Smart #1 vs Suzuki e VITARA

The Smart #1 costs £3,711 more than the Suzuki e VITARA. For that premium it adds 94 kW more power. The Suzuki e VITARA is not just cheaper - it also offers lower energy use, 149 versus 181 Wh/km. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Suzuki e VITARA comes out ahead overall.

The Suzuki e VITARA is £3,711 cheaper to buy. The Suzuki e VITARA is cheaper to charge, roughly £160 a year versus £200 for the Smart #1, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Suzuki e VITARA comes out roughly £3,911 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 133 miles for the Smart #1 and 162 miles for the Suzuki e VITARA - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Suzuki e VITARA goes roughly 29 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 30 minutes in the Smart #1 and 45 in the Suzuki e VITARA, so the Smart #1 loses less time at each stop. So the Suzuki e VITARA stops less often while the Smart #1 stops for less time - pick on which you would rather do.

The two are within 22 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 600 mm of total clearance for the Suzuki e VITARA and about 578 mm of total clearance for the Smart #1. The Suzuki e VITARA also turns in a 0.6 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 90% battery health for the Smart #1 and 90% for the Suzuki e VITARA. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use LFP-type cells, which are happy charged to 100% every day. Both batteries carry a 8-year manufacturer warranty.