“They still make those?” was often the response I received when mentioning that I recently test drove for our 2018 Smart Fortwo ED Cabrio First Drive. And that “ED” stands for “Electric Drive,” which as you guessed, means this specific Fortwo Cabrio is all-electric. The third-generation model surfaced not too long ago back in 2014 so yes, they do still make these things. And they’re quite popular among city dwellers and metropolitan-based fleets, such as local law enforcement or car sharing programs.
Lining up with today’s trend of trying to send the internal combustion engine off into the pages of history, Mercedes-Benz and Smart pledged earlier this year to sell all-electric vehicles only in Canada and the United States. Back in August of this year, Smart delivered on their promise, launching the ForTwo ED coupe. The latest variant applies the Electric Drive powertrain to the Cabrio as well, which they invited us to test out in sunny San Diego for a day.
Offered in two trims — passion and prime — versus the hardtop version, the two seemingly separate themselves mainly by the amount of standard equipment. The passion starts at $28,100 and the prime at $29,100. With a price difference of $1,000, opting for the prime adds active cornering foglamps, automatic headlights and wipers, heated leather seats, and interior ambient lighting.
Otherwise, things you’d expect to find on a car in 2018, like power windows and locks, a decent radio, and climate control are all found in the Fortwo. Our prime tester optioned out the invoice to the max at $32,180, with the upgraded JBL sound system, a special smartphone cradle, a center armrest, and reverse-assist.