Think City Review

Think City review 2011 - I have to admit that I had fairly low expectations when I first went to test drive a THINK City. Here, I thought, was just another small city car, made irrelevant by only having two seats and poor driving dynamics. How wrong I was.

THINK have been making electric cars for over ten years. Bought by Ford in the late 1990s, the company produced a small city car that was leased to customers in California, the United Kingdom and in Norway, where the cars were produced. Ford sold the company in 2003 and the company has continued in private ownership ever since.

In 2008, the new THINK City was launched and the car went into full production in 2009. Unlike many other small electric vehicles, the City is a fully certified car that has undergone full car crash testing and comes equipped with airbags and all the usual safety features that you would expect from a car from a mainstream manufacturer.

There is no doubt that the car is small. Longer and wider than a Smart ForTwo and slightly larger than the original 'classic' Mini, it is still a very compact car. Inside there is a choice of a two seat or 'two plus two' configuration. The former gives you a large luggage area behind the front seats whilst the latter is suitable for two adults and two children but at the expense of any usable luggage space.

The bodywork on the City is made from recycled ABS colour-injected plastic. This ensures the car is difficult to scratch and minor dents will simply pop out. It is fair to say that the matt-finish to the bodywork is not to everyone's taste, yet it does give the car a very unique appearance and it does mean the car does not have to be clean to look good.

Think City Interior

Inside the car, the City feels like an ordinary small city car. The interior trim is reasonable, but does not feel quite as good as mainstream city cars. Head and legroom in the two seat version that I tried is good and all round visibility is excellent.

It is when driving the City that the appeal of this car becomes apparent. On paper, outright acceleration is not great even when compared to other city cars, yet thanks to its instant performance, the car feels much quicker than I expected. It is certainly quick enough to keep up with other cars on the road and pass slower cars when necessary.

Superb handling is this car's secret weapon. The THINK City has incredible amounts of grip, is exceptionally stable and is very easy to drive fast. The first time I drove a City, I was driving on a test track used by manufacturers to test a cars handling and dynamics. On the city driving circuit, this little car was undoubtedly the fastest car I had ever driven around the route thanks to its incredible poise and handling. The car could cope with sudden changes of direction at speed as quickly as I could turn the steering wheel.

Despite its relatively low performance, the top speed only just touches 70mph (112km/h), the THINK City is an astonishingly good car to drive. In Sweden, where the car is now made, it is building a reputation as a rally car and it is quite possibly the best handling small car in the world. For 2011, a race version of the car has been built which will compete in the EV Cup world race series.

Think City Range

THINK claims a range of 100 miles (160km) with the City. Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity yet of testing this claim for myself. However, I am told by owners that it is possible to achieve this range in normal driving and exceed it in city only driving.

The City is too small to be regarded as a family car. As a 'two plus two' it can be used to carry two young children, but this is at the expense of luggage space. As a two seat car to compete with the Smart ForTwo, or as a competitor to the REVA City (G-Wiz), the THINK City is a useful little car that is extremely entertaining to drive.

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