Not Quite A Sprite
by David Finlay (08 Sep 03)

Impressed though I have always been with the general concept of the smart city cars, I've never really been happy about sitting in one. A purely personal thing, this - I can understand how other people love the things while knowing that I will never be quite in tune with the style. As soon as I saw the preview pictures of the roadster and roadster-coupé, though, I knew this wouldn't be a problem. The sporty smarts are, at least potentially, far more to my taste.

Although mechanically very similar to the city versions, the roadsters (if you don't mind me using that as an overall term) are aimed at a quite different market. These are open-road cars, designed for enjoyable driving rather than convenient urban transport. Right from the official announcement, smart has emphasised that these cars are meant to offer relatively low-speed thrills, in much the same manner as the MG Midget and Austin-Healey Sprite did long ago.

There's not a lot to choose between the two models. The roadster itself has as standard a folding soft-top roof which runs from the windscreen to just behind the passengers' heads, leaving a flat area of bootlid extending to the back of the car. The roof runs on rails, so it can be opened or shut regardless of vehicle speed without any suggestion that it will be dragged off in the airstream, and it can also be stopped in any position, though it has to be either fully open or fully shut if you want to be able to use the rear view mirror.

The roadster-coupé has the same roof as an optional extra. In standard form it has a removable hard top and a glass fastback running all the way to the extreme rear. The coupé has more luggage space, weighs slightly more, is slightly slower and less economical, runs on larger wheels and tyres and costs £1000 extra - £14,500 as opposed to £13,500 for the basic roadster.

Just The Roadster

All the driving impressions noted here are based on the roadster, though in this respect there probably isn't a lot of difference between that car and the roadster-coupé.

The turbocharged three-cylinder engine found in the city cars is used again here, but in slightly larger form (698cc) and with a power increase to 80bhp. Performance figures are in the region of 110mph for maximum speed and 11 seconds for the 0-62mph dash, the roadster being a little quicker and the roadster-coupé a little slower thanks to the extra weight and tyre drag.

Obviously we're not talking about heart-stopping acceleration here, but that was never the point. More importantly, the roadster looks like a sports car, and when you climb aboard it feels like one too - the driving position is a great deal lower than it is in the city cars.

It's not much like a sports car to drive, though. The first problem is that the roadster uses the familiar semi-automatic six-speed transmission which has been the focus of press criticism in other smarts. Excellent technical achievement though this may be, it is just horrible to use. During gear changes, engine power is cut so much and for so long that you feel the car has suddenly hit a puddle of treacle.

You can minimise the effect by lifting off the throttle just before the change starts, but the point at which this happens is very difficult to predict in automatic mode, and even if you're swapping gears yourself the adjustments you have to make on the throttle pedal are difficult to master. I dare say they would become instinctive eventually, but it would take a lot of practise.

Then there's the handling. For the press launch, smart picked an excellent route in the North of England which unfortunately showed up most of the chassis's failings. In theory, the roadster should be fabulous to drive, what with its lack of weight and low centre of gravity. Something seems to have gone seriously amiss in the rear suspension geometry, though, because from behind the wheel it feels as if the centre of gravity is at chimney-pot level. The slightest deviation from a straight line causes a great deal of back-end roll, which can be quite a problem if you're battling against side winds on a dual-carriageway.

Taking Its Own Line

The same effect makes the roadster difficult to drive on anything other than a perfectly smooth surface. On exciting country roads - and by golly there were a lot of those on the launch event - the stance of the rear end seemed to have more effect on the direction of travel than anything I did with the steering wheel. Several times I would approach, say, a right-hand bend on the right-hand side of the road when I really wanted to be on the left. I would try to pull over to the left, honestly I would, but if the bumps and dips sent the roadster off to the right there was nothing I could do about it.

"Oh well," I ended up muttering, "if that's where you want to go, far be it from me to argue. No, really, don't mind me, you pick any piece of tarmac you like and aim for it. I'll just sit here and let you get on with it." Actually the muttering was internal, because I had a passenger with me. Out loud, we both wondered how smart could possibly have made a car of this layout handle the way it did. It must have taken a great deal of effort.

After one long section of the route I realised I could have covered the same piece of ground as quickly, in greater comfort and with far more enjoyment in almost any boring old hatchback. It was a solemn moment.

I may be missing the point slightly. The roadster is a plaything which looks great (or at least distinctive - it got a lot of stares) and sounds magnificent (sort of like half a Porsche 911 with occasional chattering noises from the turbo wastegate). With its TRIDION safety cell it's a solid little blighter, and the build quality is superb. It does therefore have a certain appeal.

No, I'm not missing the point. By smart's own account, this is meant to be a fun sports car, yet from a driving perspective it is neither fun nor sporty. Considering the quality of the two-seater opposition (the Mazda MX-5 and Ford Streetka spring to mind), the smart alternative ain't all that smart.

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