Smart EQ | Review 2020 | Is electric the future for Smart Car?

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Күн бұрын

Despite dwindling sales, and a raft of new rivals to contend with, Mercedes-Benz has relaunched Smart as an EV-only brand, gracing the little city cars with its EQ branding. In this episode, Bryan evaluates the evergreen ForTwo Prime Exclusive and tries to figure out if it still has a place in the market, or if it should just get on its bike.
A big thank you to Brilliant BIkes of Chobham, Surrey for the use of the Brompton in this week's video. You can find them at brilliantbikes.co.uk or email hello@brilliantbikes.co.uk
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Пікірлер: 54

@tommyolsen8224 2 жыл бұрын

We just bought one! Fucking love it😍

@jdillon8360 3 жыл бұрын

I love this car. I wish it was available in Australia.

@leoclarke6462 3 жыл бұрын

Bryan , I do like the thought and preparation put into your presentations. Despite the tricky sound issues which you explained below, you any your colleagues always make the reviews interesting with great analogies. Although it is a lifestyle choice somethings really should be better as you indicate - range. Rather surprising that the one thing a city car would flourish on is regen braking !! This would have at least made the range more palatable. Work in progress one might suggest?

@AutoEV 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you Leo.

@andyrads1096 3 жыл бұрын

Always enjoy your reviews, shame about the sound one this one

@AutoEV 3 жыл бұрын

Hi Andy, yes, we had huge sound issues with this one. Normally, when we have a car for review, we have it for a week, and we have time to ensure we get everything done well. Unfortunately, on this occasion, we only had the car for a day, and we had 2 different microphones, working at 2 different levels, which we didn't realise until post production, and no matter how much editing we did, we couldn't balance them out. We've tried everything, but on this occasion we just had to "suck it up" and go with it. Trust us, we discussed not even going live with it due to the sound issue, but we felt it was better to have something, rather than nothing, so your comment is justified and we have taken steps to ensure future films will have better sound. This was filmed quite some time ago when we were having our microphone issues, which have now been resolved. Thanks again for watching, and your continued support.

@andyrads1096 3 жыл бұрын

AutoEV And you’re right about the price and range when compared with the competition.

@CubbyTech 3 жыл бұрын

@@AutoEV May I suggest using a Rode wireless mic for your future reviews!

@AutoEV 3 жыл бұрын

@@CubbyTech we do now.

@gap9992 3 жыл бұрын

The lease on our Fortwo ends December so we have ordered a Forfour EQ - it's our local runabout so range is not an issue. We are changing to the Forfour so we can take the grandkids in it. It's really my wife's car but I grab it whenever I can because it is so easy to park and drive around. I have never got tired of doing U turns in normal width roads! The ride is choppy for sure but the Forfour should be a bit better. The one in this test has the 2020 external changes but not the tech stuff. As mentioned below, the very latest model is not being made yet but it is worth waiting for as it has the updated media system and they have also made the winter Pack standard on all models, which is worth having. they are saying manufacturing will start in December, but we'll see as it was supposed to be October, then November........! The list price is steep but Smart are giving £1,900 off and the dealer will add a fair amount to that discount. You also get a feee home wall box. That makes the Forfour much cheaper and much better equipped than than the Up / Citigo / Mii, IF you can live with the range. Not that you can even order an UP at the moment.

@jamesrobinson1141 3 жыл бұрын

Models made from October have Apple Carplay as standard. It has quite a bit of regen.

@AutoEV 3 жыл бұрын

Intersting. We filmed this a few months ago, so the test car was a bit older.

@OleHippy 2 жыл бұрын

Over here in the USA we just took delivery of a 2019 Smart EQ. Having previously owned a petrol Smart made the learning curve nil. Except for one area of vexing confusion. Smart info online says all the EQs come with a 22kW internal charger installed. I’ve also read that in Europe they are shipped with a Type 2 receptacle in the rear panel and include a type 2 charging cable, thus enabling faster charging. My new EQ has a Type 1 plugin receptacle with a Type 1 charging cord. So it uses 110V and takes 12 hours to charge. Whereas the European Smart EQ charges to 100% in 2-3 hours. My questions are: a) does my USA EQ actually in fact have a 22 kW charger inside? b) If so, can the present Type 1 external plugin be swapped for a Type 2 Port? 3) If so, then all I need to begin fast charging is new Type 2 charging cable. Is this right? Can it be done?

@Rentiyl 2 жыл бұрын

Hi Michael, as far as I know, the USA model never got the 22kW installed, it was an Europe exclusive for the EQ, unfortunately - this was due to different electric standards between Europe and the US. You buy a charging cable that supports 240v (30 amps_ but you need to have an electrician do the wiring to have NEMA 14-50 wall outlet at home or get a charge box installed (check your local power company if they offer any discounts for this). That will bring your charging time down to about 2.5 hours ~ 3 hours. Also, check out Smart Cars of America forum for more information. I hope that helps and you are enjoying your smart!

@pekho8544 3 жыл бұрын

Mic quality is very low

@NeilBlanchard 3 жыл бұрын

We have a 2018 Smart EQ - and it has a fair bit of regen, when you lift your eight foot - and it has regen integrated onto the brake pedal.The cup holders in our - are terrible! Waaaay too small, and only fit a softdrink can.

@CubbyTech 3 жыл бұрын

It does look like they have addressed the tiny cupholders @ 10:45 - the 2018/2019 versions are WAY too small!

@LiveTorsionParadoxTo 3 жыл бұрын

Sound quality is punishing - what happened?

@AutoEV 3 жыл бұрын

We had real issues with our microphones which we only realised when we started to edit the film together. By that time, the car had gone back to MB-UK and we had to make the decision was something better than nothing? We went with something. Won't happen again! Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment, we really appreciate it.

