► Our Smart #1 takes a DNA test
► We meet Jon Coupland and his ForTwo
► Read month 2
‘That’s not a Smart’ might be the number one thing people have said to me when I mention I’m driving one. And yes – I agree. This isn’t a Smart in the way we used to think of them.
To help me dig a little deeper I’ve met up with Jon Coupland, owner of this fantastically purple 450-series ForTwo. And you won’t be surprised to learn that one of the first things he says to me, pointing to his own car, is: ‘When people think of Smart, they think of that.’
But is there anything at all that links my Lumen Yellow #1 with Jon’s ForTwo? Some DNA strand buried deep in the chassis structure? This is exactly why I reached out to Jon – to drive my #1 and his ForTwo back to back.
It’s safe to say that Jon is a prolific car buyer. At the time of writing, he owns 23 (yes, TWENTY THREE) cars including a couple of K11 Nissan Micras, several Protons, a Rover 75 and a Mk1 Audi TT as well another ForTwo beside this one.
He diarises his exploits on his YouTube channel (search for Jon Coupland Cars) and isn’t ashamed to say he wants to be famous, although that isn’t his primary motivation. ‘I do it for my wellbeing – this is my escape from work,’ Jon says. ‘But Dad is the accidental superstar in all this – he’s the genius. If I didn’t have Dad, I couldn’t do any of this.’ Jon buys the cars; his father repairs and restores them.
‘Already having a car-buying addiction and already liking Smart cars, I came up with the guise of needing one to commute to work in,’ says Jon. ‘I found this one and paid £700 – it had been on sale for 13 minutes! – and since then I’ve racked up 40,000 miles on the clock. I had originally bought it to kill it, but I just couldn’t let it go – I fell in love with it.’
Since then, Jon says he’s spent ‘a hilarious amount of money on it,’ including a full engine and suspension rebuild, new shocks and springs. And the fantastic colour? Jon points to the fact that the first owner was Bournville Ltd – as in the historic home of the Cadbury chocolate factory.
Parking my #1 next to Jon’s ForTwo, the size difference is stark. A five-door, five-seater was never going to be anything like the size of the ForTwo, but grasping how tiny the old car is compared to the new one brings home just how revolutionary the packaging was.
This particular car is is an absolute sweetheart to drive. The three-cylinder engine is buzzy, thrumming hard and accelerating fast, with heavily-weighted steering making the whole driving experience feel pleasingly solid.
The notorious automated manual gearshift is hilariously slow to change and jarring at first, but you quickly get into sync with it – particularly after Jon recommends a pronounced easing off of the throttle to allow it to shift faster.
The seating position is peculiar for me as a tall driver – no significant reach adjustment for the steering wheel means your arms would ideally be longer than your legs – but as a city runabout it still has tonnes of character and clever thinking designed in.
Jon’s thoughts on the #1 after driving it? ‘Well, it’s just not a Smart, is it? I like bits of it, and it’s really interesting in places – I like the interior with its slightly weird nursery-spec wipe-clean dashboard, and it’s really smooth, but there’s nothing that really translates between this and my ForTwo.’
Getting to drive Jon’s ForTwo is a reminder at just how clever Smart used to be – the packaging remains deeply impressive, and the innovation is still obvious to this day. I’d argue there’s still some of the ForTwo’s charm in my much fatter, much more conventional #1.
We hear Smart Europe CEO Dirk Adelmann has been considering a return to Smart’s roots. An intriguing prospect. But – at least for now – Smart is a shadow of its former self.
Read month 2
Read month 1
Logbook: Smart #1 Premium
Price £38,950 (£38,950 as tested)
Performance 66kWh battery, e-motor, 268bhp, 6.7sec 0-62mph, 112mph
Efficiency 3.7 miles per kWh (official), 2.78 miles per kWh (tested)
Range 273 miles (official), 206 miles (tested)
Energy cost 10.2p per mile
Miles this month 183
Total miles 5613