REVIEW: Could Smart's new 1 crossover be a turning point for the brand?
Under this deal, new Smart cars will be designed by Mercedes and briefly sold alongside the existing EQ Fortwo and EQ Forfour electric city cars. But the #1 sits on Geely’s SEA platform and will be built by that company in Xi’an, China.
All versions use the same underfloor lithium ion battery, using nickel-cobalt-manganese chemistry, with a 66kWh capacity and supporting DC rapid charging at rates of up to 150kW.The Premium and the Brabus can also manage 22kW AC charging where available, while the Pro+ is limited to 7.4kW. The cheaper car also has a slightly shorter range, 260 miles under WLTP against the Premium’s 273 miles, while the all-paw Brabus manages 248 miles.
Luggage is less well catered for by a dinky 313-litre boot and a tiny 15-litre space under the bonnet.The interior is impressively well finished, too, with some stylish design and upmarket touches, including metal air vents incorporating colour adjustable LED elements. On the plus side, the digital hardware is good, a fast Qualcomm chip set powering a lag-free high-definition 12.8in touchscreen.
Beyond 60mph, the rate at which speed is gathered starts to tail off, but the #1 is still pulling reasonably hard as it gets to the upper end of likely motorway cruising speeds. Ultimately, a 112mph limiter calls time, but few drivers will ever be likely to find it. Refinement and ride quality are both good, but the control responses feel inconsistent. The throttle has a very slight response delay – only a couple of tenths of a second but enough to mean that any sudden requests for urge arrive with a bump. The springy-feeling steering also delivers non-linear reactions, with a keen initial turn-in and then a dead patch.
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