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Driving Impressions
The Smart Fortwo's small stature is both a benefit and a curse. Given the short wheelbase, Smart engineers have had to work to make the Fortwo safe and stable. On that count, they've done a good job. By making electronic stability control and cornering brake control standard, Smart has electronically lengthened the wheelbase. While the handling doesn't feel sporty, the Fortwo never feels like it's going to tip over, even if you charge into a turn. And while it's not best suited for the highway, it feels planted at highway speeds.
The Fortwo is most at home in the city, where its small size allows it to pop in and out of traffic, make tight turns, and fit in parking spots that other drivers can't even consider.
While the Fortwo is generally fun to drive, it's not nearly as sporty as the exceptional handling Mini Cooper. The steering feels direct and reacts quickly upon initial turn in, then seems to slow. The car leans very little in turns, and recovers quickly to allow for quick changes of direction. With a turning circle of only 28.7 feet, the Fortwo can turn around in the middle of a city street to get to that parking spot in the opposite direction. The brake pedal feels a bit stiff, but we found that the brakes were easy to modulate and provided quick, confident stops.
As might be expected given the short wheelbase, the Fortwo's ride is firm and busy. Most road imperfections can be felt, and the car is prone to lots of up and down motions on broken pavement. However, we were never jarred or jolted, and we wouldn't call ride quality a deal breaker if we were considering this car.
While the Fortwo is one of the slower cars on the road today, it's not a moving traffic jam. Smart quotes a 0 to 60 mph time of 12.8 seconds, but the three-cylinder engine delivers its power best from a stop, allowing the car to keep up with the flow of traffic. It can even hold its own on the highway. It gets up to highway speeds reasonably well, and feels stable, though darty and jittery, at 65 mph.
Some potential customers may be turned off by the transmission. The five-speed automated manual works like an automatic in that the driver has no clutch, but it feels like a manual, with pauses between gears. It can be set to shift automatically or the driver can choose the shifts via the gearshift or a pair of steering wheel paddles. We preferred to use the manual mode because it allowed for greater control. The pauses between shifts in automatic mode are annoying, mostly because you don't know when they're coming. The pauses are still there in manual mode, but you control them.
When we drove the Fortwo on the highway, we found the transmission only wanted to downshift one gear when power was needed, which made it hard to keep up with traffic. Switching to manual allowed us to downshift to lower gears, but with only 70 horses on tap, the Fortwo struggled on long slopes. And any passing maneuvers required lots of room and enough time to build up speed.
While power isn't the Fortwo's forte, fuel economy is. According to EPA estimates, the Fortwo gets 33 mpg in the city and 40 mpg on the highway. That's better than other economy cars and close to hybrid performance without the expense of a hybrid powertrain. By comparison, the Honda Civic Hybrid gets 40 mpg city and 45 highway, and the 1.5-liter Toyota Yaris gets 29/36. There is one issue, though. Oddly, Smart recommends premium-grade fuel.
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