Exactly What it Says on the Tin

Being busy students means that we usually have little time for cars. We often have so much to do that we simply do not care about what model has just come out, or what tuning company has gone under. No, we therefore need a car that is as ruggedly simple as a car can be. We need something that is practical, affordable, and above all, stylish. Now both the Fiesta and the Punto I reviewed a while back have most of these bases covered. They both will get you from A to B in a reasonably fast time, they both look good, and on the outset they are both affordable. But the trouble is there always seems to be something missing from these models; some detail that has been overlooked during production, and likely as not this ruins the whole car. It’s like building a house, and then forgetting to put a roof on it. Now however, I think I’ve finally found a car that ticks every box. A simple, stylish runabout that is both affordable and quick. A big round of applause then, for the Smart ForFour.

Utilising the same 1.1 litre engine, floorplan and gearbox as the new Mitsubishi Colt, the ForFour is presented as a city runabout big enough for the whole family. Smart’s previous outing in the ForTwo was, and I’m going to be brutally honest here, disastrous. Smart say that the old model certainly “got people looking”. What they don’t realise however is that they were looking for the wrong reasons. The ForTwo just didn’t look like a car, it looked more like a shopping trolley with windows. Seeing one of these smugly brush past you in London was enough to make your blood boil, and when Smart announced that you could fit two ForTwo’s into a single parking bay, well, that was the final straw. The social stigma that is now associated with the ForTwo forced Smart to head back to the drawing board, and think again.

With the ForFour however, this is a different story. This is a car you can actually use, and, once again using our old friend Autotrader, you can pick one up for just £3,500. The ForFour doesn’t excel in any one area, but what it does do is cover all the bases evenly. It’s cheap, practical, and handles like a dream, outperforming most other cars in its class, and leaving them for dust in the corners; so if you’re looking for a semi-sporty but practical car, here’s your choice. Now yes, you won’t get the same fun factor as you do with a Mini or even with a Colt, but for the price you’re paying, you’re getting a whole lot of car. Smart will even give you a third back seat and headrest for a mere extra £80, turning the ForFour into a ForFive. Such has been the interest in the ForFour that Smart’s car club is now the second largest one-make club in the UK, second only to MG. This, coming from a company that nobody had heard of a few years ago, is simply epic.

To sum up then, this car is not your average student transport. Some will argue that in a city like this you only need two seats, and that in the long run the ForTwo is more economical. Well, no actually. The ForFour produces a whopping 45mpg in the city, meaning that it is actually a lot more economical than its two seater predecessor. People would turn you away if you turned up in the ForTwo. In the ForFour, they welcome you with open arms. This then is what we want; a car that does all the things we expect, a car that touches every base and still just keeps on giving. What Smart has created is not your average car. The ForFour does so much more than what you expect from any other car in this range. It is then a very Smart car, and it’d be a Smart choice to have one.