Smart Fortwo Cabriolet Review

The fabric roof does little to impact on the Fortwo’s strengths, namely that it can zip through traffic and park more easily than any rival, so it is a good choice for someone who wants to stay in the city but enjoy a bit of sunshine while they’re doing so.

Unlike some of its city car rivals however, the Fortwo is less capable outside of the city, and the fact it is a two-seater means it will hardly work for many families either. The roof also increases the amount of noise at speed in what was already a relatively noisy machine.

The entry-level 71PS engine option is good enough if you’re sticking to town driving, but it doesn’t take long for it to feel short of puff on quicker roads, and even if that isn’t very often it can be frustrating making decent progress. We’d suggest choosing a model with the more powerful 90PS engine, as there’s little penalty in terms of economy but it is much more usable. The Brabus model has even more grunt with 109PS, but is more expensive as a result and comes with its own set of issues so we’d suggest steering clear unless you really want one.

Because the Fortwo was sold as premium small car rather than a cut-price special, the standard specification is actually pretty strong. Passion models come with alloy wheels, climate control and Bluetooth, which will be enough for a lot of buyers. The mid-spec Prime is a good choice however, adding smarter alloy wheels, heated seats and brighter interior trim.

There are very few cars that match the tight brief of the Smart Fortwo Cabriolet - in fact the only car that is even remotely close to being this small, with a folding roof and a semi-premium, high on style approach is the Fiat 500 Convertible.

However, the Citroen C1 and Peugeot 108 are also city cars that can be specified with a folding fabric roof. They are more like a big sunroof than a proper convertible however, but they do offer the added practicality of rear seats so your friends and family can enjoy the fresh air too.

The Smart is sold as a premium product (of sorts) and while it’s not posh enough to pull off the fabled three-pointed star of a Mercedes, it is still pitched as something a cut above the humdrum.

It manages to justify this billing, at least partly, because there are some nice touches dotted around the cabin and it feels mostly of good quality too. Even if you go for a basic version in Passion trim, it gives off the vibes of a quality product. There are a mixture of materials and finishes, like gloss black details contrasting with the fabric covering on the dashboard, all of which are good enough to fool you into grinning. It’s also worth seeking out a car that’s had a bit of colour injected into it. Even on the basic Passion model you could add a coloured trim pack and this helps to boost the appeal of the interior.

It’s not all good news unfortunately, as a bit of poking around reveals that some of the materials in here are actually pretty cheap. That’s true for every other car in this sector, but this also reflects that the Fortwo isn’t really a wholly premium product. Smart’s relationship with Renault is also evident (the Smart Forfour and Renault Twingo are sister cars) with the occasional item of Renault switchgear dotted around the cabin.

All versions of the Fortwo Cabriolet come with a radio, Bluetooth connection, auxiliary input and a USB input as standard, so even the most basic model has a decent audio provision with respectable sound quality.

Available as an extra or fitted as standard on later models is the Smart Media System, which adds a 7-inch touchscreen, navigation depending on the model, Android Auto and DAB, and is a significant upgrade. Unfortunately it isn’t compatible with Apple CarPlay, so you’ll have to make do with just the Bluetooth connection if you have an Apple device. The in-built navigation system isn’t brilliant however - it’s a bit clunky to use - so you might be better off simply mirroring your smartphone screen and using a native navigation app.

When buying a used Fortwo be sure to check the standard specification as well as any options fitted so you can get the best infotainment provision -  a Smart dealer can help you with this if you want to check on a particular car.

More so than any other car you can buy, space and practicality are terms relative to the size of the car and what the competition is like. The two occupants of the Smart Fortwo have a good deal of space to play with. Even if you’re tall there’s plenty of headroom, and with no rear seats to interfere with, you can slide the fronts back almost as far as you like, giving plenty of legroom too.

Of course, the Fortwo is a strict two-seater, and as well as the obvious restriction of only allowing you to carry one passenger, it also means that the driver and passenger can’t fully recline their seats should they wish to do so.

Storage space in the cabin is also reasonable and similar to that offered on most of its rivals. The glovebox is quite small, but the door pockets are a useful size and there’s a pair of cupholders - clearly you won’t need more than two. It’s not something you could officially call storage space, but with no one sitting behind you it’s easy to stuff items in the space behind the seats, as long as it’s not something that could roll around and cause problems.

As for the boot itself, it offers 260 litres, which is actually more than the Volkswagen Up and its siblings. The Cabriolet does without the clever two-piece tailgate that you get on the Coupe, so instead you have to make do with the single lower section, leaving a relatively narrow slot in which to feed in your luggage.

With just a single passenger seat, installing a child seat is pretty easy, and you have the added bonus of your child being much closer to you while you drive. Passenger airbag deactivation is also standard as is Isofix, so you can get your child’s car seat securely in place.

