For those navigating the dense arteries of metropolitan hubs like San Francisco, New York, or Chicago, the appeal of a Mini Mercedes Car is undeniable. The ability to effortlessly weave through gridlocked traffic and slot into parking spaces that leave larger vehicles circling is a daily victory. Among these urban-friendly vehicles, the Smart Fortwo, a genuine mini Mercedes car, stands out as the quintessential example of compact ingenuity.
Originally conceived and built by Mercedes-Benz, the latest iteration of the Fortwo remains remarkably diminutive at just 8.8 feet in length. However, it has matured beyond its initial concept, gaining width and a more compliant suspension system, resulting in a ride that feels less like a compromise and more like a refined, albeit small, automobile. To truly showcase the enhanced features of this mini Mercedes car, Smart cleverly orchestrated a scavenger hunt in Portland, Oregon – a city known for its challenging and sometimes perplexing road layouts. What better place to test a vehicle designed for the urban grind than in a city where navigating from point A to point B can feel like solving a complex puzzle?
The Smart Fortwo, a mini Mercedes car, expertly navigates a tight urban street in Portland.
Front view of the mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, highlighting its compact design.
Side profile of the mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, showcasing its ultra-short wheelbase.
Rear view of the mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, emphasizing its rear engine configuration.
Interior shot of the mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, demonstrating the updated dashboard.
Close-up of the wheels of the mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, highlighting the wider stance.
The compact size of the mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, makes parallel parking effortless.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, parked in a uniquely small parking space.
A driver exiting the mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, on a busy Portland street.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, blending into the urban landscape of Portland.
Close-up of the front grille of the mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, showing Mercedes-Benz heritage.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, parked amongst larger vehicles, emphasizing its size advantage.
Interior of the mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, highlighting the passenger seat space.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, navigating a roundabout with ease.
Dashboard and controls of the mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, emphasizing user-friendly design.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, turning sharply in a city street showcasing maneuverability.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, parked in front of a colorful urban building.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, driving on a tree-lined street in Portland.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, showcasing its two-tone color scheme.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, rear lights and design details.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, driving on a wet Portland street, demonstrating city capability.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, interior with focus on the dashboard and steering wheel.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, in a residential Portland neighborhood.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, parked on a street with fall foliage.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, with its hatchback open, showing limited cargo space.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, parked in an angled parking spot, showcasing ease of parking.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, on a bridge in Portland, highlighting its urban driving environment.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, with its passenger seat folded flat for increased cargo capacity.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, driving through a tunnel, emphasizing its modern design.
Navigating Portland with a Mini Mercedes Car: The Scavenger Hunt
Portland, a city celebrated for its charm, presents unique driving challenges, especially for visitors. After spending two days rigorously testing the latest Fortwo, available in both manual and automatic transmissions, this mini Mercedes car largely lived up to its urban-conquering reputation.
The scavenger hunt format was simple: accomplish as many tasks as possible within a set timeframe. This involved navigating to various locations both within and around Portland, providing an ideal scenario to assess the car’s performance across diverse driving environments. Our strategy was to prioritize locations outside the city first, allowing us to experience the mini Mercedes car on the winding mountain roads surrounding Portland.
The Smart Fortwo, a mini Mercedes car, handles winding mountain roads during the Portland scavenger hunt.
Under the hood, the Fortwo’s three-cylinder engine, paired with a manual transmission, delivers 89HP and 100 foot-pounds of torque. While not designed for exhilarating hill climbs, the rigidity of the Tridion safety cell—acting as an integrated roll cage—minimizes body roll during cornering. This, combined with the car’s wider stance, contributes to surprisingly nimble and responsive handling, exceeding expectations for a mini Mercedes car. The increased width, a key element of the 2016 redesign, also lends the car a more assertive and modern aesthetic. Whether this bolder appearance will deter urban mischief-makers from repeating incidents of vehicle tipping remains to be seen. However, the enhanced agility of this new mini Mercedes car makes quick U-turns and evasive maneuvers exceptionally easy, thanks to its remarkably tight turning radius – a critical advantage in congested city environments.
Urban Maneuverability: The Unmatched Turning Radius of the Mini Mercedes Car
Smart boasts a 22.8-foot turning radius for the Fortwo, the tightest in the US market. This feature is a game-changer for navigating narrow city streets and executing quick reversals. During our Portland exploration, utilizing the beta version of the Cross Connect companion app, we occasionally missed turns or encountered dead ends. In these situations, the mini Mercedes car‘s ability to swiftly execute a U-turn, without the cumbersome three-point maneuvers required in larger vehicles, proved invaluable. This agility was particularly useful in situations where impromptu U-turns, shall we say, weren’t entirely sanctioned – a minor detail best kept between us and the open road.
Seriously, just appreciate this turning radius:
GIF showcasing the exceptional turning radius of the mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo.
