Taking my Gen 4 for granted

Yes. I actually test drove a Smart ForTwo Electric Drive this week. I was really surprised. The seating position and interior room for me as a driver was superior to my Gen 4. It didn't feel like a 9 foot long car, it actually felt like a much bigger car. Felt very quick up to 20mph.

I thought that the turning circle was amazing in the Gen 4, but the Smart's circle is about 3 metres/10 ft less than the Gen 4, and I spent about 5 minutes just driving and doing U-turns constantly as it was bloody hilarious, in terms of being able to turn around anywhere on any road.

Very well built too. The Mercedes sales woman was brilliant too, no pressure to purchase and she answered all my technical questions.

Such a shame that the tyres drone so badly, it ruins the silence of an EV. Apparently, quite a common problem on these Smarts. Oh, it was 4C/39F when I tested the car. The brochure claims 99 miles of range. It showed 55 with a full battery. I put the heater on, and the range immediately dropped to 35 miles. I suspect owners would end up wearing lots of woollen jumpers in order to conserve range. It would give 70 miles range in the summer.

You learn so much when waiting at a car showroom by hearing the discussions between owners and service people. I heard a few conversations where the dealer had kept the car for 2-4 weeks because they were struggling to find the reason for the engine management light coming on. Mercedes and Smart forums illustrate so many problems, even on the really expensive models.

Then I got back in my Gen 4, and appreciated how dependable and reliable the Gen 4 is when compared with cars from other manufacturers.

This morning I will be test driving a Renault Zoe, which again is fully electric and despite being a tiny car (size of a Yaris), one journalist managed to drive it at 70mph on the 117 mile ring road that circles London, and he still had battery left over. However, given Renault is French, I've been warned by my French friends that the car's build quality is likely to be quite flakey.

 

I recently spoke to someone at Toyota. They have brought forward their plans for EVs as they now realise the market is shifting.

I'm going to test drive the Ioniq (however, on the owners forum, there are complaints about the seats being uncomfortable for some drivers, especially taller ones) - the issue with the EV versions of cars is the wait list (5 months for the Smart, up to 10 months for the Ioniq and around 6 months for the Zoe) - by the time the car arrives, it will be out of date as EV battery tech is evolving so rapidly.

The Kia Soul EV is dirt cheap here (on lease deals), but it lacks all the driver assistance and safety tech that the Gen 4 has.

Hyundai have a new small SUV EV coming out this summer. It promises 292 real world miles on full charge, which is incredible.

 

Kia Niro PHEV available here. I plan to test drive it.

 

I test drove the Renault Zoe. Another one where the driving position is a bit awkward. No height adjustment on the driver's seat, although the steering wheel adjusted for reach/rake. More comfortable than the Leaf but still worse than my Gen 4. I got knee pain towards the end of the 15 min drive.

Digital speedo, but weird to have to look down from the road through the top of the wheel to check my speed. I'm so used to a HUD.

55 profile 16 inch wheels and quite a crashy ride over anything that isn't perfectly smooth. It didn't feel planted on the road, and handled a bit like a wobbly jelly, which I was surprised at.

Switching the cruise control on required pressing a button situated in the center console under the handbrake. Wth? The control for the heated seats was hidden on the side of the centre console (you have a scroll wheel to vary the heat, and in order to see which way you are turning it, you have to peer down towards your left knee) - crap design.

Strange noise, sounded like a cross between a spaceship landing and a worn out wheel bearing. Salesman pointed out it's the pedestrian warning noise at low speed.

Felt very rapid even post 40mph. Very impressed by the regen in an urban setting, in terms of me driving the way I drive my Gen 4 meant the car used 2 miles of range, yet I had travelled 4.5 miles. I could probably get 180-200 miles out of a charge.

Less than pleasing was the feel of the brakes, completely unnatural in terms of super soft. Press the pedal gently and nothing happens. I guess you have to get used to each car's braking feel, but this was not confidence inspiring.

When driving back to the showroom, the salesperson told me to swing it into the bay. So I approached and made the turn the way expecting it to make it into the bay, but it didn't. I was wide. It's a small car and yet the turning circle is more than my Gen 4.

No safety tech like autonomous emergency braking. When I asked the salesman how many airbags it had, he replied, 'A lot'

If I order today, then I could it it sometime in June, and he wanted to lock me into a 3 year finance plan. Err, I think I'll pass. Back to the pillow soft ride of my Gen 4.

 

Sad news folks. I'm going to have to switch from my Gen 4. Sadly, my knee pain has come back and there is something about the design of the Gen 4's seats that aggravates an old sports injury on my right knee.

I've test driven a whole bunch of hybrids of late looking for a seat that suits me, and most I had to dismiss because knee pain flared up on the test drive. In the end I had to choose a Mercedes C350e. It was one of the only cars that had similar tech to the Gen 4 (HUD, adaptive, BSM) and had seats that provided pain free driving. Bizarrely, it doesn't drive as sharply or smoothly as the Gen 4. Plus, it's got a regular speedo. No more weird Gen 4 dashboard, which I actually got used to especially the MPH in big letters for passengers to see.

I tried a GS300h, Passat GTE, Kia Optima PHEV, BMW 330e. The test drives showed me just how well engineered the Gen 4 is as a whole package. Living in the city, I can't believe how easy the Gen 4 is to drive on narrow streets and urban roundabouts.

The GS300h had the most amazing seats with 18 way adjustment but it drove like a big bowl of jelly and didn't seem much quicker than the Gen4.

The Passat again drove a bit like jelly, loved the tech, had lots of range as a plug in, but the used prices are higher than new here, because VW have stopped taking orders to build them as the factory can't cope with demand. Too expensive.

The Optima was actually a very nice drive (plus rear legroom is vast!) but had very little tech and seats were not entirely comfortable.

The BMW was uncomfortable seat wise and to be honest, I didn't find it as smooth as the Gen 4. Yes, it was much more dynamic, but I felt it was a much harsher ride.

I've loved being part of this community, and exchanging thoughts and impressions with you had made the 2 years with my Gen 4 absolutely brilliant If Toyota bring out a new car in the future with more adjustable and supportive seats, I'll be all over it.