2009 Smart ForTwo Cabriolet

However, IIHS's front crash test only simulates two Smart cars hitting each other. When IIHS crashed a Smart coupe into a midsize Mercedes at 40 mph, "the Smart went airborne and turned around 450 degrees," IIHS says. A video on IIHS's website shows the front of the Smart car completely smashed. Meanwhile, when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration side crash-tested the Smart coupe, the driver door popped open, prompting a Safety Concern rating. And the short, tall Smart car is more prone to rollover than many other cars, the government finds. Both the coupe and the convertible have about a 21 percent chance of rolling over in a single-car crash.

On the highway, the Smart convertible delivers a bumpy ride and blows around "like a tumbleweed" in gusts of wind or the wake of passing tractor-trailers, Edmunds.com says. City driving should be great in the Smart car -- it's small, maneuverable and easy to park, according to several reviewers who *haven't* tested it firsthand. But experts who actually spend time behind the wheel beg to differ.

Yes, you can park two short Smart ForTwo convertibles in one normal-sized parking space, but testers say the transmission doesn't make it easy. The sluggish five-speed automated manual "prevents you from rolling forward as you normally would with an automatic when parallel parking," Edmunds.com says. "Instead, the Smart can suddenly dart forward more than you expect." Get the car underway and the transmission heaves and jerks between gears. Autoblog.com calls it an "unforgivable mess."

One major testing organization says not only is the Smart ForTwo's transmission the worst it's ever tested, but it's also the slowest car in recent memory. The 70-horsepower, 1.0-liter inline 3-cylinder engine takes 12.8 seconds to reach 60 mph. "That, folks, is slow," Popular Mechanics admits in its recommendation of the Smart convertible.

Fuel economy is best-in-class, at 36 mpg in combined driving (33 mpg city and 41 mpg highway) for the Smart convertible. Testers do get mileage that good in real life, but they note that it's not that big an advantage over more practical small cars like the top-rated Mini Cooper convertible (*Est. $23,900 to $34,300), which gets 32 mpg combined. The Smart car also requires premium gas.

The Smart ForTwo Passion Cabriolet (*Est. $16,990) includes basic amenities -- air conditioning, power steering, power windows -- plus a few niceties like keyless entry and a six-CD changer. The limited-edition Brabus cabriolet (*Est. $20,990) adds heated leather seats; a sport suspension and exhaust; and a dressed-up exterior with spoilers, fog lights and 17-inch rear wheels with 15-inch front wheels.

The Smart car just hit the U.S. market in 2008, but reviews say reliability has been good so far. Smart's two-year, 24,000-mile warranty is shorter than other carmakers'.

Autoblog.com comprehensively tests and evaluates the Smart ForTwo Cabriolet. Tests at Edmunds.com and ConsumerReports.org are just as thorough, but they concentrate more on the coupe version. We found an eye-opening crash-test video of the Smart coupe at the IIHS's website, along with ratings; the U.S. government also rates the coupe based on separate crash tests. FuelEconomy.gov posts official fuel-economy estimates for the Smart convertible. Its good gas mileage earns the Smart convertible nods from Automobile Magazine, MSN Autos and Popular Mechanics, but none of those reviews refer to actual testing.