Remember the Smart Fortwo? The Wild 637-HP #5 Brabus Is WAY Less Dorky

Launched in 1998, the Smart Fortwo was a tiny city car that measured just 98.4 inches from bumper to bumper, weighed a scant 1,609 pounds, and was powered by a 44-hp three-cylinder engine that would mosey it to 60 mph in about 18 seconds. The Smart #5 Brabus is a compact SUV that’s almost twice as long, weighs more than three times as much, has more than 14 times the power, and in 18 seconds will be doing 130 mph. Nope, Smart cars ain’t what they used to be.

And that’s exactly what Mercedes-Benz planned. The original Smart may have been a noble concept: a tiny car designed for the narrow and crowded streets of Europe’s ancient towns and cities. But it came at a price. Between 1998 and 2013 Mercedes is estimated to have lost roughly $6,100 on every Smart car it sold. The 2019 decision to move Smart into a 50/50 joint venture with China’s Geely Automotive marked a radical rethink of the brand’s products and purpose.

Made in China, #5 Is the Largest Smart Ever

The #5 is the third and largest model in an all-new lineup of super-sized Smart cars that are electric powered and made in China. The Smart #1 is a tall hatchback with a funky roofline that adds character and allows for a range of two-tone color schemes. The #3 has a slightly longer wheelbase, is slightly longer overall, and has a more conventional sweeping roofline. There’s a sense of fun in the design and execution of both cars that’s uniquely Smart, but they nonetheless represent a clean break from a vehicle concept that, as the poor sales of the original two-seat Smart Fortwo clearly demonstrated, attracted few customers at the end of its lifespan.

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It's the same with the #5, the largest Smart ever built. Like its hashtagged siblings, the #5 is built on Geely’s Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA), which also underpins Volvo’s EX30. With an overall length of 184.8 inches, width of 75.6 inches, and height of 67.1 inches, the #5 is marginally bigger in every dimension than the Mercedes-Benz GLB sold here in the U.S. Its 114.2-inch wheelbase is a sizable 2.8 inches longer than that of the GLB, however, which endows the #5 with noticeably better proportions. The Smart has much less front overhang than the Mercedes, and its nuggety, cleanly surfaced bodywork sits much more confidently over its wider track.

The #5 is available in six trim levels. The base model, the #5 Pro, is powered by a single motor with 335 hp and 275 lb-ft that drives the rear wheels and is fed by a 76-kWh lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery. The car has a WLTP-rated range of 289 miles, and the battery takes about 30 minutes to replenish from a 10 percent state of charge to 80 percent on a DC fast charger. Smart says the #5 Pro, which retails for the equivalent of about $54,000 in Germany, will move from 0 to 60 mph in less than 6.9 seconds.

The other five #5 models all use a 100-kWh lithium-ion battery with nickel manganese cobalt cathode chemistry and, critically, an 800-volt electrical architecture that will accept peak charge rates of more than 400 kilowatts, meaning it requires as little as 15 minutes to get the battery from a 10 percent state of charge to 80 percent. The rear-drive #5 Pro+ and #5 Premium models, which start from about $60,000, are powered by a 358-hp motor (torque is unchanged at 275 lb-ft) that shaves 0.4 second off the base car’s 60-mph time despite the bigger battery adding roughly 132 pounds to the curb weight. The claimed WLTP-rated range for both models is 366 miles. (The EPA number would likely be far lower, somewhere in the 300-mile range.)

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The all-wheel drive #5 Pulse and #5 Summit models have a two-motor powertrain that boasts 579 hp and 474 lb-ft and boosts both to 60 mph in under 4.9 seconds despite an increase in weight of 187 and 242 pounds, respectively. The extra power and performance and modest increases in weight don’t have much impact on how far they’ll go between recharges: Smart claims a WLTP-rated range of 335 miles for both.

Go Big, Go Brabus

The top of the range is the car you see here, the #5 Brabus. Brabus was founded in 1977 as a Mercedes-Benz tuning shop and remains an independent company. Brabus formed a joint venture with Mercedes in 2001 to build faster versions of the original Smart, but all the go-faster engineering of today’s electric-powered hashtag models is done in-house at Smart’s HQ in Ningbo, China.

