Winning international accolades and achieving moderate success in some overseas markets, the smart car range never really found traction in South Africa, and consequently quietly left our shores. You can still find them in the used-car listings, though, and may have wondered how these very compact cars will suit family use.
After various attempts at re-inventing the brand, smart (the manufacturer, not some embedded technology) is increasingly focusing on electric vehicles. They are also set to launch a new range of cars soon, following their 2019 joint venture with Geely, but it’s doubtful that we’ll see new smarts in local showrooms any time soon.
They’ve tried making smarts in various body styles over the decades, and some models developed dedicated followings. But, with the exception of two generations of small, 5-door hatchbacks, they’ve all been strict 2-seaters, and thus not at all suitable for family use.
smart fortwo, Roadster, Roadster Coupé
Make no mistake, the smart cars were generally brilliantly packaged, but there’s only so much space to eke out of a footprint that measures less than 2.7-metres in length (in normal fortwo spec). That’s after two generations of growth, from the original (1998) smart’s 2.5-metre length.
While there’s enough room in the cabin for two adults (or a driver and a child in a safety seat), the boot space is quite woeful and will struggle to fit a pram, let alone all the other small-child paraphernalia. This has been improved somewhat with the last (third-generation) model, but it’s still only a 2-seater with very limited luggage space, now up to 250-litres.
smart forfour
smart’s first foray into the 4-seater market appeared in 2004, and actually shared nothing except some styling elements with the fortwo model. The first forfour, a small, 5-door hatchback, was built in the Netherlands in collaboration with Mitsubishi, and was actually a pretty good little car in its time. It was still practically-compromised, but it had decent cabin space, and its boot stretched up to 268-litres.
Unfortunately, many buyers didn’t agree, and stayed away from the dealerships, thus missing out on the first smart to cater for families. This model was dropped after only two years due to poor sales, and the chances of finding one in the wild are pretty slim. Available locally with both 1.3- and 1.5-litre petrol engines, there was only one 1.5-litre example listed on AutoTrader at the time of writing, which could be had for only about R80 000.
They tried again when the third-generation smart rolled along in 2014, this time actually creating both fortwo (for two) and forfour (for four) from the same base, and co-developing the new model with Renault (whose version is the third-generation Twingo). Unfortunately, rear-engined architecture isn’t ideal for small family cars, so its luggage capacity is even more woeful than that of its related fortwo, at 185-litres with all seats in use.
Verdict
Unless you can lay your hands on one of the first-generation smart forfours, you’d better steer clear of any smart car if you have kind of family duty in mind. These aren’t family hold-alls or long-distance cruisers, although a third-generation fortwo could conceivably serve the needs of a single parent with only one child and a short commute…
Keyword: Is a smart car good for families?