Eat your heart out, John Deere |
| 2006 smart fortwo pulse cabriolet (Photo: Philippe Champoux, Auto123.com) |
I know what the majority of you are thinking. You're saying to yourself that this isn't a real car; it's a joke on wheels. A smart is a parody of the automobile, right? You're thinking that driving a smart is slightly more embarrassing than being seen walking out of the bathroom with toilet paper stuck to your shoe, isn't it?
In all honesty, that's what I thought, too.
You might be expecting the old cliché, about me saying how the smart changed my perception of it, and that I'm now in love with the car. Didn't happen. However, it did gain some respect.
I briefly drove the smart in December 2004, and the only thing that impressed me then was how it made it to the Canadian market. Now, after a whole week of driving this lawn mower, it's time to admit that I survived it unscathed.
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| 2006 smart fortwo pulse cabriolet (Photo: Philippe Champoux, Auto123.com) |
For such a small car--what am I saying, it's miniscule--the interior space for two occupants is amazing. The doors cover about 90% of the length of the car, and getting in and out is a no-brainer. The seats are comfortable despite their thin backrests, and there is sufficient headroom and shoulder room for just about anyone. Cargo space is pretty tight, but you can fit a suitcase or several grocery bags in back.
The instrument panel looks a little dinky, but the overall appearance is distinctive and rather amusing. The tach is located on top of the center console, right beside the clock. It took me three days to find the button that displays the trip odometer beneath the speedo. The fuel gauge
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| 2006 smart fortwo pulse cabriolet (Photo: Philippe Champoux, Auto123.com) |
worried me at first when I was down to the last dot, but the display tells you when you've got 5.0 liters of fuel left.
I can't complain about the heating and ventilation controls, since they work as well as on any other car, and there's even an electric heater for cold winter mornings. The sound system is really disappointing, and the $195 speaker upgrade is a necessity, in my opinion.
Driving the car is both amusing and frustrating. Every time you press the throttle or apply the brake, or during every gear change while accelerating, the car squats and dives like a rocking horse. It's funny for the first few days.
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| 2006 smart fortwo pulse cabriolet (Photo: Philippe Champoux, Auto123.com) |
The 40-horsepower engine (yes, 40) is slightly more powerful than my weedwacker, but it can get the fortwo moving up to about 130 km/h on level ground. You can achieve 140 km/h driving downhill. The 800cc turbodiesel makes up for the shortage of power with 73 pound-feet of torque at a low 1,800 rpm, so car moves adequately off the line and gets up to speed in an acceptable timeframe. Is it too slow for our SUV-crowded roads? Not at all, but it's the bare minimum; any car slower than the smart would unfortunately have to be forbidden here, as it would be too dangerous in traffic. And no, that doesn't make logical sense.
