In the previous post I mentioned that for the foreseeable future the Smart has been assigned everyday dog carrying duties, a task that’s much easier to accommodate for than you might initially think…

One of the reasons the fortwo topped the list of Panda successors was because the car’s unique layout actually makes for a great dog car platform. Back when my wife had her second generation fortwo we had to pop our Lakeland Terrier in the boot on a couple of occasions and it worked surprisingly well – though we only had the standard luggage cover to separate us it was clear that with a proper divider the whole boot would effectively become a secure crate, only with the added flexibility of the hatch-and-tailgate combo for access and the warm, fuzzy feeling that, outside of a third front seat, whatever the journey our furry friend would be about as close to us as it’s possible to be in a car.

Here in the UK the most readily available Smart dog guards can be purchased via German Smart specialist MisterDotCom, which sells direct as well as through Amazon and occasionally on eBay too. For the 451 and 453 fortwos these partitions are manufactured by Kleinmetall, another German company which provides all kinds of dog-related items for vehicles, and there’s also an option for 450s as well, though I’m not sure of the manufacturer. Sadly, due to our new relationship with the EU purchases from any of these outlets now incur extra VAT & customs charges – another B-word “benefit” 🙄 – which adds a significant extra chunk onto the cost of the items themselves.

Although the fitting instructions arrived in German there were plenty of pictures and – I seem to write this on every Smart-related post! – Evilution also has a guide to help as well. I mounted my lower brackets slightly differently to how Evilution shows, leaving the carpet in place and keeping the bracket at more of an angle, which seemed to solve the bolt length problem mentioned in the guide. Whichever way you choose to fit them they’ll be the only tricky bit of an otherwise straightforward installation.

The guard itself is very sturdily made, fits perfectly within the vehicle, and looks great in situ – overall I’m really happy with the setup and it should work well for anything from local dog walks to longer journeys and day trips.