Brabus review: So fast, it smarts
The #1 Brabus may look unassuming, but all hell breaks loose when you step on the accelerator
RIGHT now you can only buy a Smart in one shape here, but you can have it in two flavours: fun or hilarious. The basic #1 Pro+ zips around like a caffeinated puppy, spreading joy wherever it goes, but the #1 Brabus is bound to leave you hysterical.
The #1 (pronounced “hashtag one”, lamentably) may be a baby sport utility vehicle with adorably chunky looks, but in Brabus trim it packs a serious punch. Two electric motors (one at each end) send 428 horsepower to all four wheels, making the little Smart fast enough to chew up most cars and spit them out.
There’s a good chance the average car buff will have heard of this pocket rocket, but if not, the #1 Brabus is the product of some exciting but possibly unexpected collaboration, a bit like that time Paul McCartney, Rihanna and Kanye West released a song together.
Smart itself originated as a tie-up between Swatch and Daimler (now known as Mercedes). That venture never made it big, so five years ago Smart was reborn as a pure electric car brand with 50-50 ownership by Mercedes and Geely, the Chinese giant that controls Volvo, Polestar, Zeekr, Lynk & Co, Proton, Lotus, and too many other brands to list.
Brabus is on the team to add spice; the German tuner is famous for making Mercedes-Benzes ludicrously quick, and came to prominence in 2001 when it got the idea to squeeze a 7.3-litre 12-cylinder engine into an ordinary E-Class sedan, giving it the piquancy to hit 330 kmh.
The #1 Brabus is a chilli padi along similar lines. It’s fairly unassuming, with only flashes of red on the body and some subtle Brabus badging to hint at the muscle hidden in its petite frame. But when you tromp down on the accelerator, all hell breaks loose.
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To be more precise, while the #1 Brabus is effortlessly fast in general, to awaken its loony side you select the Brabus driving mode. The right pedal becomes a bazooka trigger, the steering gets weighty and the rear motor seems to want to kick the car’s tail around.
There’s even a virtual engine noise that’s surprisingly fizzy, and unleashing all that sound and energy at once feels like riding a wild horse with firecrackers tied to its tail. Like I said, this car is hilarious.
It’s also, despite its titchy footprint, practical. EV hardware is compact so the #1 has plenty of room in the cabin, especially in the back, where it feels like a much larger car. I’ve also changed my mind about the boot, which I used to think was too small to be useful. At only 313 litres (much of that under the floor) it sounds tiny, but you can fit a surprising amount of stuff in there simply by tilting or sliding the rear seats a little to make room.
The cabin itself offers a dash of Mercedes style but does without the seriousness. If you’ve sat in a contemporary Benz you’ll be familiar with the general layout, down to the cup holder location, the turn signal stalk, the transmission stalk and so on. But the 12.8-inch touchscreen’s colourful graphics look like something out of a video game, while the red seatbelts, scarlet stitching and suede upholstery inserts are distinctly playful flourishes.
There’s more Mercedes DNA in the form of adjustable ambient lighting, and a glass roof lets the sun beam all over the cabin, so even though the upholstery is black as sin, the Brabus never really feels grim inside.
When you pair that quality with the ballistic performance, you’re left with a car that’s just irresistibly fun. Yet, keeping a #1 Brabus comes at a hefty cost; since road tax for electric cars is based on motor output, the Smart’s yearly bill is S$4,416. That’s not a flaw inherent to the car itself, but it is something to be mindful of.
So too, is the #1 Brabus’ range. Smart claims a full charge is good for 400 kilometres, but you’ll never get that if you drive the car as its maker intended. Given our climate and traffic conditions, expect roughly 320 km instead. And that’s if you run the battery down to zero, which you shouldn’t.
On the other hand, even with the hefty road tax bill the #1 Brabus is a performance bargain, especially if you think of it as an alternative to a traditional hot hatch like the Volkswagen Golf R, let alone something Italian, exotic and five times the price. It doesn’t take that much smarts to make sense of numbers like that.
Smart #1 Brabus Motor power/torque 438 hp/534 Nm Battery type/net capacity Lithium-ion/62 kWh Charging type/time 7 hours 10 to 80 per cent (7.4 kW AC), 30 minutes 10 to 80 per cent (130 kW DC) Range 400 km 0-100 kmh 3.9 seconds Top speed 180 kmh Efficiency 18.2 kWh/100 km Agent Cycle & Carriage Singapore Price S$278,888 with COE Available Now
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