformation elements ensure that the cell remains undamaged as these ancillary crumple zones absorb quite heavy punishment.
Interestingly, because of the short wheelbase the wheels act as shock absorbers in various accident scenarios, and the seats have been especially made with a high level of mechanical stability in cases of impact.
Although the transmission works with an automated manual five-speed change, the clutch pedal has been done away with and you either set the lever to 'Drive', and all the work is done for you, or you can play around with the gear-change lever. This then slaps down into the engine and gearbox at the back, which in turn drives the rear wheels, quite convincingly to 100km/h in only 13.3 seconds, and your most exciting chariot tops out at 144km/h, a speed we could easily have reached on the super Zebbiegh highway.
On the combined fuel cycle, taking all sorts of roads into consideration, this little car will happily chalk up a decent mileage. In fact, for every litre of the explosive stuff burned you should travel 21.28 kilometres, which works out at 60.1 miles per gallon, almost round the island of Malta on one gallon of fuel.
Nasty emissions are not too bad either as the exhaust gas standard is EU4, which is pretty good and the combined CO2 emissions amount to 112 g/Km.
In ye olden days, cars with very short wheelbases, like the splendid little pre-World War II Austin 7 could happily change from normal front-to-back motoring to a pose where the back tried to overtake the front, in a blink of the eye. Not so with the Smart.
Smart comes with a host of electronic help mates, rather like the house elves in the Harry Potter books. There is ESP, with hill start assist, ABS with electronic brake-force distribution, acceleration skid control (a most useful helpmate in the wet), and electronic brake assist working on disc brakes at the front with drums at the rear.
Oh, did I say somewhere that I most seriously like the Smart?
You can bung in from between 220-340 litres of goodies in the boot, and the tank holds 33 litres with five litres held in reserve, which seems to imply that in mixed motoring you should travel about 702 kilometres on a tank of fuel. Are you still reading this, Mr Sutton?
On the road, the first impression is one of space, and unlike conventional two-seat sports cars where the occupants are looking up the exhaust pipes of nearly every other vehicle, the diminutive Smart has nicely raised seats.
They are so nicely raised that the occupants are kept ever safer in a smash because unpleasant car bumpers are somewhat below the Smart seat level, especially in side impacts.
Town motoring has become a pleasure once more in this confounded vehicle, because it is so 'nippy' (another Austin name from the 1930's), it's so easy to manoeuvre, with little or no hassle, and we batted round and parked hither and thither in some of our less than friendly town streets just to enjoy using them in a real city car.
This motor is ridiculously short, yet it's high enough for very large people not to bang their heads and it's wide enough so that the two occupants will never touch each other, except by conscious design. Not only is the boot a decent size, but the tailgate and rear window can also be opened independent one from the other, a point plus when small objects only are to be taken on board.
The body panels are 'plastic' and detachable and are most remarkably robust and very scratch-resistant. Light bumps leave the Smart practically undamaged. These plastic panels have another advantage in as much as simply replacing panels can effect colour changes and keep the car an ever-fresh delight, especially for the young who keep changing as a way of life.
At a glance
Engine: 3-cylinder in-line, 999cc.
Power: 71bhp at 5,800rpm.
Torque: 92Nm at 4,500rpm.
0-100km/h: 13.3 seconds.
Maximum speed: 144km/h.
Will it fit your 'potting shed'? It's 2,695mm long. 1,559mm wide and stands proud at 1,542mm.
Would I own one? Yes. In a flash.
To say that I was impressed was something of an understatement, so I was more than content to enjoy a morning of perfectly normal motoring, within the speed and accelerative range, of many four/five-seat vehicles with much bigger engines, in this the second series Smart for Two.
Before I launch into a full and graphic description, I must say that I took the article by Transport Authority deputy chief executive officer Malta, David Sutton (The Sunday Times, October 7) very much to heart. Which is why I now ask him to publicly explain why even the basic model Smart with its minuscule length of 2.69 metres, two seats and a three-cylinder engine developing 61 bhp from under a litre capacity should pay the same registration fee as other cars of much larger and less friendly intent.
Registration tax at 50.5 per cent plus VAT makes this car, instead of the vehicle of choice for thousands of Maltese who only require two seats, enough boot space to do a decent week's shopping, and a vehicle small enough to disappear in a crowd of three normal size cars, a luxury instead of a sensible means of travel on our vastly overcrowded roads.
