I took the 71hp Fortwo for a testdrive today, and I must say that in normal city driving it is very pleasant. However, putting your foot down at any revs does mostly nothing, so filling in a gap in fast paced traffic is a bit more involving than with my forfour, having to downshift and get on the gas in anticipation. Maybe the turbocharged one will be more responsive, this feels very very flat, like it doesn't accelerate, it just goes progressively faster...
I think it would make a good car for somebody like my girlfriend, or for somebody after a nice A to B car, who doesn't care what engine it is, or where it's placed.
The turning circle is genius, turned it around in the petrol station after filling up, then turned it 360 a couple of times to really see how tight it turns...it had me laughing. Very nice, it will make parking and getting out of little streets packed with cars on both sides a lot easier...
I will be fiddling with the controls and try to find out more about it's features in the following days, and also try to get a real feel for the fuel economy, although on the return trip from Mercedes it averaged a worse consumption than i got going there in my forfour 1.3 BUT it's still a new car, economy will get better, and as i drive it more and get a sense of where it likes to sit at rev wise, i'm sure I'll better my fuel consumption.
The gear ratios are ok, I didn't rev past 3000 except in second because of traffic, but normally i drive in 5th gear and it stays there quite happily between 1500-1800 revs, at around 50-60kph...accelerating is another matter, it reveals it's unwillingness to rev, but even in my 1.3 I'd downshift in this instance so it's not a big issue, but does speak a lot about the dynamics of the car..the engine shudders a bit, or maybe it's the 3-cyl balance combined with low revs...but the 1.3 doesn't do this, and although it's not sprinting from 1500 revs in 5th it doesn't shudder, it goes along picking up speed.
Next to this new fortwo, the new forfour looks a lot better, it has a nicer stance thanks to the way the tridion wraps around in the rear. With a more lively engine, it could be a worthy successor to the forfour. The car felt comfortable and it stays on the road...a bit ugly, but people have been telling me that about my forfour for years...so it's down to personal taste...
The wheel is nice and chunky, but too close to the chest if you don't have long legs...set up for town driving i couldn't see the top of the speedo, so town speeds 40-70 were obscured, luckily there's also a digital speed readout on the in instrument panel cluster. The renault sourced switches and levers had a less negative impact in person...but i'm still not pleased with them...
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Topic: Smart ForFour Passion 52kW (2015) vs Smart ForFour Passion 70kW (2006) testdrive (Read 22883 times)