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European Economy, Lifestyle & Technology Blog Smart: So How's This Baby Drive? - BusinessWeek
Smart: So How's This Baby Drive?
Posted by: Jack Ewing on August 15
I’d like to add a postscript to this week’s story about
the surge in sales of Daimler’s Smart car: My colleague David Kiley in BusinessWeek’s Detroit bureau
has given the Smart a thorough road test, driving a gasoline-powered version available in the U.S. Here are a few impressions from a short test-drive of a diesel version I made near Daimler headquarters in Stuttgart.
My test Smart was the so-called micro hybrid not available in the U.S. The word “hybrid” is a bit misleading here, because there’s no electric motor powering the wheels as with true hybrids such as the Toyota Prius. Rather, the term refers to the feature that automatically turns off the engine to save fuel when you stop, and automatically starts the engine when you step on the gas pedal. (Daimler is, however, testing an all-electric Smart in London.)
Though I’ve been seeing Smarts on European roads for years, this was the first time I actually drove one. To my surprise, the car didn’t feel tiny, at least not in Europe where the average vehicle size is lower than the U.S. That’s because the upright geometry of the seats put you at eye level, or even slightly above, full-sized passenger cars. The interior doesn’t feel cheap either. The seats are comfortable, visibility is great, and there is plenty of room. The Smart conveys the illusion of a bigger car, as long as you don’t look over your shoulder and notice that there’s no back seat.
The micro hybrid drive is disconcerting at first—I kept thinking the car had stalled out every time I came to a red light. But it works well, restarting the engine instantly and reliably when I applied pressure to the accelerator.
The diesel version is no sports car. Of course, modest performance is the price you pay for 53 miles per gallon. The micro hybrid Smart takes 13.3 seconds to hit 60 mph, which can seem like a long time when you’re trying to merge into Autobahn traffic. Also, the Smart hesitates noticeably when the automatic transmission shifts into a higher gear.
Because of the Smart’s short wheelbase, you feel bumps in the road pretty distinctly. On a long drive the Smart’s jerkiness could become tiring. But I don’t think anyone buys a Smart to drive from New York to San Francisco. It’s a fun and practical car for commuting or short trips, particularly when you’re riding alone—in other words, most of the time.
I predict that we’ll see more compact two-seaters coming on the market. The Smart makes you realize that, with gas prices where they are, it’s silly for one person to zoom around in a two-ton car with seating for five.
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