Where each one leads
Smart Forfour
- Against cars of the same age, the Smart Forfour comes out better at its first MOT test (passes as often as average) than the Volkswagen Polo (passes 4% less often than average).
- Fewer Smart Forfour cars in the Netherlands carry an illogical odometer record (2.8% against 3.9%).
- New Smart Forfour cars registered in Europe in 2022 average 48 g/km of CO₂ on the WLTP test, against 125 for the Volkswagen Polo in 2022.
Volkswagen Polo
Ahead on none of the like-for-like measures.
Only measures that do not depend on how many cars were sold: pass and failure rates against cars of the same age, ratings, fuel use and CO₂. How we compare
At a glance
| Smart Forfour | Volkswagen Polo | |
|---|---|---|
| New cars registered in Europe | 177,568 (2010–2022) | 3,287,019 (2010–2022) |
| Licensed in the United Kingdom | 23,874 | 685,293 |
| On the road in the Netherlands | 5,175 | 292,864 |
| In traffic in Finland | 480 | 31,462 |
| Generations on record | — | 5 |
EEA new-car registrations (CC BY 4.0) · DVLA licensed vehicles (OGL v3.0) · RDW (CC0) · Traficom (CC BY 4.0) · generations: Wikidata (CC0).
Reliability and problems
| Smart Forfour | Volkswagen Polo | |
|---|---|---|
| UK MOT first-time pass rate | 56% | 67% |
| … against cars of the same age | average | −4% |
| Illogical odometer records (NL) | 2.8% | 3.9% |
Complaint, recall and bulletin counts grow with the number of cars sold and are not adjusted for it. UK MOT: DVSA anonymised MOT results (OGL v3.0); New York: DMV inspections; complaints, recalls, bulletins and investigations: NHTSA (public domain); odometer: RDW (CC0).
Fuel, emissions and price
| Smart Forfour | Volkswagen Polo | |
|---|---|---|
| Real-world use in Europe, petrol | — | 6.3 l/100 km |
| Official CO₂ of new cars in Europe | 48 g/km | 125 g/km |
| Average power of new cars in Europe | 45 kW (60 hp) | 74 kW (99 hp) |
| Average mass in running order | 1,148 kg | 1,190 kg |
| Dutch list price when new (median) | €15,714 | €19,500 |
| Average odometer in Finland | 173,000 km | 140,000 km |
Canada: NRCan Fuel Consumption Ratings, most frugal version of the latest year (OGL Canada). Europe: EEA monitoring of new-car CO₂ and on-board fuel meters (OBFCM), CC BY 4.0. Price: RDW catalogue price (CC0). Finland: Traficom (CC BY 4.0).