Smart Brabus ForFour

FIRST UK DRIVE Tuning arm has worked its magic on four-door city car. So is it a winner?

- Lawrence Allan

BRABUS is a German brand with a long and illustrious history of tuning a variety of Mercedes’ most prolific models. Many of them have been extremely fast, loud and expensive, but 15 years ago Brabus surprised us by setting up a joint venture with city car maker Smart.

The third-generation Smart Brabus ForTwo is now on sale, while the ForFour you see here is the second four-seat model to emerge from the partnership. It shares much with the new Renault Twingo GT, including the familiar 898cc turbo charged engine – but it’s been tweaked to deliver 107bhp thanks to boosted fuel pressure, a revised air intake and sports exhaust system. There’s also a useful 35Nm of extra torque.