@esiclene 2 ай бұрын

There is brake regeneration ...

@tomhirschel8524 3 жыл бұрын

OOPS! Sound problems.

@AutoEV 3 жыл бұрын

Yes, all sorted now with newer mics.

@liamwilkinson4669 3 жыл бұрын

The Elephant 🐘 in the room that no one takes about when reviewing electric cars! Especially anything made by Mercedes! battery’s and there repair ability, if anything happens to your battery basically you’re screwed they supply no service parts for there batteries, the BMS can not be reset they don’t supply battery sensors or replacement cells, if you have a small accident in your EV and the BMS shuts down the battery, what would have been a repair to your insurance company of a few grand now wrights the car off, insurance companies will soon get tired of this your EV will be about as insurable as a 90s Ford cosworth , all this is good for Mercedes and other EV manufacturers they want there cars to be like mobile phones after 18 months throw it away, that’s ok for the upgraded generation and companies getting rid of tax liability’s, what about second and third owners £18400 plus fitting for a new battery pack for a Smart 🙈, and no I am not against EV’s just a throw away society, discuss green 🤔 Rant over 😬

@joshuamilrad9628 2 ай бұрын

Great review. Terrible audio?

@AutoEV 2 ай бұрын

Yes, I know. Really sorry about that. Glad you enjoyed it apart from that though!

@joshuamilrad9628 2 ай бұрын

@@AutoEV I get my 3rd delivered tomrrow! Cheers from Cali!

@nigelbryant5932 2 жыл бұрын

Great review ....apart from the awful sound quality.

@AutoEV 2 жыл бұрын

Yep, we know. Issues with the mic that we didn't realise until after the car was returned and we were editing the video.

@StuartTerrey 5 ай бұрын

Good video shame about the sound

@bigjobby11 3 жыл бұрын

Have to agree with chap below, great vid sound was all over the shop, perhaps watch your vids yourself before you post, good work apart from that though. 👍😊

@AutoEV 3 жыл бұрын

Hi Whitewalker. Thank you for watching the film, and for taking the time to comment. As always, we love the feedback. As I said previously, we hadn't realised we had the sound issues until after we had finished and the car had gone back. We filmed this quite some time ago and tried a few things to sort out the sound, even debating about whether to post it or not. In the end, we decided to go live with it. We are a small team, none of is are either camera people, or have any film experience and our equipment is quite basic, so we do what we can. We appreciate that other channels employ cameramen, sound recordist and have huge editing budgets, but we don't. It's just 4 guys who are passionate about cars, and love EV's, and we learn as we go. Thanks to people like yourself who watch the channel, we are growing fast, and that means we learn from our mistakes faster, so we are now able to watch out for these issues and try and resolve them. Thanks again for the support, and we hope you continue to watch us as we grow and feature more cars over the next few weeks. Bryan.

@bigjobby11 3 жыл бұрын

AutoEV no worries just keep up the great work👍😄

@TheVdfv 2 жыл бұрын

sound like from submarine...

@AutoEV 2 жыл бұрын

Yes, I know! We had issue with our microphone that day, and didn't realise until we were editing. We only had the car briefly, so the choice was either to publish what we had, or not at all. We went with it and happy to take the flak! Thank you for watching, however, and also for taking the time to comment. We do appreciate it. Bryan.

@Kjohny44 3 жыл бұрын

Fix those fucking audio levels!!!!

@cerimite7674 2 жыл бұрын

If someone is buying a used EV Smart Car and want to find any problems over 20,000 miles it is difficult. These reviews are about new car reviews. It is tiresome to see the same descriptions.☹

@AutoEV 2 жыл бұрын

We completely understand @Cerimite. We do plan to do more used EV buying guides in the future, so please stay with us for those. Thank you for watching an taking the time to comment. AutoEV team.

@cerimite7674 2 жыл бұрын

@@AutoEV thank you for recognizing this.

@billfisher3226 3 жыл бұрын

poor sound

@AutoEV 3 жыл бұрын

Hi William. Yes, the sound gave us a lot of problems that day that we didn't realise until the film was being edited, and despite lots of efforts, we couldn't fix it. We decided to air the film anyway, but have now fixed the soumd issues with our mics.

@ieatlotsoftoast 4 ай бұрын

We are global moaners. Always complaining. The smart fortwo eq has a miniscule range of 70 miles. It has a small battery. My friends have a battery 3 times as big, and they complain about going through tires every 10,000 miles. This does not happen with the miniscule range of the smart eq

@jonhopwood8128 Жыл бұрын

Sack your sound guy!

@AutoEV Жыл бұрын

We would, but as he also writes, films, edits and presents all our videos, that may be tricky…. In fairness I did have awful issues that day, but as i only had one day to film and hadn’t realised the issues until the day I was editing, it was either take the flak or not have a video. So I decided to take the flak. Thanks for watching anyway and preserving with it.

@chesshooligan1282 3 жыл бұрын

15 minutes of spiel and not one quick look at the interior.

@AutoEV 3 жыл бұрын

Erm, there are interior shots.....

@chesshooligan1282 3 жыл бұрын

@@AutoEV Yes, but you can barely see anything except for a bloke talking.

@AutoEV 3 жыл бұрын

@@chesshooligan1282 @4:56 and @10:50.

@chesshooligan1282 3 жыл бұрын

@@AutoEV First one is side view of a bloke talking inside a car. Second one is the chunk of plastic between the driver and the passenger seat. Better than nothing but worse than ideal. Thanks for the effort, though.

@AutoEV 3 жыл бұрын

@@chesshooligan1282 We aim to please....