When thinking of off-road vehicles, many things come to mind. Most being Jeeps, trucks and SUVs. If you are odd (like me), you may even think of an old Eagle four-wheel-drive car, but a Smart car doesn’t usually show up on the list, until now.
About 6 months ago, a YouTuber who goes by Mr. George posted uploaded a video of his creation. The beast is a Smart ForTwo he has significantly modified. Based in Lviv, Ukraine, Mr. George discovered the ForTwo was available with a diesel engine. A whopping 0.8-liter turbo diesel with 41 horsepower. His mind began racing with the idea to build this little car into an off-road machine, knowing the diesel engine would have enough power to turn the larger tires he had in mind.
Using Google Chrome’s built-in Translate on Mr. George’s Drive2.ru page shows he used miscellaneous parts from Honda, Mitsubishi, and Volkswagen as well as custom built many more components. Custom tubular upper and lower control arms, extended struts, and more. The translation isn’t perfect and a bit hard to understand but definitely gives us more insight into what went into the off-roader.
A Smart ForTwo may not be your first choice for an off-roader, but this thing appears to be fairly capable.
Rear wheel drive only is a limited factor though it appears to be incredibly light. He mentions that he threw out all that was possible to help reduce the weight. On his website, he describes a home-made “robotic gearbox” with a “reducing chain wheel gear.” We don’t know what this means, but it sounds awesome.
You can see for yourself in the video above. It wheels better than a stock Smart car, no doubt about that. It looks much like UTVs we see videos and pictures of all the time, just with a fully enclosed body. Maybe Smart cars are the new trend? Let us know what you think.