2018 Smart Fortwo Styling REVIEW

The 2018 Smart Fortwo is the third year of the car’s only full redesign, and it continues to offer a cheeky look given its tiny proportions. The width of the car gives it road presence from the front, where its truncated length (just 8-feet-8-inches long) isn’t apparent. It’s improved over the previous generation’s design, so we gave it an average rating of 5 points out of 10 for design. It’s still tall and slab-sided, mind you, and the snub nose that gives it more of a “two-box” look from the side may actually shorten the cabin visually. The basic car is a two-door coupe, but the convertible model with a power-operated roll-back cloth roof is the sole soft-top electric car on the U.S. market this year. Removing the beams over the doors slightly increases the open-air feeling, though the roll bar over passengers’ heads remains. The so-called Tridion safety cell that outlines the body structure can be specified in a color that contrasts with the body panels, which are offered in dozens of hues. A small fixed pane sits at the back of each side door, and an upward bulge in the belt-line holds the door handle. The cabin is modern, but simple. Behind the steering wheel, a small instrument cluster houses a speedometer around the outer edge, but a small dash-top pod next to the windshield pillar contains the tachometer. Seats are cloth or leather, with some trims adding contrast stitching, and the dashboard and door inserts are covered in a coarse-grained cloth.