Smart #1 and Smart #3 test drives: Hash-tagging their way to an all electric future

Remember Smart, the makers of the micro city car that you’d stare at for a moment and wonder whether it was a suicide note, or an entirely sensible approach to the world’s transport woes?

Truth be told, I always thought the ForTwo car – as they were called – were already electric. It turns out an electric version was released about a decade ago, but it never made it to Australia.

Now Smart are back, hash-tagging their way to an all electric future, with the Smart #1 and the Smart #3 newly arrived in Australia and on sale, and with the newly unveiled #5 “adventure” SUV to follow next year, and more electric models to be released each and every year.

Smart is now a company half owned by Mercedes Benz and half by China’s Geely Holdings, which seems to own just about everything else in the rapidly emerging EV world.

It means the company can boast German design and Chinese manufacturing efficiency: The result is a pair of alluring EV models, pitched at the premium market at not quite a premium price. But not exactly mass-market either with the two models ranging from $54,900 and $70,900 before on roads, but below many of its competitors, such as the Volvo EC40, the Peugeot e-3008, or the soon to arrive Skoda Enyaq Coupe.

But are they worth it?

It’s weird that when you sit inside the #1 and the #3 you can barely recognise the difference, even though from the outside they are quite distinct, the #1 being a shorter boxy design with not a heap of leg room in the back, and the #3 being considerably lower, with a more coupe style that is clearly more aerodynamic, as our test drive confirmed.

The inside is nice. Seats and interior well made, plenty of room to store stuff and keep cups in the centre console, although the company has not taken as much advantage of the flat floor afforded by EV designs as other car makers. There is a sun roof in all variants which you can have fully open or closed, or half, one quarter or three quarters open.

The cars have a big centre screen, which is playful, if a little confusing. That might put some people off, but like your iPhone you will figure it out soon enough, or at least get used to the limited range of options that might interest you. It all takes time.

Sadly, it was difficult to get much of a feel for either car because of the way the drive day was structured – lots of car and driver changes, and a frustrating obsession with driving in convoy, which annoyed other road users as much as it did the auto journos.

One driver pulled up alongside at the lights: “F*** you, you Smart C****s. You’re blocking the road, you f***ing idiots. Jesus, f***ing f*** f***. Electric Smart shit, f*** me dead.” And apologies if I have slightly misquoted him, but it was hard to tell if he was more annoyed by being delayed at a traffic light, or just at the sight of EVs.

The Smart #1 is pitched as a city car, an urban SUV, and it seems like it drives as such. Which is not a criticism, it does the job well. But there’s nothing too fancy about it.

It holds the road, the suspension and handling seems good, and – importantly for an EV – it is quiet, with not much in the way of road noise from the tyres and little wind noise. It is not too long, at 4.27 metres and its height is

Older couples might like it because it means there is no bending down to get into the seats, you just step in – and that will appeal to many people.

The #3, which is described as an urban SUV Coupe, a collection of words that still does my brain in, is longer at 4.4 metres and is described by the company as having “beautifully athletic curves, exuding a vibrantly muscular yet elegantly sensual energy.”

Which might sound it would be perfect for a date, but it is definitely the one you would want to take on a longer drive. It has a lower wheel base, good handling, better aerodynamics and just feels more like a car you would choose for a journey and to get out of the city.

The most annoying thing for me is the lack of good re-gen. Smart is not alone in coming up short on this. To me, one of the great bonuses of electric cars is the opportunity for one-pedal driving, using re-gen as the de-facto brake. It’s not just more fun to drive, it saves on wear and tear, and brake pollution.

In my Tesla Model 3, I barely touch the brake pedal, whether travelling at speed, or in heavy traffic, but it seems that the Germans, in particular, hate the idea, probably because they are used to very high speeds on the auto-bahn and are appalled by the very idea of the engine braking if the accelerator pedal is released.

So on the Smart, you have three levels of re-gen, from not very much to not much more, and the “S-pedal”, which I presume is their version of the i-pedal”, but which still requires you to apply the brakes in traffic and in tight corners. It seems like a missed opportunity to me.

Both there #1 and the #3 have 66kWh batteries, which deliver a range of between 400 and 440 kms. The #3 efficiency is put at between 16.3kW/100kms and 17.6kW/100kms, while the #1 – presumably because of its boxy shape, has a slightly inferior efficiency at 16.7 kW/100 kms to 17.9 kW/100 kms.

At the top end of each model is a version called the Brabus. If, like me, you are not at all hip, this will mean nothing to you. I researched the name and discovered Brabus is a German outfit that specialises in performance versions of things – they do. They even make an “electric surfboard” that sells for a cool $US28,000, which sounds like a monumental indulgence.

And, to be frank, it seems like a waste of money and branding on the #1 and #3. Yes, it delivered stunning acceleration – 0-100km/h in just 3.7 seconds, but in a box on wheels like the #1 why would you even bother?

It was hard to get a real feel for its potential, because I ended up only driving the Brabus in a 50 km/h zone, but I got to 50 km/h very, very, quickly. But it felt jerky. And I did wonder about the feel and handling if this was to be used to its best advantage on windy roads in the outback.

For more reviews please see our Reviews and Road Trips page, and for a full listing of available EV models, please see our EV Models page.