Unsurprisingly, the Fortwo does not come with any kind of spare wheel - instead you get a tyre inflation kit, and all the fun that goes with it.

As with most of its competitors, engine choices are relatively limited in the Fortwo. All models come with a 1.0-litre, three cylinder unit that is mounted beneath the boot floor. A turbocharger helps to boost both power and efficiency, and given how little it weighs - 890kg for the lightest versions - it doesn’t need much power to offer useful performance.

The basic 71PS model is fine for town use, as the turbocharger boosts the amount of torque available at low revs, making it relatively easy to get away quickly from the lights. It also has the classic three-cylinder sound, with a busy thrum at most engine speeds, but it’s worth noting that the engine is a lot closer to you than it would be in a conventional city car. Get out of the city and the 71PS version begins to struggle a little, needing to be worked hard in order to keep pace with the traffic. The 109PS version is only available in Brabus trim, and although this adds another level of performance, it’s not really worth the extra expense or the other dynamic compromises that come with it.

Far better is the 90PS version, which also brings an additional 44Nm of torque (taking the total to 135Nm) and has significant impact on the way the Fortwo drives. Acceleration is significantly more rapid - it actually feels like quite a quick car in this guise - and it’s also far more comfortable at higher speeds, enough to make motorway journeys far more viable.

Fortwos come with either a five-speed manual gearbox which is perfectly serviceable and works well enough, or a six-speed dual-clutch which is far better than the outgoing automatic, and has no fuel consumption or emissions penalty either.

The key issue with the Fortwo in terms of refinement is once again its size - because there’s much less car in the first place, you’re closer to all the sources of noise and there’s less space to add dampening that will insulate you from it.

The engine is not what you would call a silent partner. Its three cylinder thrum is engaging, but can become wearing if you’re in a hurry and it becomes something of a drone on a long motorway journey.

It’s a mixed bag when it comes to other noise sources too, with the fabric roof not helping matters. At lower speeds the Fortwo feels relatively refined, with just a general hum from the engine being the dominating sound. At higher speeds however, the rush of tyre roar begins to intrude alongside the whip of wind noise from around the roof and the doors. With the roof open these factors are multiplied, but most people expect a significant increase in noise with the roof down.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that a car of the Fortwo’s size couldn’t possibly be as safe as a conventional car, but Mercedes-Benz put a huge amount of work into its development in order to make it as safe as possible.

Euro NCAP tested the Fortwo in 2014, and it achieved a remarkable four-star rating overall. It scored 82% for adult protection and 80% for child protection, and only the less impressive scores of 56% for pedestrian mitigation and safety assist rating prevented it from a higher score overall.

As standard, all versions of the Fortwo come with twin front and side airbags, as well as a knee airbag for the driver, seatbelt pre-tensioners and load-limiters, Isofix mounting points for the passenger seat with an airbag cut-off switch, and most importantly ESC as standard. A useful addition is side wind assist, designed to help you keep the Fortwo pointing in the right direction in windy days. Higher specification models are also fitted with lane keep assist, but automatic emergency braking was not fitted as standard or available as an option, which is a disappointment on a safety-conscious car.

In terms of other items of equipment, cars fitted with the Premium package get rear parking sensors, while if you oft for a car with Premium Plus this is upgraded to a reversing camera too.

Insurance groupings for the Fortwo are relatively low, although there is quite a jump depending on the version you go for. Most 71PS models fall into group 5, while the more powerful 90PS versions are in group 10 or 11. The top-spec Brabus version is in group 14 due to its extra performance, which means a significant premium hike compared to the most basic 70PS version.

If you are a low-risk driver there’s probably not much to choose between the different versions, but at the other end of the scale you could save a significant sum by choosing a low-group specification.

Because the Fortwo is another one of those cars that flirts with the 100g/km CO2 threshold - some are below, some are above - you can pay somewhere between nothing at all and a modest sum depending on what you go for.

All models registered before 1st April 2017 qualify for zero rate VED, with the exception of the Brabus - but even that only costs £20 per year if it’s a pre-April 2017 car. Any car registered on or after that date pays the standard £150 per year rate. If you’re looking at a car around that age, you could save by going for an earlier example.

The Cabriolet has a slightly different model range to the Coupe, with no Pure model in the range and far fewer special edition models over the years. The entry-level model is the Passion, which actually has a good specification including alloy wheels, air conditioning, Bluetooth, USB input, cruise control and hill start assist. For most people this will be more than sufficient.

Prime specification adds different alloy wheels, more colour to the cabin and heated seats which are always a bonus in a convertible. There’s also a Prime Sport model, but this includes lowered suspension which doesn’t little for the ride quality and is best avoided.