Smart 3 vs Ford Everest

What's the difference?

Smart is back.

Not with the classic ForTwo two-seater city car, oddball four-seater ForFour hatch or dinky Roadster targa top. Those were yesterday’s cars.

Today, Smart – as a 50/50 joint-venture between Germany’s Mercedes-Benz (the brand’s originator) and China’s Geely – is all about SUVs. Electric SUVs.

The boxy #1 (pronounced “hashtag-one”) is a small SUV and the sleeker #3 is the coupe-esque performance crossover version. Both are made in China and use Geely technologies.

We take a long, hard look at the range-topping #3 Brabus, the speediest, sexiest and exxiest of the lot. Let’s go.

Too often we see makes and models being treated to facelifts in the purest sense of the word. A new set of headlights, some flashy trim here and there and let’s call it a new model.

So, it’s a bit refreshing to see that this latest upgrade of the Ford Everest range has seen head office throw most of the money at the engineering department. Which, in this case, it’s used it to come up with a new entry-level four-cylinder turbo-diesel for the full-sized off-road SUV.

However, the difference here is the new engine makes less power and torque than the one it replaces. Significantly less, as it turns out. So what’s going on?

In a nutshell, this is Ford fitting a global engine to a global platform and using an engine that is theoretically more reliable and cheaper to produce. But while that might seem like a win for Ford, what does it mean for Everest buyers?

We’ve looked at the Everest range in its entirety here, but focussed our drive impressions on the new driveline that revolves around that new four-cylinder turbo-diesel.