The #5 Brabus dials the two-motor, all-wheel-drive powertrain of the Pulse and Summit models all the way to 11. This pint-sized SUV packs a 637-hp, 524-lb-ft punch that slingshots it from 0 to 60 mph in about 3.8 seconds. Remarkably, that extra sturm und drang seemingly has no effect on how greedily the two motors gobble electrons; the #5 Brabus has the same 336-mile WLTP-rated range as the lower-powered Pulse and Summit, though we suspect your mileage will very much vary, depending on how greedy you get with your right foot.

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The dark ambience of the #5 Brabus cabin is leavened by splashes of silver and the inevitable red accents that have become lazy visual shorthand for “performance car.” The interior is dominated by a structure that stretches across the right two-thirds of the dash. In it are two high-definition 13-inch OLED screens that handle all the infotainment chores and whose displays can be swiped between each. A third screen behind the steering wheel displays all the information and data the driver needs.

As befits its status as the top of the #5 model range, the Brabus is well-equipped, with an augmented reality head-up display and a 2,000-watt, 20-speaker Sennheiser audio system headlining a list of goodies, which also includes a panoramic roof, adaptive high-beam LED headlights, and a gesture-opening tailgate.

Although it’s not offered with a third row like the similarly sized Mercedes-Benz GLB, its longer wheelbase means the #5 Brabus does have an impressively roomy interior that’s easily capable of accommodating four 6-foot-plus adults in comfort. And there’s plenty of room for all their stuff, too, with 34 storage compartments in the cabin, a 2.5-cubic-foot illuminated frunk up front, and a rear load space that can be expanded to 54 cubic feet. In addition, all the seats can be folded flat if you want to stretch out for a nap while the battery is being recharged.

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As you’d expect from a modern Chinese-built all-electric car, the #5 Brabus comes with an impressive list of ADAS features, including adaptive cruise control that works even in heavy stop-and-go traffic, traffic sign recognition, and lane keep assist. The good news is you can switch off the most annoying nannies and have those settings saved so you can deactivate them with a touch of a single button on the central touchscreen next time you get behind the wheel.

Barreling Around in the #5 Brabus

Like any powerful EV, the #5 Brabus feels quick off the line, surging effortlessly to its electronically limited 130-mph top speed, especially in the most aggressive of its drive modes. But while it’s quick, it doesn’t feel entirely confident, particularly in fast corners. Through the twisties the #5 Brabus is initially quick to react to inputs from the steering wheel, thanks to the alert responses of the 255/40 Continental EcoSport 7 tires on the 21-inch monobloc alloy wheels. But then the dialog with the front axle fades, leaving you uncertain as to what exactly is happening where the rubber meets the road.

What’s more, the steering feels gluey and too heavily weighted in its standard setting. You can switch to a lighter setting, which makes it easier to make subtle adjustments to your trajectory, but there’s little feel. That, combined with the instant-on response to accelerator inputs, makes the #5 Brabus feel somewhat tippy-toed, especially if there are midcorner camber changes.

The European-spec #5 Brabus models have a different suspension setup to the Chinese market versions, with stiffer springs and shocks to keep the body motions under control. Even so, the ride quality of the #5 is better than that of the smaller #1 and #3 Brabus models we sampled on similar roads last year, with slightly better initial compliance over patched tarmac and manhole covers. The extra mass of the #5 Brabus is undoubtedly a contributing factor; it might be a compact SUV, but it weighs a hefty 5,250 pounds.

As there are no plans to resuscitate the Smart brand in America, the Smart #5 Brabus is destined to remain forbidden fruit to American consumers. And that’s probably just as well.

One of the closest analogs to the bumptious, boisterous #5 Brabus is another model in the Mercedes-Benz portfolio, the $61,250 Mercedes-AMG GLB35. Compared with the Smart, however, the little Mercedes has merely 302 hp and 295 lb-ft under the hood and takes about 1.4 seconds longer to get to 60 mph. In terms of performance and design and technology, the #5 Brabus thus arguably delivers better bang for the buck even though it would cost about $10,000 more if it were sold in the U.S. (Of course, there’s also the fantastic Hyundai Ioniq 5 N that’s every bit the match of the #5 Brabus as a performance EV SUV.)

We described the Mercedes-AMG GLB35 as an oddball when we first tested it back in 2021, as we weren’t sure there was much demand for an expensive, pint-sized high-performance SUV. In that context, the Smart #5 Brabus would likely be, for most American consumers, even more of an oddball.