2008 Smart Fortwo Cabriolet
Top-dropping Fortwo
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a review about the 2008 Smart Fortwo Coupé. In case you missed it, here it is in Reader’s Digest form: It’s weird. It’s fun. It’s not as cheap as it should be.
And here is the condensed version of my week in the Smart Fortwo Cabriolet: It’s weird. It’s fun. It’s not as cheap as it should be. And the top goes down.
Now, here’s the nitty gritty.
The top doesn’t go down, exactly. It more sort of goes back. Your first press of the button that starts the process sends the roof ruching (that’s not a typo — if you don’t know what ruching is, just ask your favourite fashionista) along rails, like an electric awning. You can do it when you’re moving, too, so there’s no need to panic and look for a place to pull over if it starts to rain.
Push it again, and the roof folds farther back, while the B-pillar and the rails stay in place (they are removable). The roof fabric folds into a neat bundle of rolls on top of the cargo bay. It’s adorable, and open air motoring in the car is a joyful experience. Between the cuteness of the roof (which is quite ingenious) and the bouncy personality of the car itself, it is quite high on my list of enjoyable ways to spend a summer drive.
The only quibble with the roof is that all its inner workings are visible. Not terribly upsetting, as you’d have to turn in your seat and look for them, and kind of interesting in a steampunk sort of way, but from a strict design standpoint, it would be nice if they were better hidden.
The glass rear window, once dirty, tends to stay dirty even through a downpour owing to its angle, which didn’t do wonders for otherwise good visibility. The side mirrors are a little small, but it scarcely matters in a car in which a quick shoulder-check of the passenger side also gives you a glimpse out the back window.
My biggest complaint about both cab and the coupé is the rough transmission. Left in pure automatic mode, it hesitates just before each shift, leaving you suspended in your seat as on an amusement park ride, for a split second before grabbing and moving to the next gear.
There are two factors that mitigate it: one is the sequential shift, which fortunately has no limiter so you can rev it up as you like before shifting it manually, to get the extra power you will need for passing, or going uphill. The other mitigator is the kickdown feature, about which I am still ambivalent.
In some cars, putting the pedal to the floor for even a nanosecond will send you careering ahead. In the Fortwo, putting the pedal to the floor for a quick moment means you hit a button on the floor that kicks it down a gear. It works reasonably well on inclines to give you an extra moment of grunt before it kicks back up into the next gear. That was the only circumstance under which I found it useful. When used for a quick power boost on flat ground, it kicks back up into the next gear so quickly, I couldn’t discern its usefulness.
Climate controls are sliding affairs front and centre on the dash — easy to regulate, and the small cabin is easy to heat and cool evenly, so good news there. Functions controlled by stalks on the steering wheel — indicators, wipers — are a bit odd. Nothing is quite like it is on many other cars, so several times I put the wipers on intending to put the lights on, or vice versa.
The cabin in a Smart is always a pleasant surprise. It’s pretty roomy for its two occupants, and the upholstery is a fun throwback to decades past. The froggy dials atop the centre dash swivel to give either occupant a view of the clock and/or tach. None of it is fancy, but it’s all charming, mostly functional, and materials are of uniformly decent quality.
The small cargo area is reached through a hatch that’s about as intelligent as it can be for such a wee thing. You can squinch the roof up a few inches so it doesn’t impede access when you open the hatch, and there’s space back there for quite a few grocery bags (as long as you don’t mind the bread getting a little smooshed) or a couple suitcases. The cargo cover, while useful and easy to manoeuvre, is made of thin plastic that comes over as a bit cheap.
The 70-hp three-cylinder (tee hee!) engine isn’t, as you probably would guess, a barn-burner, but it does the job. As long as you aren’t going uphill in a stiff breeze, passing is easily enough accomplished, and while the ride is sometimes like playing in a bouncy castle, the overall experience is a hoot.
Safety and handling features including ABS with electronic brake force distribution, and electronic stability program with hill start assist help drive up the price, which is my biggest problem with the whole package. It seems steep for something powered by 999 cc with such a rocky ride and interior finishes that, while befitting its personality, aren’t exactly luxurious.
But it’s hard to put a price on personality, and personality the Fortwo Cabriolet has in spades.
Summary:
Strong Points
Weak Points
- - there's nothing else like it
- - good manoeuvrability
- - easy to personalize
- - transmission is jerky
- - acceleration is weak
Editors Rating:
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