Video: 2008 Smart ForTwo

This is the second generation and it's set to arrive at US dealerships beginning in January. Just how small is the fortwo? Well from bumper to bumper, it's actually a few feet shorter than the next smallest car on the market, which is the Mini Cooper. Body styles include a coupe and a convertible. We've got a convertible here. So we'll start with showing you how the top works. There's a fabric topping with the key fob. You can actually press this little button here and the top will come back. It opens up in two different stages. The first stage sends the top back to the rear deck right here, and then you actually have to get into the car, put the key in, press this little button and drop the top the rest of the way. Now, for a full open air experience, you're gonna want to remove this part right here. And that's pretty easy. All you have to do is unclick this thing here. Pull it up. And it's actually pretty lightweight. The hatch opens and there's a compartment here. You just pop it in and there you go. Now we got it open. Let's show you what's inside. Now, Smart makes a big deal about how big the interior is for its size. And in fact, I'm about six feet tall, and this is where I'd have the seat to drive it. I can adjust the seat back a little bit even, and I'm even more comfortable there. The steering wheel is not adjustable. Smart says it's sort of a one size fits all steering wheel. Personally, I'd like it a little bit lower. There's a very efficient sense of space here. You don't notice how small the car is, except for the fact that the side windows and the rear windows are right up against you. And there's actually nothing here. So your knees can kind of spill out into this area. And there's plenty of leg room. If you need more storage, the passenger seat does fold flat. It's not the easiest thing to get down, but there you go. And you can accommodate some longer items here. And the fortwo's got a pretty small engine, so it doesn't have a lot of pickup at the start, but if you really step on it, there's more pickup later on. Now the transmission looks like an automatic, but it's actually automated manual. So it's shifting gears under there, like a manual transmission would. For the smoothest transitions, you're gonna want to keep it in manual mode and take your foot off the gas just slightly at each shift using the paddle shifters or the gear shift. That may be a little bit more activity than an automatic driver may want, but over time it kind of becomes second nature. Now the brake pedal is pretty hard, so it can be difficult to make smooth stops sometimes. If you get the fortwo up to 70, 80 miles an hour, well, you won't be wanting to go 80 for very long. Now, Smart goes great lengths to talk about safety. They talk about the side airbags, the electronic stability system in this car and how well it's done in European crash tests. The fact is it's a very, very small car and no US agency has crashed tested it yet. Gas mileage is 33, 40 city highway. Unfortunately Smart recommends premium fuel, which kind of puts a damper on the mileage. This is gonna be a pretty hot car. And so if you want one, you're probably gonna have to get in line. Smart has reservations right now, and you can sign up online at their website. <v Announcer>For additional information on this car or any other, go to cars.com and our blog, Kicking Tires.