This time out I had number two in the range. The Passion is beautifully equipped, remarkably comfortable, and incredibly stable under severe cornering on the safe areas at Ta' Qali.
I was in the Coupé and not the Cabrio, and had under my right foot 71 bhp, developed at 5,800 rpm with 92Nm of torque developed at 4,500rpm and this tiny little vehicle should be very much the vehicle of choice for a high percentage of solo motorists.
Nothing has been spared in the way of state-of-the-art functions and it has a charming multipoint fuel injection system, with an electronic accelerator: none of the old cables and pulleys in this car. The Tridion safety cell ensures that although the overall length of the vehicle is small, all the most comprehensive safety features that come into play in a large car after someone has rudely smashed into you are engineered into this tiny passenger cell to keep you bright, perky and possibly downright rude after a real adventure.
To complement the safety cell there are 'crash boxes' front and rear, and these steel deformation elements ensure that the cell remains undamaged as these ancillary crumple zones absorb quite heavy punishment.
Interestingly, because of the short wheelbase the wheels act as shock absorbers in various accident scenarios, and the seats have been especially made with a high level of mechanical stability in cases of impact.
Although the transmission works with an automated manual five-speed change, the clutch pedal has been done away with and you either set the lever to 'Drive', and all the work is done for you, or you can play around with the gear-change lever. This then slaps down into the engine and gearbox at the back, which in turn drives the rear wheels, quite convincingly to 100km/h in only 13.3 seconds, and your most exciting chariot tops out at 144km/h, a speed we could easily have reached on the super Zebbiegh highway.
On the combined fuel cycle, taking all sorts of roads into consideration, this little car will happily chalk up a decent mileage. In fact, for every litre of the explosive stuff burned you should travel 21.28 kilometres, which works out at 60.1 miles per gallon, almost round the island of Malta on one gallon of fuel.
Nasty emissions are not too bad either as the exhaust gas standard is EU4, which is pretty good and the combined CO2 emissions amount to 112 g/Km.
In ye olden days, cars with very short wheelbases, like the splendid little pre-World War II Austin 7 could happily change from normal front-to-back motoring to a pose where the back tried to overtake the front, in a blink of the eye. Not so with the Smart.
Smart comes with a host of electronic help mates, rather like the house elves in the Harry Potter books. There is ESP, with hill start assist, ABS with electronic brake-force distribution, acceleration skid control (a most useful helpmate in the wet), and electronic brake assist working on disc brakes at the front with drums at the rear.
Oh, did I say somewhere that I most seriously like the Smart?
You can bung in from between 220-340 litres of goodies in the boot, and the tank holds 33 litres with five litres held in reserve, which seems to imply that in mixed motoring you should travel about 702 kilometres on a tank of fuel. Are you still reading this, Mr Sutton?
On the road, the first impression is one of space, and unlike conventional two-seat sports cars where the occupants are looking up the exhaust pipes of nearly every other vehicle, the diminutive Smart has nicely raised seats.
They are so nicely raised that the occupants are kept ever safer in a smash because unpleasant car bumpers are somewhat below the Smart seat level, especially in side impacts.
Town motoring has become a pleasure once more in this confounded vehicle, because it is so 'nippy' (another Austin name from the 1930's), it's so easy to manoeuvre, with little or no hassle, and we batted round and parked hither and thither in some of our less than friendly town streets just to enjoy using them in a real city car.
This motor is ridiculously short, yet it's high enough for very large people not to bang their heads and it's wide enough so that the two occupants will never touch each other, except by conscious design. Not only is the boot a decent size, but the tailgate and rear window can also be opened independent one from the other, a point plus when small objects only are to be taken on board.
The body panels are 'plastic' and detachable and are most remarkably robust and very scratch-resistant. Light bumps leave the Smart practically undamaged. These plastic panels have another advantage in as much as simply replacing panels can effect colour changes and keep the car an ever-fresh delight, especially for the young who keep changing as a way of life.
At a glance
Engine: 3-cylinder in-line, 999cc.
Power: 71bhp at 5,800rpm.
Torque: 92Nm at 4,500rpm.
0-100km/h: 13.3 seconds.
Maximum speed: 144km/h.
Will it fit your 'potting shed'? It's 2,695mm long. 1,559mm wide and stands proud at 1,542mm.
Would I own one? Yes. In a flash.