SMART #5

Full-size electric family SUV vies for attention in steroidal Brabus form

- FELIX PAGE

Let's get the (not quite so) obvious bits out of the way first: 2165mm, 1720kg and 576bhp. No, those aren't the headline specs of the new Smart #5 but the differences in overall length, kerb weight and peak power between this new five-up family SUV and the diminutive Fortwo city car that first bore the Smart badge in 1998.

With that car now retired and the #5 on its way to dealerships to join the #1 and #3, Smart has passed the point of no return from a maker of fun-size urban runarounds to a purveyor of premium electric SUVs, with a price bracket that ranges from £32,000 to a mic-drop £50,000-plus. We're not in Hambach any more, Toto.

The 4.7m-long #5, then, is the flagship for this new era, and it is pitched right at the heart of Europe's fastest-growing market segment. Its dimensions and specifications line it up against the Mercedes-Benz EQB, Mini Countryman E and Kia EV6.

It is rear-wheel drive as standard, producing either 335bhp in entry-level Pro guise - with a 74.4kWh, 400V battery - or 358bhp in Pro+ and Premium specs, which upgrade to a 94kWh, 800V battery that is proven to be capable of charging at a whopping 426kW. A second motor and all-wheel drive comes with the mid-rung Pulse and off-road-ish Summit Edition trim packages, bumping peak output up to a fiery 579bhp. The Brabus flagship, meanwhile, touts a frankly ridiculous 637bhp that's in keeping with the German tuner's reputation as a purveyor of intergalactic 'bahnstormers.

It was this range-topping version we were given to try on the launch in Portugal, with all the options boxes ticked and so in theory giving us the most complete overview of the #5 line-up. That said, our experience of the #1 and #3 Brabus models suggests that the more sedate and efficiency-minded variants will be the sweeter everyday propositions.