RE: Brabus Smart ForFour spied

RE: Brabus Smart ForFour spied

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...



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
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!
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]

Author
Discussion

sidesauce

Original Poster:

2,456 posts

217 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
This looks like a lot of fun.

kambites

67,460 posts

220 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
Meh, I was hoping for a power output in the range of the old one. ~180bhp in that thing would have been fairly amusing. Perhaps there's not space for a four-pot.

GregK2

1,651 posts

145 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
I'll stick with my mk1 Forfour Brabus thanks. 115bhp is disappointing.

cianha

2,165 posts

196 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
I wonder what the aftermarket options are like for the 0.9TCe motor? I'm sure an afternoon on the rolling road with KTec or similar would bump up the power...

All that jazz

7,632 posts

145 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
It looks absolutely hideous. hurl

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
Under 1000kg kerb weight, more power would make it a lot of RWD fun.

How much did a MK2 Escort weigh??? wink

Still, at least there is the aftermarket, hopefully power levels can be raised a touch more.

WCZ

10,492 posts

193 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
goes against the spirit of brabus

R66STU

273 posts

175 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
R66STU said:
This is the only smart Brabus I have owned, and would own again.. and the t.c light used to light up many times in the wet smile a very fun car, and underestimated.

http://www.brabus.com/en/raster.php?page=5&sub...

http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-reviews/smart/bra...


personally that new one has no appeal to me.

GTEYE

2,092 posts

209 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
300bhp/ton said:
Under 1000kg kerb weight, more power would make it a lot of RWD fun.

How much did a MK2 Escort weigh??? wink

Still, at least there is the aftermarket, hopefully power levels can be raised a touch more.
All true but with something this ugly it's hard to see much of a business case stacking up for the production version, never mind the aftermarket.

By all accounts, although RWD these (and the Twingo) aren't actually much fun.

It will also probably end up costing more than a Fiesta ST, which arguably makes it rather pointless.

Ozzie Osmond

21,189 posts

245 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
You'll be able to buy a real car for the same money - I know that's what I would do.

jamespink

1,218 posts

203 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
Thank goodness the title told us what car it was... that camouflage film had me completely flummoxed... Seriously, the camo is a badge to tell people what to "scoop" photograph. What a ghastly little over priced joke, as others have noted, you could by a proper car for that. Not for me thanks...

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
jamespink said:
Thank goodness the title told us what car it was... that camouflage film had me completely flummoxed... Seriously, the camo is a badge to tell people what to "scoop" photograph. What a ghastly little over priced joke, as others have noted, you could by a proper car for that. Not for me thanks...
So what are these "proper cars"???

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
Oh and her is a point to ponder.How much does power one of these have? And what do they weigh?



This new smart would appear to have the same power, more torque and possibly slightly less weight. So a very similar power to weight ratio overall and a newer stiffer chassis.

Not too mention it seats 4.

Ozzie Osmond

21,189 posts

245 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
300bhp/ton said:
How much does power one of these have? And what do they weigh?
Another visionary of pointless statistics.

I'll take the sportscar; you can have the frump-mobile.

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
Ozzie Osmond said:
Another visionary of pointless statistics.

I'll take the sportscar; you can have the frump-mobile.
Or are you missing an obvious point? I'll see if I can help you see it.

The MX-5 MK1 with the 1.6 (early model) had 115bhp and 100lb ft and weighed just over 1000kg (or ~950kg for early ones without the additional bracing).

Even today these are considered fun and fast enough to be sporty.

So surely a 1000kg or under RWD car 115bhp today could be considered potentially fun and fast enough too. Ok it might not look as good, but compared to the mass of ugly FWD hatches, it actually fairs no worse.


But then again, maybe you are just a champion of double standards?

heebeegeetee

28,591 posts

247 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
300bhp/ton said:
Or are you missing an obvious point? I'll see if I can help you see it.

The MX-5 MK1 with the 1.6 (early model) had 115bhp and 100lb ft and weighed just over 1000kg (or ~950kg for early ones without the additional bracing).

Even today these are considered fun and fast enough to be sporty.

So surely a 1000kg or under RWD car 115bhp today could be considered potentially fun and fast enough too. Ok it might not look as good, but compared to the mass of ugly FWD hatches, it actually fairs no worse.


But then again, maybe you are just a champion of double standards?
i think we can be sure that any possible fun will be all electricked out.

kambites

67,460 posts

220 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
All that jazz said:
It looks absolutely hideous. hurl
confused It looks like every other city car to me; certainly not inspiring but no more hideous than its competition.

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
heebeegeetee said:
i think we can be sure that any possible fun will be all electricked out.
This might well be the case, haven't driven one, so can't comment directly. But based on past smarts, most of them have driven well, some ever so.

Ozzie Osmond

21,189 posts

245 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
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." rolleyes


Funkycoldribena

7,379 posts

153 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
kambites said:
All that jazz said:
It looks absolutely hideous. hurl
confused It looks like every other city car to me; certainly not inspiring but no more hideous than its competition.
After seeing a few on the road, its actually growing on me.