Smart fortwo   Women's view

Are you fed up with urban runabouts pretending to be more than they are? Then you probably want smarts latest fortwo, June Neary decides

Horses for courses and all that. Citycars should be designed for the city in my view, not be scaled down superminis with jack of all trades remits. A real urban car doesnt have to have a huge amount of interior or luggage space, for though thats always nice, it usually means exterior dimensions larger than you would like. By the same token, a real urban car doesnt have to have a 0-60mph time under 14 seconds or a top speed approaching 100mph.

If youve read this far and clocked the picture at the top of this story, youll probably see where Im going with this. Yes, the latest smart fortwo is a real urban car. Of course, the smart people will tell you that its a lot more user-friendly in second generation guise, should you decide to venture further a field. But, thank goodness, the basic recipe hasnt changed nor should it.

If the smart brand had stuck to producing fortwos and models like it, the marque wouldnt be in the financial mess it is.

I cant readily remember coming across a car that claimed to be so different while looking so identically similar to its predecessor. Buy a second generation smart fortwo and almost no one will know it. Perhaps thats a good thing, I dont know. Theres certainly nothing much wrong with this little cars cheeky, dinky shape.

Sit both MK1 and MK2 cars back to back, as almost nobody will have the time, opportunity or inclination to do, and its easy to see where the changes have been made. For a start, the smart is no longer quite the pure design of old, having swelled almost 20cm in length and 4.3cm in width. The track and the wheelbase have also been stretched but the majority of the length has been imposed upon the company by new pedestrian crash legislation.

When I looked closely in the carpark, I could see that the cars face was indeed a little different, with projector lights and a smiling grille aperture, while the side revealed a slimmer aspect to the trademark tridion safety cell in the sill and door area. The door handles have also been rotated around ninety degrees for ease of use a nice touch that. The rear wings are more contoured and the rear window has more slope to it than before. Four instead of six rear lights are now apparent, the fog light and reversing lights now slotted beneath the brake lights and indicator composite units.

In relative terms (and, as I said before, this is no supermini), space inside was always very good for two adults (if not their baggage) and the latest car is better still. Somewhat unusually, the passenger seat is mounted 15cm further back than the drivers seat so that shoulder room can be maximised. Smart claims that passengers have an additional three centimetres of elbow room compared to the old car which never felt small even for tall people like me. The boot seemed slightly bigger too when I loaded in a midweek Tesco shop and on consulation of the press pack, it seemed this was the case, luggage room having been usefully increased from 150 to 220 litres.

While I generally liked the original fortwos driving manners, there were some things about them that were absolutely hateful. The jerky automated gearbox for example. Oh and steering which our Road Test Editor Andy Enright described as feeling as if it was "attached to the front wheels by bungee cords." The good news is that both of these issues have been addressed in the latest fortwo. The six-speed automated manual gearbox has been replaced by a Getrag five-speed unit which still automates the shift with the help of an electric motor but shift times have been halved which means that youll no longer suffer that lurch, pregnant pause and then gradual take up of power the old car suffered. Otherwise, it looks much the same with the option of paddles to marshal the gearchange on all models (bar the plush pulse variant where they are fitted as standard). Theres also a kickdown function to drop two gears when the driver really wants to get a hustle on.

The steering has been made ten per cent quicker, the standard rack now just 3.5 turns lock to lock. Its still not what youd call racy but its a good deal less flabby feeling than before. Electric power steering is also an option, sharpening feel still further.

The biggest change however, is reserved for under the bonnet, where the engine size has leapt from 0.7 litres to 1.0-litre. Two normally-aspirated powerplants are offered, of either 61 or 71bhp and theres also an 84bhp turbo model.

All three powerplants claim to offer considerably more torque than the equivalent engine in the previous generation fortwo; in other words, the thing isnt constantly having to change up[ and down the gearbox so much as you duck through heavy traffic, with the accompanying lurches and groans that marked out your progress in the original little smart. Theres also a 45bhp diesel model which will sup around 3.5 litres of fuel per 100km - which is just over 81mpg in old money.

Prices basically range between around £7,000 and £11,000, depending on your choice of trim levels, engines and bodystyles (theres a quite desirable Cabrio version on offer alongside the fixed top variant). Lets be honest: thats not especially cheap, especially when you start to factor in the accessories that most smart owners tend to specify with their cars. But in any walk of life or corner of the High Street, the best is never cheap. And this, in my humble opinion, is the best urban runabout you can buy. Assuming thats all you want.



If I was town-bound, Id probably buy a smart fortwo without hesitation and park it front-on to the pavement as a statement of urban intent. Imagine doing that in a supermini: you never would (or at least, youd never get away with it.) And therein lies my point. Horses for courses and all that.