Smart Forfour Prime

If there’s a nagging feeling in the back of your mind that you might have seen a four-door smart before, then you’d be right. The smart company teamed up with Mitsubishi in the past to produce a forfour in combination with the Colt, but it was ill fated and the car was prematurely killed off. Undeterred, smart has now teamed up with Renault to produce a car that is capable of carrying more than a pair of passengers, and the result is a car that shares a lot of its componentry with the Twingo city car. And it’s a funky looking design, with all of the styling elements that made the two-seat smart fortwo so popular, all wrapped up in a bigger package that can carry four. The cost of this extra carrying capacity is a very reasonable £247.50 per additional person.

It’s not often that you can describe a small car as being similar to a Porsche 911, but this forfour boasts a similar layout, with rear-wheel-drive, as well as an engine mounted in the back. Our test car came fitted with a 70bhp 1.0-litre three-cylinder unit which endows the little forfour with decent performance around town on the flat, but show it an incline or a series of hills, and you’ll be reaching for the gearstick to waggle through the gears. It runs out of puff quite quickly and so if your motoring regularly takes in longer journeys, you may be better opting for the 89bhp 0.9-litre turbocharged unit instead. This engine emits a characterful thrum and this remains as a backing track at all speeds.

There’s a vague hint of tyre noise, but it’s the sound from the wind that is most noticeable at motorway speeds. Around town, the suspension crashes into potholes and poor surfaces, sending vibrations through the cabin, and yet it is utterly calm at cruising speed, delivering a comfortable ride. Thanks to its small size, the tight turning circle is a joy, making it a great companion in the city, and thanks to minimal body lean, it feels quite adept through corners, while grip levels seem pretty good, even in the slippery weather we experienced.

Despite its diminutive size, there’s a decent amount of space up front, with adequate rearward travel in the front seats to suit even generously sized occupants. It’s easy to get comfortable thanks to a good range of adjustment on the seats, but it’s disappointing that the steering wheel only adjusts for rake and not for reach. The interior styling is neat and modern, and will appeal to the smartphone generation, with pod-like air vents and a prominent touchscreen that is easy to operate. Car geeks will recognise the Renault-sourced items from the French maker’s parts bin, but it all integrates nicely, feeling solidly constructed and built-to-last. The majority of the controls are within easy reach of the steering wheel, with only the over-complicated climate control system requiring you to take your eyes off the road for longer than is ideal, to see the temperature you’ve dialled in. Space up front is pretty generous, and the headroom good, even with the optional sunroof. At the rear, headroom is decent, but knee and leg space is quite limited. And considering the forfour’s small size, there’s actually a reasonable amount of space in the boot for a few shopping bags, and can be opened up further by tumbling the rear chairs forward.