The combination of the Fortwo’s tight turning radius, rear-engine configuration, and rear-wheel drive hints at potential for playful oversteer and parking lot donuts. However, the car’s comprehensive traction control system prioritizes safety, diligently preventing any loss of control. Despite aggressive attempts to induce drifts in sharp turns, the system intervenes by reducing power, ensuring stability. For those considering disabling traction control for some spirited driving, think again – it’s permanently engaged. This mini Mercedes car is engineered for urban practicality, not track-day thrills; it’s designed for effortlessly slotting into tight parking spots, not drifting around corners.
Smart Tech for City Smarts: The Cross Connect App and Smartphone Integration in your Mini Mercedes Car
Speaking of parking, the Cross Connect companion app is designed to enhance the urban driving experience, including locating those elusive tiny parking spaces perfect for a mini Mercedes car. While still in beta during our test, the app’s navigation occasionally led us astray, demonstrating typical beta-stage quirks – missed destinations, repetitive routes, and even a wrong turn onto a one-way street. Beta caveats aside, the app’s potential for urban drivers is clear.
The Cross Connect app interface integrated into the mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, dashboard.
Beyond navigation, the app integrates control of the car’s radio, displays vehicle data like fuel economy, offers a phone dialer, and features a crowdsourced parking finder specifically tailored for Fortwo-sized spaces. Recognizing the app’s central role in the driving experience, Smart offers an optional $100 smartphone holder that mounts on the dash and provides charging. While the price may seem steep for a phone mount, this official Smart accessory integrates seamlessly with the car’s entertainment system via a concealed dash port, minimizing clutter and offering a cleaner aesthetic compared to aftermarket solutions. Importantly, the mount is versatile, compatible with various navigation and audio apps beyond the Smart ecosystem, including popular choices like Waze and Google Maps. This USB-connected holder adds value even if the Smart app’s navigation needs refinement.
Optional smartphone holder integrated into the dashboard of the mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo.
Enhanced Features and Urban Practicality of the Mini Mercedes Car
The smartphone cradle is just one example of Smart’s efforts to enhance the 2016 Fortwo, making this mini Mercedes car more refined and appealing to urban commuters. Crucially, Smart has also incorporated numerous standard features that arguably should have been present from the outset. These now-standard amenities include Bluetooth hands-free calling, cruise control, power steering, and power windows. Furthermore, recognizing the challenges of crosswinds, particularly from passing trucks, crosswind assist has been added, enhancing stability on highways and open roads. Collectively, these additions elevate the Fortwo from a basic urban runabout to a vehicle that genuinely feels like a contemporary car, shedding the perception of being a stripped-down, less-than-smart compromise.
Transmission choices have also been expanded. Smart now offers both a manual and a six-speed automatic transmission. The manual option is a welcome addition for driving enthusiasts, while the updated automatic features a dual-clutch system for significantly faster gear changes compared to its predecessor. Both transmissions deliver a 0-60 mph acceleration time of just over 10 seconds. For a more engaging driving experience, the manual transmission allows drivers to extract a bit more performance from this mini Mercedes car.
Mini Mercedes Car: Pricing and Urban Competition
Starting at $14,650, the Fortwo is positioned to compete with vehicles like the Fiat 500 Pop, Ford Fiesta, Nissan Versa Note, and Honda Fit. Among these competitors, the Fiat 500, while slightly pricier, shares a similar “tiny car” ethos with the Fortwo. However, the Fiat 500 is longer and includes a rear seat, which compromises its parking prowess compared to the mini Mercedes car. While the Fiat offers rear passenger space, the Fortwo prioritizes ultimate compactness. The Fortwo’s trunk space is admittedly limited, accommodating perhaps four grocery bags. For larger items, the passenger seat folds flat, creating approximately five feet of cargo length – suitable for items like small surfboards or flat-pack furniture from IKEA, demonstrating surprising practicality for a mini Mercedes car.
The mini Mercedes car, Smart Fortwo, with its passenger seat folded down to expand cargo space.
After completing the Portland scavenger hunt (a tie for first place, albeit with the other team finishing marginally faster) and thoroughly exploring the city – while completely adhering to all traffic regulations, naturally – we returned the Fortwo. Subsequent city and highway driving further solidified its credentials as a capable commuter. While the Fortwo’s performance is intentionally restrained by its stability and traction control systems, which cannot be disabled, its core strengths lie in urban environments.
For daily commutes dominated by narrow streets, frequent U-turns, and the perpetual quest for parking, the new Fortwo, a genuine mini Mercedes car, emerges as a compelling and refined option. It’s a solid urban commuter that now delivers a driving experience akin to a modern car, proving that sometimes, less really is more, especially in the concrete jungle. And even with space for just one passenger, you still gain access to the coveted carpool lane – a final, fitting perk for this ultimate mini Mercedes car.
