RE: Prices Announced for ForFour
Wednesday 21st July 2004
Prices Announced for ForFour
Is Smart becoming too conventional...?
Smart has announced UK prices for the new forfour, starting from £7,995 for the special launch black edition.
The smart forfour, the first smart with four seats and five doors, will be available on British roads from 1st September. Customers can choose from a range of five engines, including two diesel engines built by Mercedes-Benz; the first time customers have been able to buy a diesel smart in the UK.
The 1.1 litre, 3 cylinder petrol engine in pulse trim is available from £8,995 otr, rising to £12,370 otr, for the 3 cylinder 1.5 cdi (95 bhp) in passion trim. The range will also feature a manual gearbox for the first time, while still offering smart’s softouch automated gearbox as an option.
All 56 smart retailers have a smart forfour on display in their showrooms and are taking customer orders ahead of the launch.
Discussion
Its not a proper Smart !
Its a front wheel drive Mitsubushi Colt hatchback in disguise!
So it has no rear wheel drive, no tridion safety cell ( they simply use two tone paint job to pretnd it has one ), and no manic little turbo engine.
Mercedes should be ashamed of themselves. Hard to believe that the makers of the Smart don't "get" their own brand, and allow the bean counters to dilute and destroy the whole ethos of the product.
I urge all potential purchasers to boycott this horrible, cynical example of marketing fluff over engineering integrity.
Rant over
Its a front wheel drive Mitsubushi Colt hatchback in disguise!
So it has no rear wheel drive, no tridion safety cell ( they simply use two tone paint job to pretnd it has one ), and no manic little turbo engine.
Mercedes should be ashamed of themselves. Hard to believe that the makers of the Smart don't "get" their own brand, and allow the bean counters to dilute and destroy the whole ethos of the product.
I urge all potential purchasers to boycott this horrible, cynical example of marketing fluff over engineering integrity.
Rant over
thegamekeeper said:
Didn't they used to all this the "A" Class
Nope, the A-class was an innovative little car in it's own right (engine under the floor etc) - this is just a basic shopping trolley like any other, painted up to look a bit like the original smart. Still, at least this will have a decent gearbox...
burwoodman said:
I don't care how practical the original Smart was or how many accolades it got from in the know journos. They are rubbish, a death trap on wheels and any self respecting person wouldn't touch one.
Fighting talk , sir.
There are a few Smart fans on here.
Ignore your prejudices, the Smart 2 seater is a hoot to drive, beautifully engineered and fun to own.
Safe too. They do well in all crash tests. Better than Polos' Fiesta's in fact...
burwoodman said:
Fair enuf. However I can't see how a roller skate on wheels would stand up to a collision by a car 3 times its size.
My opinions probably have something to do with a guy in my building who drives one and he is a real to55er hence the connection to the car
That silver cage is basically a huge
-off roll cage, making the smart very safe in a collision. I will, however, echo the comment that you drive one - you'll either love it or hate it. If you can get over the truly appalling gearbox (I couldn't) smart's are apparently a good laugh...
I'm running a 1.5 forfour courtesy of the dealer who is trying to fix my Honda right now. Sorry to say but I'm definately one of the "tarted up hatchback" brigade. I can think of no reason to choose one over any other similarly sized/priced hatch apart from the fact that you think you're "funky".
It stops, goes and corners acceptably but that's about it. Seats too narrow for my back/shoulders, gearchange like rattling a stick in a bucket (OK it will never match the slick Honda gearbox, but still...), awkward interior fit and finish (plastic on steering wheel scrapes the hands and there's a nice plastic edge somewhere on the side of the clutch pedal that catches my shoe constantly), dials that seem to lag behind events in the real world (speed and revs)...
Oh, and luggage space sucks.
I think the brochure left in the car says it all. I turned to the Brabus page hoping for some excitement and had to read thru hundreds of lines of info about cosmetic upgrades before we got to the important stuff (power upgrades)
One for the image brigade, something I wouldn't say about the original Smart.
It stops, goes and corners acceptably but that's about it. Seats too narrow for my back/shoulders, gearchange like rattling a stick in a bucket (OK it will never match the slick Honda gearbox, but still...), awkward interior fit and finish (plastic on steering wheel scrapes the hands and there's a nice plastic edge somewhere on the side of the clutch pedal that catches my shoe constantly), dials that seem to lag behind events in the real world (speed and revs)...
Oh, and luggage space sucks.
I think the brochure left in the car says it all. I turned to the Brabus page hoping for some excitement and had to read thru hundreds of lines of info about cosmetic upgrades before we got to the important stuff (power upgrades
) One for the image brigade, something I wouldn't say about the original Smart.
Seeing as I pick up our new ForTwo at the weekend, I'm all for the Smart, but I'm really not sure about the ForFour..
It departs from the concept of the Smart, the simple tranport, perfect for cities and fun to drive.. It is a tarted up hatch like people have said.. and having had a look around one at Smart Birmingham last weekend, it's not even a nice looking car!
Roll on Saturday, Rufus arrives!
slinky
It departs from the concept of the Smart, the simple tranport, perfect for cities and fun to drive.. It is a tarted up hatch like people have said.. and having had a look around one at Smart Birmingham last weekend, it's not even a nice looking car!
Roll on Saturday, Rufus arrives!
slinky
I don't really get these complaints about the lack of the "tridi-whatever" safety cage. As far as I could tell the 4 door Smart had a metal frame with plastic body panels just like the smaller version. Surely that's just the same thing? Or is there more to it than that?
Two more highlights - a beeper that sounds if you use the handbrake whilst moving
and.... a VINYL ROOF! Or what looks and feels like one anyway. haven't seen one of those since the late 70s 
Two more highlights - a beeper that sounds if you use the handbrake whilst moving
and.... a VINYL ROOF! Or what looks and feels like one anyway. haven't seen one of those since the late 70s zax said:
I don't really get these complaints about the lack of the "tridi-whatever" safety cage. As far as I could tell the 4 door Smart had a metal frame with plastic body panels just like the smaller version. Surely that's just the same thing? Or is there more to it than that?
My understanding is that the original Smart tridion cell is a very different technology to conventional cars.
The cell is essentially a huge roll cage on the outside of the car that wraps all around the occupants. The plastic panels effectively hang of it. It is very strong, as a good friend of mine demonstrated when he crashed his last year at 60mph into some trees....
The tridion is also why the original smart, although so small, has the same NCAP ratings as a Polo. Which is pretty impressive.
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