Video: 2016 Smart ForTwo

For 2016, Smart has made a number of mechanical and exterior tweaks to the car, but have they done enough to help it gain more mainstream acceptance? As far as exterior changes go, Smart actually points out that it's not any longer than it was before, despite some mechanical changes. It's still just about short of 9' long. It is wider, and another nice thing they did was, they changed the hood line. Before, it was almost like a dome, just like a curve from the top of the windshield down to the front bumper. Now they've got this hood area here that makes the car look more substantial. Finally, the color choices have been updated, though they are trim specific, so if you see a color you like, you're probably going to have to buy a particular trim to get it. Probably the biggest news for 2016 is that Smart ditches the old transmission. It was a single-clutch automated manual that nobody here at cars.com liked. In its place, you now have a choice of a five-speed manual or what we have here, a six-speed dual-clutch transmission. It's a massive improvement. Shifts are quicker; they are more predictable. It's just all around a good move by Smart to change the transmission. In addition, the car is also slightly more powerful and offers a little more torque, but the trade-off is, the 2016 Smart is heavier and it's pushing wider tires, so it's not like it got a whole heck of a lot faster. Another big thing that Smart did is, they improved the turning radius. Before, the old car really wasn't that impressive for as small as it is. Now the turning radius is 22.8'. But the real way to test it is, you need to drive it, because it's just a massive improvement. The ride is also better for 2016. The previous Smart, to me, rode just like a skateboard. Now we've got a little more suspension compliance. It'll still get banged around and bashed around on the bigger bumps in the way that competitors, say the Fiat 500, won't, but compared to what it was, it's a big improvement. An area where the ForTwo struggles is in cargo storage. That's both inside the cabin, for things like cell phones and coffee mugs, and also the rear cargo hatch is tiny. And Smart's tried; they put a number of bins around here, and this seat folds flat. But it still comes up short the more you drive the car, and it's significant because there are other small cars, like the Honda Fit, okay, it's a bigger car, but it's still very, very small, that are cavernous on the inside, and the ForTwo just isn't that. It doesn't surprise you with a lot more room than you would expect just looking at it from the outside. The Smart ForTwo is a unique car; it certainly looks like nothing else on the road. However, owing to its really small size, it forces you to make a lot of compromises that other cars, like the Honda Fit, the Fiat 500, and the Chevrolet Spark just don't force you to have to make. At least now, with the changes to the ride and the transmission, those compromises aren't as great as they once were. (trunk hatch thuds)