A trip to the mountains is always exciting, but most of us typically choose an SUV, or at least a crossover, for transportation. However, we won’t follow everyone else. The editor of the “Auto” project on 161.ru decided to go to the mountains in a Smart convertible.
We’re all used to thinking of Mercedes-Benz as something big, impressive, and luxurious. However, the brand also has a Smart division that produces compact but very impressive cars. Before picking up the car from the dealership, I thought I’d be looked at like I was crazy or even gay while driving a Smart. After all, other car owners judge you on the road by your car’s appearance. And the bigger and more ugly your car, the more respect and admiration you’ll get, while if you drive a small car, they’ll look at you with disdain. But everything turned out to be completely different!
A German with French roots
My test car wasn’t the flashy, bright Smart in the advertising paint scheme, but a dark gray matte convertible on black alloy wheels. Of course, it’s not a square G-Class, but the Smart’s shape is also similar to a cube, but more stylish and with rounded corners.
So, I get behind the wheel of this little thing. At first, you get the feeling that you’re sitting in either a toy car or a go-kart. The exotic elements in the interior are a complete contrast to the older Mercedes-Benz models with their conservative and strict style. The Smart’s interior is a total explosion of design. The dark interior with white door trim and a crisp white dashboard are reminiscent of the cockpit of a flying saucer, and passersby look at you in the Smart as if you were an alien. The instrument cluster is the crowning achievement of this design, with the round tachometer being a separate element being especially appealing.
There’s plenty of room for the driver and passenger, but because the Smart is so short, the rear window is just an arm’s length behind you. The interior design is so cartoonish that sometimes you even begin to wonder if you’re actually sitting in a German car. The French are considered fans of avant-garde design, and they contributed to the new Smart. The little car is based on the Renault Twingo platform, hence the German-French mix.
And yet it is a Mercedes-Benz
In city traffic, in a Smart, you feel like a king, you can scurry through traffic jams between lanes and squeeze between cars, but I’m going to the mountains, and most of the route I have to do on the M-4 Don highway and dirt roads. My journey started in Krasnodar, and the end point of the route is a farmstead near Goryachiy Klyuch with an interesting name of Kura-Tsetse.
So, I leave the Krasnodar Mercedes-Benz dealership straight onto the M-4 Don. At first, I drive carefully. The car’s compact size makes every part of my body feel its size. Gradually, I begin to notice the surprised glances of other road users—people are impressed, and it feels like I’m driving a sports car that attracts attention. After a couple of minutes of getting used to the car, I begin to realize that the Smart, despite its cuteness, is actually quite a capable car. Floor it, and the car accelerates, and even at 130-140 km/h, the Smart remains stable on the highway and displays decent performance. Under the hood, or rather, behind me, the Smart has a three-cylinder, 899cc engine—many modern motorcycles have larger ones, but its 90 horsepower is more than enough for a spirited ride. It was especially interesting to watch the drivers’ faces when such a tiny bug passed them in the left lane at 130 km/h.
By the way, I want to praise the transmission. The Smart has a six-speed, robotized TwinAmic dual-clutch transmission, and there are even steering wheel paddle shifters for manual control. According to the specifications, the Smart’s combined fuel consumption is around five liters, and even if you drive it briskly and actively use the steering wheel paddle shifters, the consumption still doesn’t rise above seven liters per hundred. If the Smart’s design is pure French avant-garde, then in terms of driving characteristics it’s a 100% Mercedes-Benz, albeit a small one.
Finally, the section of highway ends, and I turn towards Khadyzhensk onto the old highway. At first, the asphalt is quite tolerable, but cracks and potholes occasionally appear. And again, I give the Smart a big plus for its energy-intensive suspension; the little one slips through potholes and cracks in the asphalt without any particular difficulty. Of course, if you don’t fly over them at high speed, otherwise you risk a flat tire and a long wait for help, because the car doesn’t have a spare tire at all.
After some time driving along the serpentines, the asphalt ends, and a dirt road begins, covered in gravel in places. The way stones bang against the Smart’s underbody and plastic sides is also a very practical solution: the plastic doesn’t need to be painted, and the paint won’t chip. The body of the tiny Smart is almost entirely plastic—the fenders, doors, and hood. All of this is mounted on a steel monocoque, which envelops you like a capsule. Naturally, you can’t drive as fast on sharp gravel and dirt roads, but the Smart handles this type of surface just as well as mainstream crossovers.
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A Land Cruiser Prado overtook me on one of the turns, and I immediately thought its driver would look at me with disdain, because I was drifting into the territory of more serious SUVs. But a man of about forty looked out the window and gave me a thumbs up. So once again I have a reason to feel proud of this small, but rather interesting car.
So, in less than an hour I got from Krasnodar to the mountainous outskirts of Goryachiy Klyuch, and got an indescribable feeling from the car, and I can say that Smart is not only a city car, you can also take short trips to the countryside in it.
Who is this car for?
In fact, Smart is more of a car for the soul, and it suits not only girls, but also men. Such a car will never let you get bored and will not leave passers-by and passing drivers indifferent. I’d call the Smart a weekend car, for when you want to escape the daily grind and head for the mountains with the top down. It’s like your favorite motorcycle, which you don’t ride every day, only during the high season, and you look forward to that season with great anticipation. However, unlike a motorcycle, you can ride in comfort and under a roof, even if it’s just a canvas one.
The Smart is definitely not a mass-market car; it’s a very expensive toy compared to cars in its class. You could buy one with your spare change if you were buying, say, a Geländewagen. Prices for the Smart Fortwo coupe start at 790,000 rubles, while the Cabrio version starts at 1.1 million rubles. Our test car costs around 1.4 million rubles. However, even though the Smart is a rather original car in itself, you can order an exclusive version from the Brabus studio.
