Wednesday 29th July 2015

Brabus Smart ForFour spied

Renaultsport won't commit to a hot Twingo but Brabus is working on its Smart ForFour cousin...

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How hopes were raised at the idea of a rear-engined, rear-driven city car! OK, dreams of a drift-tastic £10K shopping trolley were probably a little unrealistic but of the Smart ForFour/Renault Twingo partnership surely the French would be willing to spice things up a bit with a little hot hatch magic? We'd had that V6-engined, Renault 5 Maxi influenced Twin'Run concept after all.

Still cutesy but Brabus wheels add some muscle

The reality, while characterful and a break from the front-driven norm, plays it a little safe. And the official line is studiously non-committal about Renaultsport being let loose on the car as we might hope. But all is not lost! Smart seems a lot less cautious and spy shots are doing the rounds of what is claimed to be a Brabus version of the new ForFour.

Think Brabus and you may well be picturing some ludicrous twin-turbo V8 with over 900hp where the rear seats used to be. Hold on sunshine, not quite! According to our colleagues on Autocar this is a mild makeover of the 90hp turbocharged triple, delivering a less than neck straining 115hp or thereabouts. Hardly enough to trouble that deliberately cautious ESP system but a step in the right direction.

Your move Renaultsport!

Brabus has been here before too, its previous ForFour a much overlooked hot hatch that combined some serious poke - 177hp no less - in commendably lightweight and distinctive packaging. There were some rough edges and it was surprisingly raw and stiff but it has a small but enthusiastic following and you'll usually find one or two lurking in the classifieds. Brabus ForTwos and Roadsters did a little better and were entertainingly boosty point-and-squirt city runabouts, knobbled by the slow-shifting automated manual but fun in their own way.

If unlikely to be a true hot hatch contender a Brabus'd up next-gen ForFour does have potential and we'll be keen to see how it shapes up when formally revealed. And if it spurs Renaultsport into action all the better.

Photos: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien

[Source: Autocar]

[sidesauce]

This looks like a lot of fun.

[sidesauce]

Ozzie Osmond said:

300bhp/ton said:

This might well be the case, haven't driven one, so can't comment directly.

So far so good...

300bhp/ton said:

But based on past smarts, most of them have driven well, some ever so.

Oh dear.

"I can't comment so here's my comment."

Jesus H Christ. Are you being wilfully obtuse?

He said one can't comment on experiencing the new one directly as it's not been released/tested yet. One CAN, however, comment on the previous ones as they have been available to the public for a long time now. Therefore the inference between the old car to the new one isn't invalid.

We get it. You don't like the Smart. Fine - it's not for you. Now get over yourself.