How far can you go on...
How far can you go on a full tank? Most of us think weò€™re lucky to get more than 300 miles from a single fill-up ò€“ but thatò€™s not enough to satisfy Volvo.
When it comes to cars...
When it comes to cars, he"s experienced, astute, a great judge of how much - or little - it"s worth and what its other strengths or weaknesses are. A plate of chicken tikka and half a lager is the customary fee he charges for these automotive consultancy sessions in the Star of Bengal. He"s inexpensive, unlike the Smart ForFour 1.5 Passion, which is grossly overpriced. The old man and I guessed that it"s a í‚á£7,000-í‚á£8,000 car - not that either of us would be keen to hand over that sort of money when there are others that are better, more desirable and less costly. But the Smart division of Mercedes insists on putting a í‚á£12,370 price tag on it. Crazy.
This is a car of two halves. One side of me loves it because it"s fresh, unconventional, makes a generally positive visual statement and genuinely attempts to move the game on. But my other side loathes its cheap-and-cheerful feel, its toy-like qualities and, worst of all, its transmission. Changing gear is not something my passengers or I ever think about or notice to any great extent. But the Smart"s optional Softouch Plus six-speed transmission makes the normally simple business of moving through the box a major event. There"s no pedal, as an electric motor opens and closes the clutch. Badly.
The gearstick can be left in auto mode, which helps provide abysmal, jerky, erratic journeys; the manual setting is marginally smoother as it"s left to the driver, rather than the car"s confused on-board brain, to decide when to change.
Another option, a steering wheel-mounted paddleshift, adds to the nonsense. Such technology is fine and necessary on serious race cars or even on high-performance sports models for the roads, but in humble city cars it is surplus to requirements. Does anyone need anything more sophisticated than the standard auto which has served countless motorists well for decades? I think not.
This is all about technology for the sake of it. Almost as offensive as the car"s transmission is its likeness to my new washing machine. The cheap dials, knobs and buttons made me think more about 1,200rpm spin cycles than 4,000rpm revs. The Smart doors never seem to shut first time, which is also an annoying feature of my new Electrolux.
It"s not the worst car I"ve driven for a long time, but it"s one of them. Smart says I might prefer the manual 1.5 diesel, adding that I"ll eventually be won over. Somehow, I doubt it. If I wanted a decent, small, good-looking car with five doors, a sound manual box and a conventional clutch, I"d spend í‚á£5,495 on a Kia Picanto. My dad thinks likewise.