Smart's new Fortwo Cabriolet offers an improved drivetrain and convenient drop top.

Brooklyn? It’s not the place you normally think of for testing out a new car, truck or crossover. We’re more likely to head into the hills, winding a circuitous path from San Diego to Palm Springs, or drifting through Napa and Sonoma wine country.

But it made perfect sense when we were invited to spend a couple days checking out the new Smart Fortwo Cabriolet winding through New York City’s hipster borough. The pint-sized Smart car is not the sort of vehicle you imagine romantically cruising the open road. But it’s well suited to squeezing through Brooklyn, its narrow and labyrinthine lanes packed so tightly it took us the better part of a day to clock just 38 miles.

The good news is that the fourth-generation Smart two-seater is better equipped than its predecessors at handling open roads. But the Fortwo, measuring barely 8.8 feet nose-to-tail, is most ideally suited to handling dense urban environments. That’s something that drivers in Paris and a number of other European cities have come to recognize. Might Americans, as well?

We got a first look at the gen-4 a little more than a year ago. It was a big improvement over the previous model, especially when it came to the powertrain, a decided weak link with the earlier Smart Fortwo.

The Smart Fortwo is now in its fourth generation.

The engine is tucked under the seats and cargo bay, a 0.9-liter turbocharged three-cylinder package that makes a modest 89 horsepower and 100 pound-feet of torque. It’s definitely quicker than the original microcar. That’s a relative term, though, as you’ll still need more than 10 seconds to launch to 60, but for those driving around on city streets that might not matter all that much.

The good news is that Smart is not only offering a five-speed stick but that it has replaced the original car’s much criticized single-clutch manumatic gearbox in favor of a new double-clutch design. It is, on the whole, much smoother, though still prone to occasional shuddering at idle – something that largely goes away as the engine warms up.

Much like the Smart Fortwo Coupe, the Cabriolet is noticeably quieter and feels more confident than before. The new power steering system offers a reasonable amount of road feel – and makes it so easy to check out a turning circle that, at 22.8-feet, actually lets you make a feel 180 on a Brooklyn street.

Once you get up to highway speeds – something we got to do only briefly on Brooklyn’s Belt Parkway, the Fortwo feels reasonably well-planted. The slight bit of extra width helps improve both the car’s road manners and interior comfort.

The new Fortwo can easily handle anyone up to 6-foot, 5-inches tall.

So does the Tridion safety cell system that should give a bit of confidence to those who wonder how such a small vehicle might stand up in a crash with the big SUVs that increasingly dominate American roads. Videos reveal that, even after smashing head-on into a 5,000-pound Mercedes, the passenger compartment remains essentially intact.

Turning the Fortwo Coupe into a Cabriolet was an interesting engineering exercise. The system actually has three distinct positions. Press the button that controls the top once and it rolls back like a panoramic sunroof. A second touch and it scoots back even further, more like a targa top. One more tap and the canvas top – which is borrowed from the S-Class convertible – folds away completely. You can leave the roof rails in place or take them out and stow them in a holder in the Smart’s small cargo compartment.

(Smart plugs in with next-gen Fortwo Electric Drive. For more, Click Here.)

You can operate the roof at any time, all the way up to its 96 mph top speed – though you’ll have to pull over to put the roof rails back.

Some powertrain components, including battery and some fluids, are under the front cover.

With the top up, the Fortwo Cabriolet is only slightly noisier than the Coupe. Buffeting can become annoying however, and it actually is least intrusive with the roof folded entirely out of the way.

The high roofline means that for anyone under about 6-foot, 5-inches tall it won’t affect headroom. It does cut into visibility, however, especially when fully retracted, much like the cabrio version of the Mini hatchback.

Inside, the Smart Fortwo Cabriolet is pretty much identical to the Coupe, but for the power top button. Both are roomier than the previous model, thanks to that extra width and a bit of creative engineering. Spend a few minutes inside and you’ll discover a number of new standard features, including Bluetooth connectivity, a CD player, power windows, air conditioning and more.

(Click Here for details about the key launches at this year’s Paris Motor Show.)

Where you really feel the trade-off is in the cargo compartment, the roof rail storage system further cutting into an already minimalist space. It can barely handle two carry-on bags. A childless couple might squeeze in a week’s groceries, but forget going to Costco.

The interior for the Fortwo is simple and easy to use.

But urban dwellers are already familiar with such sacrifices and it’s still easier to get groceries home from the market than using the subway or bus.

If there’s one real disappointment, it’s fuel economy. At 33 City and 38 Highway – one mpg less than the Coupe – the Lilliputian Smart Fortwo Cabriolet doesn’t manage to match some other urban-oriented offerings, never mind comparatively huge hybrids like the Toyota Prius. For those who thing smaller means greener, the numbers might deliver an unpleasant surprise.

But, on the whole, a buyer looking for something that can weave in and out of heavy traffic and turn even the most compact gap into a parking spot, the Smart Fortwo has its appeal. Add the joys of driving al fresco and the new model just might click with shoppers in Brooklyn and other traffic-snarled locales.

(For more on VW’s EV debut in Paris, Click Here.)

The 2017 Smart Fortwo Cabriolet starts at $18,900 – plus $750 for delivery – with the six-speed manual.