Still An Original
by Ross Finlay (24 Sep 04)

On the face of it, you'd think the entry-level 1.1-litre petrol engine would make the smart forfour feel pretty sluggish - after all, this is an altogether bulkier machine than the fortwo city cars. In fact, it doesn't. Built in the factory at Kölleda south-west of Leipzig, which was set up in the days when smart's parent company Mercedes-Benz was rather more closely linked with Mitsubishi than it is now, this is the same engine as the one used by the Japanese company for the Colt, and it's lively enough in the smart installation, where there's very little in the way of unnecessary avoirdupois.

The forfour/Colt connection is apparent in other ways, because the two outwardly quite different cars also share components like some of the platform parts, the rear axle, the emissions equipment, the fuel tank and - here's the important bit - the standard five-speed manual transmission.

This is the first smart where you don't have to have the squeeze-box automated manual transmission, although it's still available as an option. Myself, I wouldn't look near it, now that there's a much more satisfactory conventional gearbox and gear change available.

With 73bhp on tap, the 1.1 engine does have a certain three-cylinder beat, unlike the larger 1.3 and 1.5-litre four-pot petrol units which are also in the catalogue; but it's nothing like as obtrusive as the three-cylinder cdi engine in the 1.5-litre diesel model which, whether in 67 or 93bhp tune, may pull much more strongly but really does make a lot of noise.

Smart doesn't try to hide its cars' unusual type of body construction, with the outlines of the steel safety shell (in either silver, black or titanium finish) obvious whatever colour you choose for the plastic body panels, themselves able to absorb a low-speed dent while being individually replaceable if you happen to collide with an ill-tempered forward-facing rhinoceros.

With the passion being the higher of the two forfour trim and equipment levels - three if you count the single 1.1-litre budget-priced "black edition" as well as the regular pulse model - our test car was neatly trimmed and decently kitted out. It had alloy wheels, front foglamps, air conditioning and a leather-rimmed steering wheel as standard.

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