2006 smart fortwo pulse cabriolet Road Test

2006 smart fortwo pulse cabriolet (Photo: Philippe Champoux, Auto123.com)

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