► Life with a Smart #1 ends for Jake
► Overbearing and badly-calibrated tech has frustrated
► Read month 3
I really want to like the #1. For the price it’s fantastically well-equipped, smooth to drive and distinctive – three traits you don’t find in many sub-£40k electric crossovers. It’s a bonus that the #1 also happens to be more than quick enough, comfortable and spacious for passengers in the back, too.
But life with the Smart didn’t start well and didn’t get much better. I could never get the Smart app paired with the car, limiting the infotainment. And, starting with the first journey, I was being screamed at by the fatigue warning’s eye-tracking, telling me I’m tired after just five minutes at the wheel. Four months later, that was still happening with almost every journey.
I theorised that it may have had something to do with my eyes – I have Duane Syndrome, a rare condition that prevents outward movement of my left eye – and wondered if the eye-tracking had mistaken my sometimes-eye-crossedness for fatigue. Until my colleague Curtis Moldrich, with his perfectly functioning peepers, had the same issue after borrowing the Smart. The car also regularly bonged for the driver-monitoring camera being obscured… by the steering-wheel spokes. Some serious recalibration is needed there, Smart.
Aside from the extremely naggy driver monitoring, the #1’s other safety aids were on extreme alert, even in their most relaxed settings. Graphics on the screen flashed regularly for being too close (debatable), and distracting visualisations would appear when something was in a blind spot. And, frankly, the fox mascot can bugger off. It does precisely nothing, and adds another distraction to a busy infotainment system.
The powered door handles also annoyed me, retracting far too quickly when the car is stopped, unlocked and in Park.
Smart is listening to user feedback, though. Since our car departed, an over-the-air update recalibrated some systems and introduced a low-regen mode for the throttle – something I’d grumbled about the car not having to colleagues, making motorway drives tiring on the right leg when not using adaptive cruise.
I appreciate some of the nagging has also been imposed by European General Safety Regulation 2 rules, but come on, Smart – work a bit harder on this stuff, as the end result has given me #1 PTSD.
A shame, then. There’s lots to like about the #1, but our experience has been dogged by such infuriating, distracting and overbearing technology.
Read month 3
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), 2.9 miles per kWh (tested)
Range 273 miles (official), 208 miles (tested)
Energy cost 14.3p per mile
Miles this month 247
Total miles 5860
Count the cost
Cost new £38,950
Part exchange £25,240
Cost per mile 13.3p
Cost per mile including depreciation £2.54