SMART

Smart #1
A collaboration between Mercedes and Chinese car-making giant Geely has revived the Smart brand and expanded it way beyond its traditional two-seat city car origins. This #1 (yes, Smart is insisting on giving all its new models Tik-Tok-like badging) is a compact SUV with decent range, or in the case of the four-wheel-drive Brabus version, silly power. It’s roomy, but only average to drive and has a maddening infotainment system.

It’s roomy, but only average to drive and has a maddening infotainment system

Smart #3
Based on the same chassis as the #1, the #3 is longer, lower and sleeker and feels like a more premium product than the smaller Smart. It’s actually very roomy in the back seats, and has a decent boot too, while looking on the outside closer to a hot hatch than to an upright SUV. That slippery shape gives it a decent 455km range, but like the #1, the infotainment screen will drive you nuts.

Smart #5
The new #5 is really taking Smart into strange, unfamiliar places. Perhaps literally, as this is meant to be a genuinely rugged all-electric 4×4 with some proper off-road prowess. It’s the biggest Smart yet, although at 4.7 metres long perhaps not so massive in absolute terms. The battery is massive, though, giving the #5 a potential 600km range, and it comes with ultra-fast 800-volt charging too. Will customers take to a big, chunky Smart? We shall have to see.