This Is More Like It
by David Finlay (22 Jul 04)

Appropriately enough, most of the differences between the standard smart roadster and the £16,695 Brabus version are cosmetic. If you're smart about smarts you'll be able to spot a Brabus at a hundred paces thanks to its revised radiator grille, front and rear spoilers, side skirts and 17" alloy wheels. Occasional branding and the use of leather and aluminium make the interior visually distinct from that of the standard model too.

But the Brabus modifications aren't all for show. The celebrated German tuning company has also been put to work on the dirty bits, with the result that maximum power shoots up from 80bhp to 101bhp - a hearty figure for a production 698cc engine even when you take the turbocharger into account.

Straight-line performance is improved, of course, but perhaps not to quite the extent that either those figures or the more purposeful exhaust note might suggest. The official 0-62mph acceleration figure is reduced by a fairly modest 1.1 seconds to 9.8, and that's a more telling statistic than the increase in maximum speed from 109mph to 119mph.

Despite all that, this is still the sportiest car in the smart range by an enormous margin, because Brabus has also got its hands on the suspension. This is very good news; here, for the first time, is a smart roadster that is actually as much fun to drive as the concept suggested it should have been all along.

I first drove a roadster on the press launch event and then had one for two weeks at the turn of the year (see road test). On each occasion I was dumbfounded that such a light and low-slung car had been made to handle so badly. The most obvious problem was that the suspension was set far too high, and I imagine that's the first thing Brabus decided to change before settling down to choosing revised spring and damper rates.

The effect is startling. Every time I turned any of the standard cars into a corner I felt that it was about to topple sideways, which is the sort of thing that doesn't half make you drive cautiously. From behind the steering wheel the Brabus feels fairly similar, so I had to build up enough nerve to make use of the more composed handling which the paperwork suggested this car must have. Once I'd done that I found the Brabus to be an absolute delight. It zips into corners, settles down very quickly and feels absolutely in control as you feed in the power.

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