They may look like buggies, but you can’t put golf bags in the boot of the two Smart ForTwo. In fact, things are hardly as they appear.
Even though the big decal on the left Smart ForTwo says “Hybrid”, the car doesn’t have a big electric motor.
As for the other Smart ForTwo, which is a “cdi” model (Smart-speak for common rail diesel injection engine), its three-cylinder turbo engine doesn’t run on fossil fuels.
Smart ForTwo mhd’s black and sombre interior jars against the car’s funky exterior.
Instead of burning diesels bought at the exorbitant prices set by OPEC, the cdi runs on a fuel Daimler squeezed out of a plant farmed in Gujarat, India.
And although these are two cars appearing in a Singapore-based car magazine – albeit a rather good-looking mag, I hasten to add – this is not a review about two white Smarts.
A review of either Smart ForTwo will simply be irrelevant. For all its promise of cleverness implied in its name, the Smart isn’t brilliant enough to have a viable existence in Singapore.
Bright upholstery more than makes up for the Smart ForTwo cdi’s brittle plastics.
Without substantial support in infrastructure like concessions on Smart parking and road-related taxes, the Smart ForTwo models are simply too expensive and sophisticated.
It’s a lesson that Daimler has learnt very recently, after pulling the plug on its venture in Malaysia after just two years of offering the cars there.
Since neither Smart ForTwo won’t be sold here at any time soon, you probably don’t need to know about how nimble it is when driving around town … or how silly a pair of grown men look pottering around in one.
Far more valid as a point of interest, though, are the technologies the pair of Smarts represent.
Smart ForTwo mhd
Short for “micro hybrid drive”, the Smart hybrid represents the nursery stage in the development for solutions to cut fuel consumption and associated CO2 emissions.
Central to the Smart ForTwo hybrid is the start-stop system. In “Eco” mode, the Smart will cut its petrol engine whenever the car is stationary and the brake pedal is depressed.
The idea is simple: An idling engine is a plain waste of fuel. So, to save fuel, the engine will cease when it’s not needed.
Smart ForTwo runs out of cold air each time the engine cuts out.
This is hardly a new concept, as other manufacturers, ranging from Volkswagen (from as early as the Mk III Golf) to Citroen on the C3 (overseas market only), have similar offerings.
Smart offers the ForTwo mhd as a standard equipment on all its petrol engine models outside the U.S. and Canada, and claims an average fuel saving of 8 percent on the combined European cycle.
In city traffic, the difference can be as high as 20 per cent.
Tachometer and other functions are only available on higher-end models.
Does the Smart ForTwo mhd work?
Having the engine “die” at the junction and firing up noisily when the brake pedal is released is strange, if not embarrassing, as other road users may assume that (1) the car broke down, or (2) the driver is a klutz.
Even more annoying is when the Smart ForTwo mhd’s engine ceases during parking manoeuvres. Without the engine running, the car’s air-conditioning also stops blowing out chilled air.
Lucky, then, that start-stop can be deactivated.
Can normal drivers do it?
It’s simple enough to replicate the Smart ForTwo mhd’s start stop feature: just twist the ignition key. But you really shouldn’t.
The Smart ForTwo mhd uses a unique belt-driven starter-alternator based on Mercedes-Benz’s hydrogen car concept.
This not only enables the Smart ForTwo to withstand the abuse of countless engine restarts, but the more efficient integrated belt design also helps to “recover” energy by acting like a dynamo during retardation.
Smart ForTwo’s paddle shifters are necessary to keep the engine at a boil.
Smart ForTwo cdi
The combination of relatively lightweight and efficient engineering gives the Smart ForTwo cdi the ability to cover as much as 1000km on a single tank of fuel.
In our context, that should translate to no more than 20-odd visits to the fuelling station an entire year, or less than twice a month.
The 45bhp, 800cc three-potter in the Smart ForTwo cdi is, in fact, the world’s smallest direct-injection diesel engine.
For the purpose of Daimler’s study in Singapore, this particular Smart ForTwo cdi feeds on a bio-diesel refined from Jatropha, an agrestal plant with seeds that are roughly the size of hazelnuts.
The plant is actually toxic and cannot be eaten.
This makes Jatropha not only a sustainable source of bio-fuel, it also presents itself as more guilt-free than the earlier alternatives, which are derived from food stock, thereby depriving the poorest among us of essential sustenance.
Does the Smart ForTwo cdi work?
Nothing is done on Smart’s end to accommodate the Jatropha fuel.
Feed it with the stuff and the torquey little lump will burn it with no less verve than it would fossil-derived diesel.
Smart has obviously conceived its ForTwo cdi to be a super-stingy sipper, with its fuel able to stretch the 33-litre tank over the claimed 1000km.
But you will most likely dread every one of those thousand kilometres.
To maximise mileage, the 5-speed automated-manual gearbox is not only equipped with very long gearing (low rpm at high speeds) but it’s also programmed to shift up at the earliest possible instance.
What happens, then, is that the car often rushes to its very tall fifth ratio, only to find that it doesn’t quite have enough torque to maintain the speed at such low revs.
Even as the engine starts to sputter for dear life, the box will resolutely stick in top gear.
Only after much persuasion will the transmission downshift.
Air intake feeds fresh air into the 3-pot motor located at the ForTwo’s rear.
Can regular drivers do it?
At the moment, India’s best (not masala tea, which is easy to get) is only available to the test cars.
So, even though the majority of modern turbo-diesel engines will be able to sip Jatropha, they won’t be able to get it. You could still try to shift up early, though.
Although the Smart three-cylinder is less rowdy than the 1-litre 3-pot unit in the Volkswagen BlueMotion, vibration from the engine is still very audible and discernible in the cabin.
Smart ForTwo mhd 1.0 (A)
ENGINE 999cc, 12-valves, inline-3
MAX POWER 71bhp at 5800rpm
MAX TORQUE 68Nm at 4500rpm
GEARBOX 5-speed automated manual with manual select
0-100KM/H 13.3 seconds
TOP SPEED 145km/h
CONSUMPTION 23.3km/L (combined)
Smart ForTwo cdi 0.8 (A)
ENGINE 799cc, 6-valves, inline-3, turbo-diesel
MAX POWER 45bhp at 3800rpm
MAX TORQUE 110Nm at 2000-2500rpm
GEARBOX 5-speed automated manual with manual select
0-100KM/H 19.8 seconds
TOP SPEED 135km/h
CONSUMPTION 30.3km/L
Driving a diesel to Malaysia? The 3/4 tank rule will apply from April
