Having been invited to the press launch of the Ushuaia Tower, Smart Car collaboration, we were a little out of our depths to find it entirely in Spanish. While we couldn’t really take part in the discussion during the press conference we did deduce that Ushuaia Tower residents can make use of one of the fleet of appropriately coloured vehicles during their stay. After the briefing we were all invited to take a car and test-drive them for an hour or two. This is not an invitation that we were likely to turn down, so, camera in hand, off we drove to find out if the Ushuaia Smart Car was suited to island life.
The most obvious thing for us to do is to test the capability of these tiny machines in a normal day I the life of Essentialibiza, that means taking them to the beach, to the marina and into town. We left Ushuaia Tower in a convoy of white and red micro-cars, not quite as rebellious as our Hells Angels cousins but menacing nonetheless. The first thing to say is that the cars are huge inside and that, combined with the feel of the drive, makes you firmly believe you are in a much bigger vehicle than you actually are. They are also quite powerful, making light work of the Playa d’en Bossa traffic before dropping on to the motorway and heading to the marina, where she didn’t look out of place amongst the super yachts.
The maneuverability of the cars is the obvious advantage, the size makes them easy to drive and more importantly park, especially when we spend so much time in town in the middle of the afternoon. Vara de Ray is the obvious testing ground for such a test so we head to Ibiza Town to see how the Ushuaia Smart car fares with the big city. Short answer is, very well. Driving through town is simple and finding a space that the car could fit into was not difficult whatsoever, bearing in mind, that if need be, the Smart car can park nose in against the kerb, unlike any other vehicle.
Our last trip before we returned the car was to the beach, where getting a space is never an easy task, that is, until you’re driving one of the most practical but comfortable cars on the road. We spent just under two hours with the Ushuaia coloured Smart car and we were sad to hand the keys back. It’s great fun driving and makes an amazing addition to the facilities available at the latest hotel concept to hit Ibiza. If you’re staying at Ushuaia tower this year, these are a must, take one out and explore this beautiful island, you will not be disappointed.