Category: City Cars 
Price Range: £8,518 to £16,026
Refined, free road tax, safest in electric class.
Limited range, occasional driveline shunt, poor steering feel, potential list price.
Smart ED comprehensively outclasses its quadricycle alternatives, but is still hobbled by a poor range and lengthy recharge time.
This is, of course, a tricky one to calculate. It depends on where you plug your Smart into at night and, more importantly, how much you pay for the privilege.
Complex calculations estimate the Smart ED averages between 200-300mpg on a cost comparison, while polluting around 60g/km of carbon dioxide. Change to a greener power supply, or electricity generated by a nuclear power station, and emissions will fall, but the financial cost of driving a Smart might rise.
Meanwhile, the Smart ED is road tax exempt.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Smart fortwo
wrote on 11 08 2006