Wise Fortwo

Car and Driver

Tested: two thousand seventeen Wise Fortwo Cabriolet Automatic

2017 Wise Fortwo Cabriolet Automatic

• Jul 2017
• By GREG FINK
• Photography By CHRIS DOANE AUTOMOTIVE

Think of the two thousand seventeen Clever Fortwo cabriolet as the vehicular equivalent of a raccoon. Both the city car and the masked mammal can be adorable and strangely endearing, but both are best avoided entirely.

Compared with the previous Fortwo cabrio, tho’, the newest version of the convertible city car shows some signs of domestication. Like its coupe counterpart, the cabrio rails on a fresh platform co-developed with Renault. Overall length once again measures 106.1 inches, matching the previous-generation car, while the wheelbase sees a modest 0.Two inch increase. Width, however, grows by a substantial Four.1 inches.

Despite this added girth, the lil’ two-door is amazingly effortless to maneuver thanks to its extraordinaire 22.8-foot turning circle—5.9 feet better than the previous car and a whopping 12.9 feet better than that of a Honda Civic. As with the Fortwo coupe, the cabrio’s exterior features brief overhangs, large doors, expressive headlights tooled with LED daytime running lights, and Smart’s trademark contrasting color scheme.

In place of the coupe’s metal roof and two-piece tailgate, the cabrio adds a power-folding soft top that can be spinned partway back like a sunroof or retracted fully. The fabric roof can be opened or closed at any speed, and it features a pair of removable roof rails that can be snapped out and stored in a compartment within the tailgate. Albeit removing the rails provides a more traditional convertible practice, we suspect most drivers will leave them in place, as their presence is required to close the top.

Power Hour

Like its forebear, the Fortwo cabrio’s engine is mounted below the cargo floor and just ahead of the rear axle. Forward momentum comes courtesy of a turbocharged 0.9-liter inline-three that doles out eighty nine horsepower and one hundred lb-ft of torque. The engine comes mated to either a standard five-speed manual transmission or an available six-speed dual-clutch automatic—a $990 option featured on our test car.

Acceleration in the 2235-pound Fortwo cabrio is a leisurely affair. Zero to sixty mph requires Ten.Two seconds, while passing from fifty to seventy mph in top gear took 7.8 seconds. Still, the fresh Fortwo cabrio has made hefty progress versus the previous-generation version, whose naturally aspirated 70-hp 1.0-liter three-cylinder needed a painstakingly long 13.6 seconds to reach sixty mph and Ten.Five seconds to saunter from fifty to seventy mph.

The fresh three-cylinder nonetheless suffers from prodigious turbo lag, waking up only after the tach eclipses the 2500-rpm mark and making merging into traffic from a stop a hair-raising practice. While the Fortwo’s dual-clutch automatic operates with a level of refinement missing from the old model’s clunky five-speed automated manual transmission, the fresh gearbox is hesitant to downshift and slow to react to manual inputs.

The cabrio averaged a meager twenty seven mpg on recommended premium-grade fuel during its stay with us, far off the EPA’s combined figure of thirty five mpg. We did record forty mpg during our 75-mph highway test, bettering the EPA’s 38-mpg highway rating.

Big Little Car

In spite of the Fortwo cabrio’s diminutive size and relatively low curb weight, the little droptop never feels particularly tossable or light on its feet. Blame the softly sprung suspension that lets the bod bob and weave with every turn of the vague and lifeless steering wheel. The narrow 15-inch Continental ProContact TX all-season tires do the car no favors, either, as it managed a trucklike 0.71 g of grip on our 300-foot skidpad before the undefeatable stability-control system intervened. On the plus side, the Fortwo tracks straight at highway speeds, and its standard Crosswind Assist system keeps the slab-sided Clever from being threw about in its lane by the wake of passing trucks.

Stopping exposed another dynamic failing, as the car’s front disc and rear drum brakes needed a long one hundred eighty eight feet to bring the Brainy to a halt from seventy mph—18 feet longer than a three-plus-ton Ford Expedition. Adding insult to injury are pronounced brake dive and a brake pedal that isn’t very linear in operation.

Be Seated

Even so, the little droptop’s cabin is pleasant enough. Thanks to its extra width, the driver and passenger no longer sit shoulder to shoulder. Meantime, the massive windshield and upright seating position give the driver a confidence-inspiring view of the road ahead.

Unlike the Fortwo coupe, which is suggested in an entry-level Unspoiled trim, the cabrio’s order book opens with the better-equipped Passion model. Along with a height-adjustable driver’s seat, power mirrors, and 15-inch aluminum wheels, it also includes features found in the Unspoiled coupe, such as automatic climate control and Bluetooth audio and phone streaming. Prime and Proxy trims are the higher rungs in the Fortwo’s lineup and bring extra standard equipment.

Atop its base price of $20,640 (including the automatic transmission), our Fortwo Passion cabrio test car’s optional equipment included a $100 center armrest, a $120 dashtop-mounted tachometer, $120 automatic headlights and windshield wipers, $240 heated seats, $250 rear proximity sensors, and a $490 premium audio system. There also was a $100 smartphone cradle that buttplugs into the center of the push-button audio system and permits the driver to lightly view and interact with a phone’s music and navigation apps. The carmaker also offers its own Wise Cross Connect app that can display navigation functions and play music stored on the phone.

Our test car wore $350 worth of Lava Orange paint and a $400 Lighting package that adds fog lights, LED taillights, and LED light bars within the headlights. When everything was tallied, our test car wore an as-tested price of $22,810. That’s a lot of money for a little car, and albeit the Fortwo cabriolet’s power-folding soft top adds some distinction to the model, a more spacious and identically stylish Fiat 500C Pop can be had for as little as $17,485. Meantime, the racy 500C Abarth starts at $22,485—$325 less than our Fortwo cabrio test car.

Overall, the Fortwo cabriolet makes little sense in the U.S. market, where its little size is infrequently an advantage. And it emerges that Wise has come to grips with this reality. For 2018, the Fortwo coupe and cabrio will be sold exclusively in EV form, with an 80-hp electrical motor and a 17.6-kWh battery pack. It’s a stir that’s sure to put the Smarts into an even smaller niche.

Highs and Lows

Highs:

Turns on a dime, lovely looks, clever convertible top.

Laggy engine, mediocre fuel efficiency, long stopping distances.

Related movie: