New Smart ForFour unveiled at Paris

The new Smart ForFour has been revealed to the public at the 2014 Paris Motor Show. It's a four-seat, five-door version of the dinky Smart ForTwo, and shares a large proportion of its parts with the new Renault Twingo.

The compact city car is similarly styled to the smaller Smart ForTwo, but offers more interior space and luggage space. There's a funky interior with lots of glossy panels, but quality remains to be seen, as the show car felt a little flimsy in places.

It offers a choice of small three-cylinder petrol engines (with 69bhp or 89bhp) and can be fitted with a manual or automatic gearbox. Running costs shouldn't be a concern for prospective buyers, with all models set to emit less than 90g/km of CO2. An even more frugal 59bhp petrol engine will be added to the range in the future.

As with most of its rivals, the new Smart ForFour will offer smartphone connectivity, with a touchscreen system capable of displaying sat nav and app data from your phone. All models come with LED daytime running lights and cruise control, while top-end models get a powerful 12-speaker stereo. Smart will allow buyers to extensively customise the ForFour with a high level of customisation, including contrasting exterior colours and a range of other options.

While feeling slightly more cramped than the ForTwo inside, the Smart ForFour has a 185-litre boot, which can be increased to 975 litres by folding the rear seats down. That should mean there's enough room for a weekend away, or the occassional trip to the local DIY store. Unfortunately, you can only get pop-out rear windows, rather than wind-down versions, so passengers in the back might get a bit stuffy on a hot summer's day.

Sharing parts with Renault means there shouldn’t be a significant price hike, so the ForFour is likely to cost around £11,500 when it goes on sale in November 2014.

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