Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by petrol engines and utilizing the 5-door hatchback body style within the same 'City car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (front for the Lancia and rear in the case of the Smart). The first one has a FIAT-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 8-valves 69hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 70hp engine designed by Renault.

Both vehicles got tested by European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), with the Smart displaying significantly better structural stability. Moving further on, let's take a closer look at some additional safety-related facts. Both vehicles belong to the city car segment, which is generally not a very good thing safety-wise, but it doesn't do much to help us decide between the two. Furthermore, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, the Italian car offers a considerable difference of 10% more metal.

Manufacturers have been building their reliability reputation for decades now and, generally speaking, it appears that Smart does have a slight advantage, at least on all of the models level. These are the results of an independent reasearch, while our visitors describe reliability of Lancia with an average rating of 4.1, and models under the Smart badge with 3.9 out of 5. Unfortunatelly, I don't have enough insight that would allow me to comment in more details on the specific models level. Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as the Italian car rank it on average as 4.0, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 3.0 out of 5.

Lancia is undoubtly more agile, reaching 100km/h in 2.4 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 163 kilometers per hour, 12km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be the German car, averaging around 4.2 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (67 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 24% difference compared to the Italian car.

Lancia appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, the German car offers significantly better overall protection, taking the lead here. From there things take a different direction, with Lancia being considerably quicker, thus putting more smile on driver's face. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... I believe that, when we take all into account, we have only one winner here - the Smart. Nevertheless, let's not forget that people have different preferences and needs, so what really counts is your personal feel. I'm only here to help. I suggest you spend two more minutes in order to find out which car, based on your needs and budget, would be picked by the virtual adviser™, among thousands of similar, yet so different vehicles.