It's a different story in town though; keeping within the speed limit, I've witnessed a car overtake me at around 60mph just before swinging in to miss a traffic island. The Smart just seems to have this effect on people, and it's no slouch away from the lights either, with a 0-60mph time that's quicker than a Peugeot 106 1.4 Quiksilver (it's not great, but it isn't bad).

The jerky clutchless transmission has come in for criticism from some people, but I find it quite satisfying as it needs some heel-and-toe work to smooth out the downchanges, which adds to the fun. But recently it also revealed its main weakness when I was stuck in stop-start traffic in the blizzards. The centrifugal clutch just couldn't cope with creeping speeds and struggled to keep things smooth. The clutch had an on-off action that made the Smart kangaroo uncomfortably (so much so that it felt like something was about to break) and the spongy brakes were a nightmare in the icy conditions. Their snappy action made it difficult to drive smoothly and when they eventually locked up and the car skidded (ABS doesn't work below a certain speed), the short wheelbase made it hard to control the sideways motion.

However, the traction control did a great job of keeping me moving on the slippery stuff - and it was great fun to be able to slide the Smart a bit with a touch of handbrake and a gentle throttle. Scary and skid-tastic at the same time. Brilliant!