Overview

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 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 FIAT and rear in the case of the Smart). The first one has a FIAT-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 8-valves 54hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 3-cylinder, 6-valves 55hp engine designed by Smart.

Safety

Both vehicles got tested by European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), with the Smart being a slightly better choice apparently. Moving further on, let's take a closer look at some additional safety-related facts. Both vehicles belong to the micro car segment, which is generally a misfortune safety-wise, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? On the other hand, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, the German car offers a marginal difference of 1% more metal.

Reliability

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that both brands display similar results in faults and breakdowns, at least on all of the models level. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of FIAT, as well as Smart, with the same average rating of 4.3 out of 5. Independent research findings rank Seicento as average reliability-wise, and City-Coupe 23% above the first one. That apart, owners of different cars powered by the same engine as the Italian car rank it on average as 4.9, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 3.0 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

FIAT is undoubtly more agile, reaching 100km/h in 2.7 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 150 kilometers per hour, 15km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be the German car, averaging around 4.9 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (58 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 22% difference compared to the Italian car.

Verdict

FIAT 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 much better overall protection, which launches it ahead of the other contender. From there things take a different direction, with FIAT 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... No mistake, whatever you decide here, but I'd still go for 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 more than 12.000 different ones in our database.