The cdi 2006 Smart Fortwo..
October 31, 2006
2006 smart fortwo pulse cabriolet Road Test
by Michel Deslauriers , Auto123.com
Eat your heart out, John Deere
2006 smart fortwo pulse cabriolet (Photo: Philippe Champoux, Auto123.com)
I know what the majority of you are thinking. You're saying to yourself that this isn't a real car; it's a joke on wheels. A smart is a parody of the automobile, right? You're thinking that driving a smart is slightly more embarrassing than being seen walking out of the bathroom with toilet paper stuck to your shoe, isn't it?
In all honesty, that's what I thought, too.
You might be expecting the old cliché, about me saying how the smart changed my perception of it, and that I'm now in love with the car. Didn't happen. However, it did gain some respect.
I briefly drove the smart in December 2004, and the only thing that impressed me then was how it made it to the Canadian market. Now, after a whole week of driving this lawn mower, it's time to admit that I survived it unscathed.
2006 smart fortwo pulse cabriolet (Photo: Philippe Champoux, Auto123.com)
For such a small car--what am I saying, it's miniscule--the interior space for two occupants is amazing. The doors cover about 90% of the length of the car, and getting in and out is a no-brainer. The seats are comfortable despite their thin backrests, and there is sufficient headroom and shoulder room for just about anyone. Cargo space is pretty tight, but you can fit a suitcase or several grocery bags in back.
The instrument panel looks a little dinky, but the overall appearance is distinctive and rather amusing. The tach is located on top of the center console, right beside the clock. It took me three days to find the button that displays the trip odometer beneath the speedo. The fuel gauge
2006 smart fortwo pulse cabriolet (Photo: Philippe Champoux, Auto123.com)
worried me at first when I was down to the last dot, but the display tells you when you've got 5.0 liters of fuel left.
I can't complain about the heating and ventilation controls, since they work as well as on any other car, and there's even an electric heater for cold winter mornings. The sound system is really disappointing, and the $195 speaker upgrade is a necessity, in my opinion.
Driving the car is both amusing and frustrating. Every time you press the throttle or apply the brake, or during every gear change while accelerating, the car squats and dives like a rocking horse. It's funny for the first few days.
2006 smart fortwo pulse cabriolet (Photo: Philippe Champoux, Auto123.com)
The 40-horsepower engine (yes, 40) is slightly more powerful than my weedwacker, but it can get the fortwo moving up to about 130 km/h on level ground. You can achieve 140 km/h driving downhill. The 800cc turbodiesel makes up for the shortage of power with 73 pound-feet of torque at a low 1,800 rpm, so car moves adequately off the line and gets up to speed in an acceptable timeframe. Is it too slow for our SUV-crowded roads? Not at all, but it's the bare minimum; any car slower than the smart would unfortunately have to be forbidden here, as it would be too dangerous in traffic. And no, that doesn't make logical sense.
Every smart comes equipped with a 6-speed sequential gearbox, but for $400 more, the company will add an automatic program for it. You can use the paddles located on the steering wheel to row though gears, or flip a switch on the shift lever, and you'll activate the fully-automatic mode.
The car's handling is puzzling. You don't expect much, but the smart doesn't squeal its tires on every street corner, and doesn't become tipsy in tight curves. The car's very slow steering and dull reflexes don't urge you to drive aggressively, either. A small car like this should behave like a go-kart, but not this one. Despite its small-diameter tires, its ride is pretty good, but I find steering effort a little heavy while driving around town.
2006 smart fortwo pulse cabriolet (Photo: Philippe Champoux, Auto123.com)
The fortwo coupe's Tridion cage is very safe. Several videos can be found on the Internet that show smarts crashing into other cars or giant concrete blocks, and the cockpit is virtually untouched. I'm less sure about this cabriolet model, but I guess it's almost as safe. When picking up one of my kids at the day-care, I'm not too happy about being unable to manually deactivate the passenger-side airbag, which I could do on other two-seat cars I've tested.
Are you ready for a diesel car? In my opinion, that no longer depends on the engine itself, since diesels are not as smelly, noisy or weak as they were a decade ago. The reason I still wouldn't consider a diesel is that the pumps at gas stations haven't changed; they're still filthy. Also, the price of diesel fuel doesn't fluctuate as much as gasoline. During my week with the smart, gasoline was 94 cents a liter, and diesel was $1.09. Fortunately, I averaged an extraordinary 4.0L/100 km (70 mpg).
2006 smart fortwo pulse cabriolet (Photo: Philippe Champoux, Auto123.com)
The smart fortwo starts at $16,700, but this pulse cabriolet model carries a base price of $21,700. This test car also includes the automatic transmission mode ($400), air conditioning ($890) and jetline alloy wheels ($165). Add another $1,030 for the exterior color scheme, and you're looking at a $24,185 car. That hurts.
Whatever the price, however, we need the smart on our roads to make us realize that we can live with small cars. The commute to work and back for me in the smart was just like in any other car, but it cost peanuts in fuel. Now, what would you like to see on the road in the future? More trucks, or more smarts? John Deere should start making cars.
What I like:
Fuel miser
Interior passenger space
Distinctive looks
What I don't like:
High price, especially the cabriolet
Passenger-side airbag can't be manually deactivated
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