Smart Fortwo Brabus

ET TU BRABUS?
If you want a Smart with attitude, you need to break out the Brabus catalogue.


For most, Brabus is associated with massively powerful Mercedes limousines. Captains of European industry sit in the back and are swept across featureless autobahns at speeds more akin to private aviation than wheeled transport. Fortunately for us, we can now get the Brabus touch on less than Euro commissioner salaries in the form of the Smart ForTwo Brabus, a citycar with real attitude.

The 1.0-litre powerplant has been massaged to give a full 98bhp, up from the 84bhp offered by the turbo model in the standard range or the 61 or 71bhp options served up by more humble Smart ForTwos. This is enough to thrust the shoebox sized car to 60mph in a smidgeon under ten seconds, around two seconds faster than the Brabus version of the first generation ForTwo. Its also feels surprisingly quick, despite the gearbox remaining a little dull-witted off the mark and is more than enough to give other city motorists the humiliating view of your blunt back end.

That said, theres no way theyll mistake the Brabus model for a common or garden Smart variety. A number of body styling features distinguish the Brabus version including lovely Brabus alloy wheels, a deeper front spoiler and rear valance, plus a sports exhaust and heat shield.The effect of these styling touches is to bring the car even lower to the ground, giving the optical appearance of a rather rapidly moving block.

Otherwise, its the usual Smart recipe albeit a rather expensive one. The coupe is priced at 13,520 (around 1,200 more than the MK1 equivalent) with the cabrio weighing in at around 2,000 more. This is comparable to cars like a nicely specified MINI Cooper or one of the plushest Fiat 500s, both vehicles with their own dollop of style and a good deal more day to day practicality than the little Smart. The Fortwo has its own very individual street presence however and of course its smaller for mopre convenient urban use: try parking a MINI or a Fiat 500 at a 90-degree angle to the pavement. On second thoughts, dont.

As with all smart models, the Brabus features standard-fit Electronic Stability Control Programme (ESP): basically, if you get the car out of shape, the electronics will automatically use throttle and brake inputs to correct the situation. And this Brabus version is plenty quick enough to get into quite a situation should you try: 96mph on the flat will see this Smart easily keeping up with the cut and thrust of typical British motorway traffic. Strangely, its in the city that the smart feels a little clumsy. Yes, it is ridiculously easy to park, but the clutch take up in stop/start traffic is rather severe and youll dread negotiating speed humps. Even at low speeds the lurch feels pretty nauseating.

If you owned one of the original Fortwo models and havent tried the latest one, youll find that its a little larger than before, having swelled almost 20cm in length and 4.3cm in width. The track and the wheelbase have also been stretched but the majority of the length has been imposed upon the company by new pedestrian crash legislation.

Space inside was always pretty good for two adults (if not their baggage), but the latest car is better still. Somewhat unusually, the passenger seat is mounted 15cm further back than the drivers seat so that shoulder room can be maximised. Smart claims that passengers have an additional three centimetres of elbow room compared to the old car which never felt small even for taller people. Luggage room has also usefully increased from 150 to 220 litres.

The cars face looks a little different, with projector lights and a smiling grille aperture, while

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