Category: City Cars 
Price Range: £8,518 to £16,026
Potential 80+mpg, free road tax, decent ride.
Ponderous gearchange, agricultural engine, poor steering feedback, expensive.
Less accomplished then its petrol siblings, but few can argue with the diesel's ultra-low CO2 emissions.
It's not wonderful to drive but there are some positives. Like the current petrol range, the diesel is still a formidable weapon in the city thanks to its squat and narrow dimensions. Even on the open road, handling is more precise and the Fortwo has more front-end grip helping it turn into bends with greater confidence than the old model.
The diesel, however, is the worst engine in the range. The 799cc turbocharged three-cylinder generates just 44bhp and is gruff to the point of agricultural. Refinement is further ruined by the imbalance of the three-cylinder lump that causes the Fortwo to shimmy at idle.
Thankfully the meagre power output is accompanied by a more generous 81lb-ft of torque developed at 2,000rpm, but even this is not man enough to overcome both a 770kg kerbweight and pedestrian gearchange.
Like the rest of the Fortwo range, the CDi has an automated manual transmission that has an electric motor operating the clutch. Unlike the petrol range the diesel's changes are noticeably slower. This means hard acceleration is punctuated by a large pause - because of this delay inclines are more of a liability than in other Smarts. The pause as the 'box shuffles ratios means momentum is lost and the gearbox struggles to switch to the next gear.
It's woefully slow. The Fortwo hits 62mph only after 19.8 seconds have passed and is limited to 84mph.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Smart fortwo
wrote on 11 08 2006