High atop a car park in downtown Stuttgart, the all-new 2008 Smart Fortwo made its official debut to a crowd of more than 500 primarily European journalists. Besides representing the first time the iconic runabout has been redesigned, this vehicle is also significant because it’s the vehicle that will lead the charge of new Smart-branded products here in the U.S.A.
Though the Fortwo’s appearance changes in only subtle ways compared with the current model, the 2008 model will be larger, more comfortably equipped and more powerful than the current model. It wears the same smiling grille but the headlamps are now larger, more sinister (well, as sinister as a Smart can pretend to be), and the body has toned up a bit. The two contrasting door panels continue to set the Smart apart in a way we won’t have seen here since the Citroen 2CV. Convertible models feature a folding roof design that retains the signature B-pillar frame while letting the sun shine most everywhere else.
Efficiency first.
At just under nine feet in length (compared with over 12 feet for the Mini Cooper), the Smart will easily be the smallest car sold in this country in decades. And at around 1700 pounds, the Fortwo coupe makes the Lotus Elise seem hefty. However, considering the most powerful of its four economy-driven powertrains musters but 83 horsepower, the Fortwo’s performance promises to be, at best, more of a stroll than a sprint. For what it’s worth, top speed has been increased to 90 miles per hour, for anyone daring enough to try.
While the Fortwo’s performance might not inspire us, we can already hear owners bragging about the distance they can travel on a full (8.7 gallon) tank of gas; fuel economy is said to be about 45 miles per gallon for the gas engines, 67 with the diesel motor (which we may or may not get) resulting in a 400-plus-mile range for either engine.
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