What does the Smart brand mean to you? I suspect you might use words such as fun, stylish and youthful, but probably not sporty. With the launch of the new Brabus ForFour, Smart is diving into a fiercely contested hot hatch market, but can it deliver?
The numbers look good; not for Smart the mildly boosted 1.5-litre engine from Mitsubishi's Colt. Brabus has provided a turbocharged 177bhp version of that engine propelling the 1090kg ForFour to 62.5mph in just 6.9 seconds. The top speed is 137mph. These figures unsurprisingly make this Smart the fastest and most powerful in production, and knock on the door of some established hot hatches such as the
Peugeot 206 GTi 180 and
Mini Cooper S.
Being a Brabus, the new ForFour receives significant aesthetic changes including a cool Brabus body kit incorporating rear spoiler, side skirts and a sports exhaust. The gorgeous 17-inch alloys take centre stage, similar to those fitted to the
Smart Roadster Brabus we tested. Inside, the Brabus ForFour gets black leather sports seats with silver stitching and embossed Brabus logos.
The Brabus ForFour goes on sale in the UK in June, at £17,195 on-the-road. We have tested the
regular ForFour already and should get behind the wheel of the new Brabus version later this year. Watch out for the review on the main
Road Tests page.
Shane O' Donoghue - 30 May 2005