Smart ForTwo Coupe Review and Prices

At launch the ForTwo carries the same petrol engines as the ForFour and Renault Twingo, with a pair of three-cylinder petrols that don’t break the magic litre mark.

The larger engine is also the less powerful of the two, with a 999cc capacity and 70hp on tap. The other choice is a little smaller at 898cc but with the assistance of what might be the world’s smallest turbocharger it’ll put out 90hp. That makes it four seconds quicker to 60mph which, even if you’re not bothered about such things, is a big chunk of time.

There’s not so much of an obvious difference on the road between the two engines unless you’re doing 0-60mph testing, but it still holds true that if you want to get out of the city and do some motorway miles you’ll be happiest with the more powerful 90hp version with at least 67.3mpg quoted by the manufacturer.

The Brabus model offers another engine option – a tuned version of the 0.9-litre engine, which increases power by 17hp to 107hp. The suspension has also been tweaked to be 10mm lower and 20 per cent stiffer than the standard setup. The result is a small car that’s ideal for squirting through traffic, even if its 9.5 second 0-62mph time is slower than some seven-seater MPVs.

Smart buyers get a choice of five-speed manual or a new dual-clutch auto. Some will remember the horror of the first car’s automatic and the great news is that this is a thing of the past. The new one is silky smooth but still a £1,000 option. It’s far easier to live with than the manual with quick changes available no matter the pace you drive. The new transmission also comes with its cons – down changes are sudden and the gear lever looks really cheap and dated.

The optional Sports pack adds F1-style paddles behind the steering wheel and also 16-inch alloys, a chrome exhaust and lowers the ride height by 10mm.

The original car was really extraordinarily wearing to drive, very uncomfortable over bumps, quite alarming in bends (nabbing honours for being among the worst handling cars available), noisy and phenomenally inert. An improvement was almost inevitable.

The track (width between wheels) has been increased and this makes it far more stable in any kind of bend, but the wheelbase (length between wheels front and back) is still particularly short, so unless you’re a fan of fighting against physics it’s still not one to hurry down a back road with any kind of pace. This is probably for the best because the brake pedal is felt to be still on the numb side – probably due to the lack of weight on the nose of the car – and the variable-ratio steering often requires a couple of bites to get a bend right: the relationship between your steering input and how much the car actually turns varies with speed.

That short wheelbase also means that the whole car will lurch over a good sized speedbump, but it is a much softer car than before with a far more compliant attitude to pock-marked tarmac. It’s not up there with the best in the class, but if you’ve come from the old car you’ll be able to tackle poorly surfaced roads without detaching your retinas any more.

Of course the Smart still retains its driving party piece. Without an engine in the front of the car (it’s in the back), there’s nothing to get in the way of the front wheels when you turn the steering wheel. This means it has an incredible amount of steering angle for the most amazingly tight turning circle: it will complete an about-face in just 6.95 metres – about the length of a long-wheelbase Mercedes Sprinter van. This must make the ForTwo the perfect car for anyone who frequently gets lost…