So smart cars are funky little toys that look very cute but cost a lot of money and don’t have enough power to get out of their own way, right? Wrong! The smart forfour is a real car that can keep up with the real world. Pity about the kitsch e.e.cummings lower-case letters in the name, though … Good news is that motorists in the major centres can get to experience the smart firsthand for a nominal fee between now and 5 December.
I got to drive both the 1,3 and the 1,5 litre versions of the forfour down the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, and was surprised at how “normal” they felt.
The five-door forfour, at 3,75 metres long, is exactly 50% longer than the two seater. The back seats can be moved backwards and forwards and the backrest angles are adjustable, so once we’d got things right for our passengers the grumbles from the back subsided, although boot-space was reduced.
Weighing in at under 1 000 kg, thanks to extensive use of plastic body panels, the smart offers lively enough performance, but we found that it reacted sharply to gusting winds and the ride was very harsh over less than perfect road surfaces. One pleasing feature was that the semi-auto gearbox is a huge improvement over the slow-shifting version fitted to the smart fortwo.
All the smart cars are well specced, with dual airbags, ABS brakes, air-conditioning and nifty sound systems fitted as standard. We found the R159 000 1,5 litre version to offer the better value by a long way. For the R20 000 premium over the price of the 1,3 you get a much livelier engine, a multi-function steering wheel, an enhanced dashboard with an on-board computer and loads of other little frills.
smart is running a special promotion every Sunday between now and 5 December aimed at getting bums in seats. People in and around Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria who are interested in driving the smart forfour can fire off an e-mail to [email protected] to book an outing in a smart. For a VERY nominal fee you get to drive the car to a posh country estate where you’ll enjoy a good brunch and some live entertainment.