Seriously, Chuck – a smart car? Thought this was an enthusiast blog?! Not so fast (pun intended). Check out the “B” on the fuel filler door. This would “B” a Brabus-tuned smart Fortwo Passion car by Mercedes. Brabus being the German tuners with 40 years plus experience modifying German cars, and off and on they’ve applied their expertise to the diminutive Mercedes smart car. Didn’t know these were a thing before blog reader and car guru Hans alerted me last time CarMax had one!
The Brabus model isn’t just an appearance package though. The exhaust and suspension are tuned to (modestly) improve performance. Beyond that…I just can’t tell what more lurks in this Brabus smart car. The data card confirms it’s a Brabus but no further details on the motor. Stock smart motors are 1.0 liter three cylinders rated at 70hp, and CarMax suggests this one is, too. Brabus tuned a limited run of 100 units to 102hp in 2013 as 10 year anniversary editions, but this does not appear to be one of the 100. So not going to go too far out on a limb on how special this car is, or is not, unless I can find more data. But there are more cars to blog about and I’m way behind. (My excuses are twofold; prepared and drove my 1971 Fiat 124 Spider to Lancaster, Pennsylvania for the annual gathering of Fiats and TOOK FIRST PLACE! In my early Spider category, that is. I’ll blog about that next week. Second, my wife and I went on the road to Asheville, North Carolina to celebrate our 25th anniversary. I won’t be blogging about that.)
On the other hand, there appears to be only one Brabus smart car on Autotrader at this time, so perhaps this is a little special after all? The price seems a little high, so I wouldn’t spring for MaxCare – just drive it until it melts it’s little motor down. Find this one-owner little guy here in Sacramento, California.
