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Car #1
Make
Model
Variant
Engine
Car #2
Make
Model
Variant
Engine

compare selected cars
2005. - 2011.
A - Micro car
hatchback, 3 door
front
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2004. - 2007.
A - Micro car
hatchback, 3 door
rear

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

3828 mm
1660 mm
1544 mm
260 liters
1016 liters
45 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
2500 mm
1515 mm
1549 mm
150 liters
363 liters
33 liters
2005 Volkswagen Fox
2004 Smart ForTwo

Engine

Volkswagen
1.4 TDI BNM
Diesel
3 - Inline, 2 valves per cylinder
Turbo
1422 cc
70 hp
155 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Diesel
3 - Inline, 2 valves per cylinder
Turbo
799 cc
41 hp
100 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 5 gears
1060 kg
14.7 s
161 km/h
6.1 l/100km
4.2 l/100km
4.9 l/100km
132 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 6 gears
730 kg
19.8 s
135 km/h
3.9 l/100km
3.1 l/100km
3.4 l/100km
90 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

 
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
automatic - 6 gears
730 kg
19.8 s
135 km/h
3.9 l/100km
3.1 l/100km
3.4 l/100km
90 g/km

Expenses

1800 EUR
Price from
1000 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by diesel engines and utilizing the 3-door hatchback body style within the same 'Micro car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (front for the Volkswagen and rear in the case of the Smart). The first one has a Volkswagen-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 3-cylinder, 6-valves 70hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 3-cylinder, 6-valves 41hp engine designed by Smart.

Safety

Both vehicles got tested by European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), with the Volkswagen being a slightly better choice apparently. Still, apart from the official crash test results there are other things we need to be aware of. Both vehicles belong to the micro car segment, which is generally a misfortune safety-wise, but it doesn't do much to help us decide between the two. Furthermore, when it comes to weight, a factor that most people underestimate, Fox offers a potentially life-saving difference of 45% more metal.

Reliability

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that Smart does have a slight advantage, at least on all of the models level. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of Volkswagen with an average rating of 4.2, and models under the Smart badge with 3.9 out of 5. Some independent research have also placed Fox as average reliability-wise, and ForTwo is more or less at the same level.Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as Fox rank it on average as 4.5 out of 5, exactly the same as the other one.

Performance & Fuel economy

Volkswagen is way more agile, reaching 100km/h in 5.1 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 161 kilometers per hour, 26km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be ForTwo, averaging around 3.4 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (83 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 44% difference compared to Fox.


Verdict

Smart 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, Fox beats the other contender by far, making it the best choice without even considering other things. It all continues in the same direction, with Volkswagen outracing its opponent in any situation possible, making it better choice for boy racers. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... It's not difficult to say then that if I'd need to make a choice, it would definitely be the Volkswagen. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. In case you have two minutes to spare I invite you to define your needs, desires and budget and see which car would be chosen by the virtual adviser, among more than 12.000 different ones in our database.

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