Stylish electric SUV packs a huge punch after attention from tuning company Brabus On sale Now Price from £43,450
Lawrence Cheung lawrence.cheung@haymarket.com
TUNING COMPANY BRABUS has long been turning up the wick on Smart cars with one simple aim: making them more fun. Its recent efforts – on the tiny electric Smart Fortwo and Forfour – were more about sporty looks than a power boost, but it’s taken the opposite approach with the #1 electric SUV.
Visually, only subtle tweaks mark the #1 Brabus from its lesser stablemates; it gets red trim highlights inside and out, bonnet vents, metal-finished pedals and grippy suede-like material on the seats and steering wheel. The changes are rather more dramatic, though, when it comes to performance.
With two motors rather than one (giving the Brabus four-wheel drive), power is up by 154bhp to 422bhp and the 0-62mph time is down to 3.9sec. That’s 2.8sec quicker than the already nippy standard #1, and puts it hot on the heels of the pricier Kia EV6 GT and Tesla Model Y Performance.
However, while the Brabus’s blistering straight-line pace might generate giggles when occupants are pinned hard into their seats, the fun is otherwise short-lived. That’s because the steering, suspension and brakes remain the same as in the regular version.
The steering is precise and weighty, but the Brabus is no more keen to turn in to bends. And if you try to maintain the pace that extra power unlocks, the tyres soon relinquish their grip (particul
