NEW Smart ForFour

[Durham Smarty]

Heres a glimpse of what the new Smart ForFour will look like... very similiar to the ForTwo me thinks....



Phil

[H Palmer]

Re: NEW Smart ForFour

Borrowed from another forum...

Taken from AutoExpress 4/3/09

The Smart ForTwo is growing and here's the picture to prove it! AutoExpress has learned that Mercedes is planning to add a pair of rear doors and extra seats to its famous city car.
Doubling the Smart's carrying capacity to four people, the new varient will give the range some added practically, letting it compete with an upcoming raft of desirable small cars such as Audi's A1 and BMW's Isetta. No name has yet been given to the newcomer, but it's likely to carry the ForTwo +2 tag, indicating the it's very much an addition to the ForTwo line-up.
As you can see from this illustration, the new model is near identical to the two-seater, apart from a pair of neatly integrated small rear doors.
These reversed-hinged units give access to two identical chairs in the back. Underneath the skin, the car features the same rear-wheel-drive layout as the regular ForTwo with the engine under the boot floor, but with a stretched wheelbase giving extra legroom.
It is hoped that the new model will be much more of a sucess then Smart's last four-seater, the ForFour. A joint venture with Mitsubishi, which also produced the Colt, the ForFour was not popular and canned after only two years. The ForTwo +2 is still some way from the showrooms, though. It's not likely to go on sale until 2012 at the earliest - although when it does arrive, the will be a wide range of engines, all featureing start-stop technology, as well as an electric model.

I think you'll find this is the fortwo +2

[Phoph]

Re: NEW Smart ForFour

That's the car that will compete directly with the Toyota IQ. Although, I have to say that the IQ is no competition at all.

[Fudge]

Re: NEW Smart ForFour

An admission that the last attempt was a poor effort..... nice car in it's own right but not a smart.... this actually looks like a smart.... I approve

[J500ANT]

Re: NEW Smart ForFour

An admission that the last attempt was a VERY poor effort..... nice car in it's own right but not a smart.... this actually looks like a smart.... I approve

Corrected for better accuracy

[Gavin]

Re: NEW Smart ForFour

I think the forfour is an excellent car and very much a smart.

Plus that terrible rendering by autoexpress makes the already ugly 451 even uglier looking.

[johnw40]

Re: NEW Smart ForFour

A 4-2 on steroids.

[miami gulf]

Re: NEW Smart ForFour

How is a Forfour very much a Smart?

It is like saying the MG1100 was an MG - no it wasn't! It was a Austin 1100 with MG badges and some tarting up!

The Austin Allegro Vandenplas was also just an Allegro with a different bonnet, leather and some picnic tables.

By the same token the Forfour, nice as it may or may not be - I have never driven one is a Mitsubishi. I imagine it will be a "better" car but that is a different issue.

the 42+2 looks OK but we need to see it in the flesh as it were.

[Fudge]

Re: NEW Smart ForFour

I think the forfour is an excellent car

I Agree.....

and very much a smart.

I Do Not Agree.....

There is no smartieness about the car apart from the paneling, it is a great car, and the 1.3 that is in our family goes like a pocket rocket, hopefully when someone larger than me in name (Big) gets to play with it it will be better.....

But it's NOT A SMART!

Nice Euro Hatch YES!

[Gavin]

Re: NEW Smart ForFour

I'm guessing by that token that the Audi A3 is just a VW golf in disguise, virtually all SAABs are really just Vectras, The Ford Ka is just a fiat, the Fiat Sedici is really a Suzuki SX4, the Suzuki Splash is a Vauxhall Aguila... Sorry but that 'it's not a smart it's a mitsubishi' just doesn't fly. If it has a smart badge on it, and was made by or for the smart company it is therefore a smart.

[miami gulf]

Re: NEW Smart ForFour

The first part of your post is absolutely bang on Gav but the second part is wrong. Sorry - not slagging off the car at all but it all comes down to understanding of the meaning. Clearly what is written on th V5 is Smart but the fact that Smart wanted a 4 seater and just bought an off the peg design from Mitsubishi does have a bearing.

[H Palmer]

Re: NEW Smart ForFour

Sorry but this gets me every time!!

The forfour and Colt share a platform that's it! The petrol engine designed by Misti but built by Daimler (unlike the 451 which is 100% import from Misti), the set-up is smart, the radio HUs are from Merc parts, the exhaust system is smart, et al. The two cars are completely different, you cannot transfer parts across from a Colt to a forfour. As the forfour ages the less two cars appear similar.

Smart went with the logical option to share production costs, like every other manufacturer nowadays.

Oh and the Colt handles like poo and is a dull OAP run around!!

The forfour is a smart FFS, get over it and except it!!

[Gavin]

Re: NEW Smart ForFour

I don't get it, the interior is all smart designed, the exterior is all smart designed, it doesn't share any body panels with the colt at all, virtually all the electrics are smart designed. The only bit that's mitsi is the engine, and that was designed by mitsi and built by daimler! If anything the colt is a forfour in disguise.

I just think some people are jealous because you know the forfour's engine won't die after 60,000 miles.

[miami gulf]

Re: NEW Smart ForFour

Ah well, if it is just the chassis and engine then of course that is a different matter - such trivial parts being made by Mitsubishi can just be ignored.

ah well, fishing expidition over! Caught two today:thanx:

[Taffdan]

Re: NEW Smart ForFour

Actually SAABs share their floorplan with a mondeo