2019 Smart EV

Daimler has revealed that its Smart brand will feature solely all-electric in European markets by the end of the decade. The announcement was made by Daimler鈥檚 chairman of the board of management and head of Mercedes-Benz cars, Dieter Zetsche, at the annual shareholders鈥?meeting. The company has already switched over to all-electric in North America for the 2018 model year. The updated ForTwo and ForFour Electric Drive models that are already on sale throughout Europe utilize an 81 HP electric motor sending power to the rear wheels through a single-speed gearbox. They have has a maximum range of 160 km, can reach 100 km/h in 11.5 secods and top out at 130 km/h. All Smart Electric Drive models come equipped with a 7kW onboard charger that allows them to charge to full capacity in 2.5 hours with a 16 A charger, or six hours through a standard household socket. Despite being city cars, the Smart EVs are comprehensively equipped and feature leather upholstery, heated front seats, cruise control, an infotainment system with navigation and rear parking sensors.

Slide into the driver's seat and the 2014 Cayman wastes no time in serving up what might be the perfect driving position. Those excellent buckets situate you high enough to deliver plenty of visibility with all but the tops of both fenders clear from view. Hit the key and that menacing flat six barks and snarls before settling into a smooth idle. If your heart hasn't started beating to match time with the flat six by now, you might want to get the organ checked. Under civil driving conditions, the PDK gearbox is content to prattle along with nearly imperceptible shifts. Under deceleration, the drivetrain can also kick into a coast mode to save fuel, and an auto start stop system means the driveline keeps from sucking down gas while the car is at a stop. The Cayman S can clip off a 0-60 run in a shave under 4.7 seconds on the way to a terminal velocity of 175 mph.

Those of you who started bellyaching when you first heard the Cayman now comes with electronic power steering can politely shut your faces. The tiller is as precise as you're likely to find on any machine, delivering excellent feedback with plenty of communication. If you don't know what the front wheels are doing in the Cayman S, you can't blame the car. If you don't know what the front wheels are doing, you can't blame the car. The PDK really is the only "automatic" transmission I've had my hands on that can accurately anticipate which gear I need to be in for whatever assault on proper driving I'm attempting to execute at that particular moment. The shift logic is something from another future, one where there's a little German gnome clinging to your brain stem and barking commands at the gearbox via HAM radio. Go for the wheel-mounted paddle shifters and the hardware pops off blistering shifts that hit like a telephone book to the lower back. As a die-hard defender of the manual transmission, I can honestly say this tech is driving bliss.

Get the Cayman S out on a track and it's immediately clear what Porsche has cooked up with this car. The platform is incredibly forgiving, turning even butter-fisted yokels like myself into competent lappers. With a little prompting, the Cayman will rotate in a nice, slow, even breakaway before squatting on its haunches and popping out of a corner. Those massive brakes tolerate regular sieges without drama or significant fade, providing a confident pedal with excellent initial bite. If this all sounds like a love note, it should. The 2014 Cayman S isn't just good. It conjures explicative-laced smiles from your lips like a bucket draws water from a well, but that doesn't mean I'm a smitten man. As lustworthy as the Cayman S is, kitting one out to the level of excellence found in our tester will see you spend some serious cash. 90,000 barrier on this car. 950 destination fee. Getting frisky with the option sheet puts you in deep waters prowled by the likes of hardware like the Chevrolet Corvette Z06, as well as plenty of sheetmetal decorated with letters like AMG, M and even CTS-V.