All generations and engines together · 21,187 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 40k
Split by first-registration year. Cars registered in a changeover year can belong to either generation.
Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.
Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.
The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 17,685 tests in this band.
Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
Owners of the 0.9-litre turbo (90 TCe) engine have reported the turbo actuator failing from as little as 5,000 miles, with loss of power and warning lights. Honest John's reader reports mention a knock-on problem too: a parts shortage for this turbo left some owners waiting weeks for a fix. It is not clear how widespread this is against the number of 0.9 turbo cars on the road, so treat it as a pattern to check for rather than a certainty.
On the automated-clutch Twinamic gearbox, owners report the clutch sticking down or the car refusing to select gear, sometimes from new. In at least one Honest John case Smart refused a warranty claim at 19,000 miles, calling it wear and tear rather than a defect, which left the owner paying for the repair. Manual cars do not have this gearbox and are not affected.
Owners report the touchscreen freezing or going unresponsive, and separately the navigation losing its SD card after a software update, in one case leading to a dealer suggesting a full wiring loom replacement. This is the folklore cousin of the measured 'lights & electrics' fault for this class: the wiring and electronics niggles owners describe day to day are a different symptom to what an MOT tester flags, but they point at the same underlying weak spot in the car's electrics.
On the original Forfour's Softouch semi-automatic, the gear actuator is a well-documented weak point: it can wear out and leave the car stuck in gear, or cause it to hop and jump between gears at idle or crawling speed. Some cases needed the ECU replaced as well as the actuator once things went wrong. This is old enough now that most surviving cars will have already had the actuator done at least once, but ask.
Smart as a brand has a poor track record in owner satisfaction surveys compared with rivals like Hyundai and Toyota, and reviewers note the small three-cylinder engines feel strained and noisy at motorway speeds, which some owners read as a sign of stress on the engine rather than just cabin noise. Whether that noise translates into actual long-term wear is disputed, plenty of owners report no problems at all past 100k miles.
Built from the two sections above.
Same segment (City cars), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.