Smart Roadster (2003 – 2007) Review

Smart Roadster (2003 – 2007) At A Glance

Cute looks, comfortable ride and good grip. You can raise the hood while driving along. Makes far more sense second-hand.

Not quite as much fun as its looks suggest. If you were its first owner, you'll still be smarting from its heavy intial depreciation.

Satisfaction Index

Reviews for Smart Roadster (2003 – 2007)'s top 3 rivals

Renault Wind

Stylish two-seater roadster coupe with a roomy cabin, decent bootspace, efficient and economical engines....

Mazda MX-5

Outstanding handling. Outrageous fun.

Vauxhall Tigra

Folding tin-top version of the Corsa with a quite sporty drive and softish ride.

Ask Honest John

What cars would you recommend as possible future classics?

"What cars would you recommend as possible future classics? They must be automatic and reasonable to maintain."

You could have a look at a Mercedes-Benz SL (R107) although these are expensive now. Maybe a P38 Range Rover or a Bentley Arnage Red Label. If you'd like to go a bit more modern, then perhaps one of the first Audi TTs with the DSG box like the 2003 3.2 is an option (although the boxes are fragile) or something like a Smart Roadster. Also worth a look might be an American muscle car like a Mustang, or you could go for a high-performance model like a BMW M3 or Mercedes-Benz AMG. Feeling flush? Then how about a Nissan GT-R.

Answered by Keith Moody

Is a Smart Roadster a future classic?

"Is a Smart Roadster Brabus a future classic?"

Sure is. At its heart, this Smart is similar to roadsters from the late-1950s and 1960s, such as the Austin-Healey 'Frogeye' Sprite and the MG Midget where fun is a key component of its DNA. Its turbocharged 698cc three-cylinder is good for 82PS - Brabus versions get 17-inch alloy wheels, lowered suspension, sports exhausts, and a few other bits and pieces. Oh, and power is up to 101PS... If you're serious about buying one, you'll need to spend about £5000 and do your homework - water can get into the ECU and the fusebox, calling all manner of problems.

Answered by Keith Moody

Which sports car for £3000

"My current car is a little banged up and I'm thinking of getting a new one but need some advice. I am a small business owner working from home as a web designer. I rarely drive other than for the occasional meeting and once a week to the gym. I have no kids nor any plans for any so it's just me and my girlfriend/business partner. This will be the second car as we also have my girlfriends car too. I will have a maximum of about £3,000 to spend after the sale of my current car. I'd like something nice looking so that my business clients take me seriously. I've been told to steer clear of the RX-8. What would you suggest looking at? My current car is a 2002 Honda Civic Vision with 28k miles on the clock. My girlfriends car is a 2002 Volkswagen Beetle which is too girly for me to drive. I'm looking at Toyota Celica, Hyundai Coupe, Smart Roadster and Mazda MX-5."

The Celica is the best idea on your list; the MX-5 the next best, but check carefully for rust.

Answered by Honest John

Recommend a fun, quirky car - possibly a convertible - for under £7000?

"I will soon graduate from university, and will be starting work at the end of the summer. Before I do so, I am looking to purchase a car that is both economical to run and insure but that is also quirky and fun. I am not averse to a convertible of some kind. My budget is £5-7000."

If you're after something quirky and fun but economical, then you could consider a Smart Roadster or Roadster Coupe. Thanks to the small engine they will do 55mpg plus they're great fun to drive - and of course both are convertible (they either have a retractable canvas roof or removable panels). For £7000 you could get the sporty Brabus version which has extra power and a bodykit. Alternatively, there's the funky little Daihatsu Copen which has a neat metal folding roof and also uses a small turbocharged engine so will easily do 50mpg+.

Answered by David Ross

More Questions

Inside of the Smart Roadster (2003 – 2007)

If you want total security, you can buy a two-piece hard-top that, when not in use, takes up all the rear luggage space. Alternatively, you can buy the better equipped, more expensive Roadster Coupe that has a kind of bubble back (pix in original LHD Smart Road Test) and comes with removable hardtop as standard, but electric soft-top as an optional extra.

All those extras can add up. Pay £13,495 for a Smart Roadster and it will cost you £655 to add the Sport Pack of fat tyres and paddleshifts, £595 to add aircon, more for the roof panels, £95 for extra instruments, and around £150 for the fitted luggage. Go for a Roadster Coupe at £14,495 and you get 15" alloys and aircon as standard. But the electric roof will cost you extra.

Child seats that fit a Smart Roadster (2003 – 2007)

Our unique Car Seat Chooser shows you which child car seats will fit this car and which seat positions that they will fit, so that you don't have to check every car seat manufacturer's website for compatibility.

Which car seat will suit you?

Driving Smart Roadster (2003 – 2007)

It's not quite as much fun as you think it's going to be. The tiny 698cc engine rorts and snorts behind you through its narrow power band that ends at 6,000rpm. But the power steering is feather light with almost no feel to it. If ever a car didn't need power steering, this one doesn't. Could be my particular car needed its tracking re-set. I had to fling it about a bit to make sure it was actually gripping.

But it was, and does. There's nothing quite like blasting round a never-ending bend in a Smart Roadster. As long as you can keep a grip on yourself, it will keep a grip on the road. It won't actually be going all that quickly, mind. But you and your passenger will think it is. And that's the point of a small sportscar. You can have fun without licence-grabbing cameras flashing at you all the time.

On to the paddleshifts which are part of a £655 Sports Pack which includes fat alloy wheels and tyres and is the number one essential extra cost option. Smart seems to have heeded a few criticisms since the Algarve expedition. Gear changes can still be an annoying fraction of a second slow, but you can keep it in the power band. And it may be my memory playing up, but the speedometer display that tells you what gear you're in seems to have quadrupled in size. You can now see at a glance instead of having to re-focus, and that makes a huge difference to getting the most out of the car. And instead of a mph/kph speedo it's just mph with a teeny weeny kph readout to comply with Type Approval. All the priorities are right.

None of this means you have to drive the thing like Michael Schumacher. You can just leave it in ‘automatic' mode if you want and the box will change up and down its six ratios by itself. And you can, of course, use the wrong-way-round floorshift lever which you push forward to change up and pull back to change down.

Smart claims you can raise and lower the electric canvas roof at any speed up to 110mph. Forgetting the speed, this is a very handy feature for an autumn launch. Spot a few rays of sunshine and at the press of a button you can have them shining down on your head. There's a bit of buffeting from trapped air, but not much, and you can alleviate that by opening a window a tad. If you want the full drop top effect, you can unclip the roof side bars and stow them in the front boot. But if, say, you're on a long holiday journey, maximising the available luggage capacity with Smart's fitted bags, you'll be happy enough with the soft-top open and the roof bars on.Lastly, a word about safety. This is a tiny car so you'd be right to be worried. Well, don't worry. These days Mercedes goes overboard about safety. The basic car is a high tensile steel ‘Tridion' safety cage (the rest is plastic and aluminium). There are twin full-size airbags, belt tensioners, belt force limiters and a non-intruding steering column. And, so you won't get yourself into a situation where you need any of this, the car has switchable electronic stability program, cornering brake control, ABS and hydraulic brake assist.

Finally, a word about ride quality. You'd expect it to be bone-jarring, but it's actually so good you don't even think about it. This is one sportscar that sticks round corners like glue, yet doesn't line the pockets of osteopaths.

Did I like it? Yes, of course I did. It's not as much pure fun to drive as a MINI Cooper, but it is fun, and safe fun, and nothing else on this earth looks like it.

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Model History

• January 2002
• April 2002
• April 2004